Did you know that cosmetic companies are always looking for ways to help products absorb into your skin deeper? A majority of the top beauty ingredients cannot be digested by the skin in their original form, they have to be broken down into bite-sized pieces so that they don’t end up just sitting on top of the epidermis. For skincare to work, it’s paramount for the products and actives to get absorbed into the surface layers of the skin otherwise it wouldn’t be effective at all.

In Korea, the method of application is considered very important to achieve maximum efficacy from a product, sometimes more than the product itself. Let us start with the category that has its users most hopeful for results – serums, and the best application method? Patting.

Serums: ‘Patting’ technique native to Korea and Japan, generally applies to all skin-care products that are light-weight, watery consistency. It enables better and faster absorption and ensures that the product is evenly distributed throughout the face. Patting or Dabbing is not only gentler on the skin as compared to rubbing, it also has perquisites of increased blood circulation in the facial muscles. Personally, when applying serums, we like to tap our hands in quick motions to cover the entire face pressing product into the skin.

Toners: While for toners too, the patting technique has superseded the use of cotton pads in Japan, as a matter of fact, they’ve even given up the towel to wipe their face dry, we are more liberal than that. You can choose to dab a toner or using a soaked cotton pad and gently grazing it over the entire skin surface is fine too. The difference is that Korean toners are meant to hydrate and replenish only, ruling out the need to rub the pad against the skin because enough cleaning is already done at the cleansing stage (read more about double cleansing, here).

Moisturizers: For products with thicker consistencies, like creams and moisturizers we like to gently spread a thin layer of product onto the skin and then softly tap the left over using our finger tips. Extensive rubbing of the moisturizer is not only likely to inflict trauma on your skin, it leads to uneven deposition across the face and causes product wastage by rubbing all over the hands.

Cleansers: This step is where you take your time to gently massage the product and work it in to get all the nooks and crannies, especially around the nose area because that’s wear the maximum build-up occurs. Circular massaging motions will coax all impurities out of the pores leaving your face thoroughly cleansed.

We hope this was helpful! Let us know what your favourite techniques of applying skincare are and if you still have some unanswered questions – contact us anytime on hello@carenclass.com

To starting to care more,
Team Care & Class