Kindergarten kids in South Korea are developing a strange habit, as they are now more concerned about their looks. Nowadays in their morning routine, along with school uniform, homework the kids ensure they have proper makeup. This is more of a concern, but children are made to believe that looking good is important in order to feel good by the growing beauty industry in the country.

7-year-old, Yang Hye-ji says, “Makeup makes me look pretty”, during her second visit to ShuShu & Sassy beauty spa in Seoul. She looks amazing in a child-sized pink robe, wearing a bunny hairband. The beauty spa also ensures her beauty by a gentle touch of puff on her face. Her lips also got a swipe of pink gloss.

The cosmetics industry in South Korea also known as K-beauty has now become an Asian powerhouse and global phenomenon for its growing influence, making the country, the center of plastic surgery in the world.

The concern and growing influence of the beauty industry also has raised many social debates in South Korea. Questions like how much society should value appearance and whether it is right to add more pressure to the children who are already stressed with long school hours and make-or-break exams schedules.

Professor Yoon-Kim Ji-yeong, of Institute of Body and Culture at Seoul’s Konkuk University, says “The shiny cartoon heroines young girls admire are fully made up from head to toe. As they put on the makeup and put on the dress to imitate the characters, girls internalize that a woman’s success is closely associated with beauty”.

ShuShu Cosmetics is leading the beauty industry and its outreach to children in South Korea. The company, which started its operations in the year 2013, now operates with 19 boutiques across South Korea. It offers healthy cosmetics for kids, such as water-soluble nail polish and nontoxic lip crayons with a range of edible colors. They have sticker earrings and tattoos and goat-milk shampoo with a tagline, ‘I am not a baby’.

In the kid's beauty parlor and spa, girls between the age group of 4 to 10 years can enjoy a spa experience for $25 to $35, where they can have a foot bath, a foot and calf massage, a manicure and pedicure, a face mask and makeup. Grace Kim, manager at ShuShu Cosmetics says, “The motto of our beauty spas is that children can connect with their moms while playing with them," said. "Our products are safe for pregnant women as well”.

According to the Gallup survey, South Korea is home to one of the world’s top 10 beauty industries. It also has the highest number of plastic surgeries in the world, with one in three women between the age group of 19 to 29 years, accepts undergoing procedures, especially to beautify their eyelids. South Korea also has the highest number of plastic surgeons in the world, according to a study conducted by the International Society of Plastic Surgery in the year 2017.