The 10-Step Korean Routine: What Surveys of Women Show

By HANA, the pen name behind The Korean Shelf. Last checked: November 3, 2026

Where did the 10-step routine come from?

Korea JoongAng Daily looked into this in 2022. It found that “the first reference to 10-step care can be found in a 16-year-old slogan,” a 2006 ad from the Korean brand Skinfood, and noted that “over-the-top skincare routines have existed for decades in Korea.” A dermatologist quoted in the same piece dated the routine’s global popularity to around 2016 and 2017.

In English, the phrase is tied to Charlotte Cho, the founder of the US shop Soko Glam. Looking back in a 2024 interview with Her World, she said she never meant ten steps as a rule and doesn’t regularly follow all ten herself.

How many skincare products do Korean women actually use?

The figures below come from Opensurvey’s 2024 public summary and Korea JoongAng Daily’s coverage of its 2022 report.

• 2024: a survey of 1,000 women aged 15 to 59, carried out January 5–8, 2024, found an average of six skincare product types.
• 2022: as reported by Korea JoongAng Daily, Opensurvey found “an average of 5.37 skin care products in one routine, plus sunscreen and cleanser,” compared with 3.24 in the US in the same report.

The figures above are product counts from surveys of women, not counts of the steps someone follows every morning and night. We didn’t find a recent Korean survey on men’s routines, or on how many people have cut back.

Is “skip-care” replacing the long routine?

In 2019, an Allure Korea opinion column argued for “smart care” over skipping steps (스킵보다는 스마트 케어가 옳다). The column does not measure how many people in Korea have shortened their routines.

What does that mean if you’re ordering K-beauty online?

The ten-step label doesn’t mean you need to buy ten products. Two practical points when you order from abroad:

• Start small. YesStyle lists opened beauty products as ineligible for return. If you’re trying a product for the first time, consider a smaller size. Our US store comparison has each store’s return rules.
• Read the ingredient list before you add a step. Our guide to reading a K-beauty ingredient list shows where to find it on the store page and the Korean box.

Questions

Do Koreans really do a 10-step skincare routine?

These surveys cannot tell us how many Koreans follow a ten-step routine. Opensurvey’s 2024 report found an average of six skincare product types among 1,000 Korean women, and the figures count products, not daily steps.

Who invented the 10-step Korean skincare routine?

Korea JoongAng Daily traced the first reference to a 2006 Skinfood ad slogan. In English, the phrase is linked to Soko Glam founder Charlotte Cho, who has said it was never meant as a rule.

How many skincare products do Korean women use?

Opensurvey’s 2024 public summary gives an average of six skincare product types. Korea JoongAng Daily, citing the 2022 report, reported 5.37 skincare products per routine, with cleanser and sunscreen counted separately.