I’ve been a sheet mask devotee since my time in Seoul in 2010. I must admit it was more out of necessity than out of concern for my skin. If you’ve ever been to Seoul in summer you know that the humidity can be a nightmare. Add the fact that my entire floor’s aircon was controlled by one woman– who was seemingly never hot, or perhaps just stingy as she owned the floor and paid the electricity– and you’ll start to get a tiny idea of my constant battle with trying to stay cool. Enter the sheet mask.
In Seoul there are beauty shops everywhere. Everywhere, everywhere. And they want to give you samples the moment you walk in. This was amazing for me as I tried different products nightly. I remember seeing the sheet mask and thinking ok this could be a good idea and then getting it home and feeling totally suffocated by it. Humidity + lack of aircon + some cloth sticking to your face is not a comfortable situation. I had a few more masks that I had purchased and decided to put them in the fridge for the next night. Game changer. Sheet masks single handedly saved me from burning the heck up in that tiny flat. Any time I was dead hot I’d take one out of my fridge and slap it on. Sure this was only good for a moment, because it goes to skin temperature quite quickly, but that moment of reprieve from the sweltering heat was worth every penny. Speaking of pennies, you can get these in S. Korea for only a couple dollars each.
So fast forward 5 years, I still have a fridge full of face masks. 16 at this moment to be exact. The cooling effect from the masks can also can be good for migraines, so if you suffer from them I suggest you give a refrigerated mask a go. These aren’t required to be kept in the fridge, that’s just something I do — though it’s obviously fine to keep them in there — so if you aren’t keen to keep them in your kitchen, no worries. They’re just as happy to hang out on a bathroom shelf and just as effective!
As for where I get mine, most have came from Asia or Asian groceries. In the past six months or so I’ve seen them popping up at a lot of places and you can grab some at Sephora. Dr Jart and Dior both have versions available. I have a lot of the DERMAL brand ($9) which you can see below, and I’ve linked the Dr Jart ($7) version as well. I could go on and on about Korean skincare brands, but one of my top fav skincare brands is SK-II. You can get a set of SK-II masks for $150.
