Acnes Okay, you may think that as idols make tons
of money, their skin will always be in the best condition since they can spend a fortune
on special cares and treatments, right? Sooo mistaken!
In an interview on Youtube with AYO “Comment Defenders”, two experts with more than ten
years experiences in skin treatments from YOU&ME CLINIC, We Chan Woo and Jeong Seon
Mi, have revealed the most common health problem of all idols is skin disorder, especially
problems related to acne. More often than not, the condition would be so bad that even
after putting on many expensive makeup products, they still couldn’t hide away the unevenness
of the skin.
According to them, except for some rare cases like NCT’s Jaehyun, Oh My Girl’s Arin,
EXO’s Baekhyun and IZ*ONE’s Jang Wonyoung, literally all K-celebrities suffer from acne
because of the public mindset that being idols equal being a flawless model. What does that
really mean? Well, since KPOP stars must always appear with a perfect image, the makeup that
they put on must often be super heavy to cover up all the flaws on their face. Combining
this with the high frequency of appearing in public events, the amount of dirt and makeup
on the skin would pile up and thus, clogging the pores and leading to acne.
Take Red Velvet’s Irene for example. While she already possessed a naturally beautiful
visual, she was still made to put on tons of makeup to look more attractive when the
camera was rolling. The result of this whole thing was clearly seen when she appeared on
Knowing Bros with such a bad complexion that even with cushion on, she still couldn’t
hide the big spots of acne on the chin, around the nose and on the forehead.
According to two experts, since idols can’t afford to wear less makeup and rest properly,
they would opt for the help of technology. Maybe you’re thinking about some white,
futuristic-looking machine that can smoothen the skin in a blink of an eye, but no, the
technology that they were talking about is an invasive method that requires injecting
shots of medicine with aspirin inside to make the skin less irritated. In the past, there
have been many idols who came to the clinic amid their recording, asked for a shot to
temporarily smoothen their complexion and rushed out right away.
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Now, let’s move on with the video
Lack of sleep While the insufficient amount of sleep will
interrupt the production of hormones and thus, resulting in the chemical imbalance of skin
cells, there’s just no way idols could have a healthy and stable sleep routine due to
the packed schedule and the lack of control over their own working hours.
TWICE’s Sana was once the victim of the KPOP draining schedule. When the group was
attending a live broadcast in 2019, Sana was seen dozing off after multiple attempts to
stay awake. According to Kangnam, who was also there with Sana, Sana was struggling
to maintain consciousness and keep her eyes opened for nearly one hour.
When this scene was shown to her afterwards, Sana could only laugh it off and explained
that since she hadn’t slept at all for three days in a row due to the busy schedule, there
was nothing else she could do besides letting the body do whatever it wanted.
Stress As a KPOP fan, certainly you know how intense
this industry is.
While idols often appeared with bling bling images, the fact is that 10 out of 10 people
have been dealing with stress since the longest time ever. Since idols were still trainees,
they have already faced a constant stream of fierce competition. Once a person couldn't
meet the company’s expectation in the monthly evaluation, he or she will be kicked out of
the door without mercy. Even when these trainees manage to debut, no peaceful or relieved state
of mind can be reached because of the pressures to pay off the previous training debt, to
gain public recognition and to act in certain ways as expected by the public if they’re
lucky enough to be famous.
While most idols can afford to arrange meetings with psychologists to deal with the consequences
of stress, not every time this method worked. In the past, (f)x’s Sulli was one of the
victims that often showed abnormal behaviors as a result of suffering from stress for a
long time. Her condition then got worse because most people reacted negatively to most of
the things Sulli did and eventually, she ended up making the most painful decision for the
overwhelming amount of stress.
Maybe you didn’t notice, TWICE’s Jeongyeon also fell victim to anxiety disorder, an illness
commonly resulting from dealing with stress for a constant period of time, and to prevent
further consequences, she has gone on a hiatus and missed the group's promotional activities
for several months.
Constant sweating Why is that a problem?—Well, while most
people would have the chance to take a shower after sweating like a river, idols don’t
usually get the same privilege.
