In 2015, journalist Elise Hu moved to South Korea to open the NPR Seoul bureau. During her time in South Korea, she witnessed the rise of K-beauty culture or “Korean beauty.”

K-beauty encompasses a multitude of beauty treatments. It doesn’t just include luxury skincare lines, and expensive facemasks; there's also LED light therapy, injections, fillers, and a myriad of options for plastic surgery.

These procedures are becoming an increasingly normal part of daily life in South Korea, but also in the United States. They are also more accessible than ever to anyone that wants to change the way they look.

Although some are starting to question the pursuit of keeping up with today’s beauty standards, this multibillion dollar beauty industry isn't going away.

Today, Elise Hu joins us on Where We Live to talk about her book Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital.

We talk about the pursuit and pain of keeping up with today’s beauty standards.

GUEST:

• Elise Hu: host of TED Talks Daily and also a host-at-large for NPR. She is the author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Cat Pastor contributed to this show which originally aired September 19, 2023.

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