Maybe you don’t hear this often but being an idol is quite a sweaty job. Usually when
KPOP stars promote new albums, they go on various stages one day to perform. And of
course, as their choreography has never been easy like simply putting their hands up, sliding
left and right, or walking around the stage, they sweat non stop after each performance.
But do they get to take a shower or at least wash their face properly right after that?
Definitely no. Because of the packed schedule, idols often have no time to bathe and thus,
end up either stucking in another drenched stage outfit despite the sweaty body or wearing
the same costumes for hours to multiple events.
Malnutrition Since being skinny is among the must-checked
criteria for idols, literally all of them must maintain a diet that is not only lacking
in nutrition but also in energy.
According to director We Chan Woo, when she spoke to KPOP stars, especially those from
girl groups, she found that they didn’t really eat anything. Those diets were actually
so strict and rigorous that some idol had long been suffering from malnutrition without
even knowing their terrible condition. “I’ve only eaten a tomato for today” or “I’m
not allowed to eat anything besides this”—where “this” is a super low-carb type of food,
are some most common things to hear throughout her career. Things were even so bad that at
one time, a female idol who came to get treatments immediately asked if she could have a bar
of chocolate after seeing some on the table.
Of course, the diet issue is nothing new in the KPOP industry because there have been
multiple idols, mostly females, who expressly complained about their rigorous diet in the
past. For example, KARA’s Han Seungyeon once revealed that she was even prohibited
from drinking water during the promotion of “Mister.” Or for IU, she was also the
victim of a poor diet when used to eat only one apple, two sweet potatoes and one cup
of protein shake everyday. As a result of such a counterintuitive diet, idols often
suffer from dizziness, overly anxiety, stomachache and even pass out in case they severely lack
energy.
For female idols, a poor diet would result in an even more dreadful aftermath. According
to We Chan Woo, when women don’t have enough nutrition in their diet, their menstrual period
will stagnate. The former of Ladies’ Code, Ashley Choi, once revealed on the “Get Real”
radio program that she used to have her menstrual period stopped for around one year since she
only ate cherry tomatoes to lose weight. Only after Ashley got time to relax and stay away
from the limelight that her body could normally function again.
For those who haven't known much about amenorrhea, this could result in many other symptoms that
eventually cause difficulties for a person's daily life. Besides having tons of acnes on
the face according to director We Chan Woo, women will also suffer from headaches, pelvic
pain and even vision changes. So, just to maintain the skinny body that the public requires,
idols must sacrifice their own wellness.
Hair problem If you don’t want to undergo a constant
series of bad hair days then obviously, being an idol has never been a good career option.
While most of them would debut with fairly thick and silky hair, in time, they will all
lose that beautiful trait after multiple times bleaching and dying the hair to fit with the
comeback concept. Moreover, since many agencies believed that staying with the same hair color
is lame and not suitable with the flashy, dainty image of a typical celebrity, idols
must still have to do something with their hair regardless of their wish.
Recently, a post compiling all the bad hair moments of idols on The Qoo has gained a huge
amount of attention for not only showing how bad the hair of some famous idols were but
also raising concern about their critical health condition.
According to the person, mostly all idols share a range of traits when it comes to their
hair: severely damaged, obvious split ends, and a huge amount of hair loss. While ordinary
people would rarely suffer from such severe conditions, this is actually a common and
inevitable thing in KPOP because these stars must constantly change hair color for the
sake of gaining more attention from the public. Especially in groups with many members like
NCT, dying hair with multiple bright colors is a must-do thing since it helps people differentiate
each member.
Moreover, because appearing with the same hairstyle can not only bore people out but
also make fans believe that they’re being ignored by hairstylists, idols must also have
their hair in constant interaction with hot blow dry, straightening iron, hairspray and
hair gel, which are all factors resulting in hair damage, to renew their image. Usually,
the hair would be so damaged that it could hardly grow longer before falling off or having
severe split ends.
In the past, MAMAMOO’s Solar once shared that she had to cut a fair amount of hair
because once it grew any longer, each hairpiece would either be too wiry or crinkly [chèn
clip ko voice vào đây]. Solar also emphasized that never once in her life did she have to
cut her hair that short but to help the scalp heal and more strong hair could come out,
there were no other options.
After learning about all these toxic things that all idols must go through, do you still
dream of becoming an idol?