[Music] I'm Grace neutral a tattoo artist and activist I don't know if they're more freaked out by my tattoos or the fact that I'm wearing a Burberry coat in a spa I'm interested in ideas of alternative Beauty and pushing our boundaries a positive body image you could never wear makeup again how would you feel I will die to me the human body is a beautiful thing in all its forms what Gracie could have looked like if she didn't her face [Music] off I've traveled to South Korea where amazingly tattooing is illegal I'm going to explore their $6 billion domestic beauty industry and k-pop's influence on Korean beauty ideals so we're here in Mong dong in Soul which is basically like the epicenter of beauty this is where everyone comes to get their beauty products as you can see it's heaving it's crazy the streets are so full every other shop seems to be a makeup shop Korea has one of the world's fastest growing and technically Advanced Beauty Industries South Korean women spend more than twice as much of their income on makeup and beauty products than American women while men spend more on beauty products than anyone else in the world skincare and beauty products advertising is everywhere with K-pop stars and K soaps pushing the latest cosmetic Trends there's an unparalleled emphasis in Korean Society on looking good and having Perfect Skin young South Koreans and increasingly China's Beauty tourists flocked to this area lured by skincare and makeup products dubbed K Beauty you you come here just for fashion or do you come here to buy makeup skin products or everything makeup is make how long every day do you spend doing makeup 2 hours 2 hours a day yes Koreans have one of the most extensive skincare regimes in the world piling on between 10 and 18 products a day it's pretty mental right now I've never seen crowds like this just come for beauty Korean products promise of Perfect Skin is fast becoming the most exported and desired around the world just from chatting to people it's not just south Koreans that come here for beauty I just met a couple of Chinese girls they said to me that it's one of the best places to come and the best products are here so I'm come here to meet up with a girl called Olana basically she is a girl that kind of epitomizes everything to do with mainstream Beauty in South Korea today and hopefully she can give me a bit of an Insight on her life and the things that she does and the routines that she has with in beauty hello Hello nice to meet you how are you I'm fine how are you good thank you look at your eyes yeah my eyes are purple but your eyes they're very beautiful too yeah so where did you have done it um I had it done at home where I live in London in London is it common in your country no it's not common anywhere really I think maybe less than 100 people have it in the world oh yeah so not very many so Iana where are you taking me now we are going to Mo moonot yes okay what's moonot MO is makeup store uhhuh and we are going to have a makeup over oh cool we're going to have a makeover yeah the influence of K-pop on young people in South Korea cannot be overestimated and major K-pop label YG Entertainment and taking advantage of that they developed Their Own Line of Cosmetics to sell in their store in central Soul moonshot beauty products were a natural item for Korean stars to promote on kramas surgery is often part of the plot Orana yes what kind of look are you going to go for today heavy maker yeah yeah so like a typical K-pop yes yeah nice with your parents how did they feel when you started wearing makeup going wow I usually wouldn't wear this much like heavy dark eye makeup cuz I think my eyes are pretty intense anyway but no it looks really good the K-pop starc is it's not [Music] bad Olana offered to take me to sa's 24-Hour sstory Mega Spar to show me that beauty isn't just about makeup but a big part of Korean lifestyle for young people like [Music] her so I've come to a spa in central soul with oana we're going to go and check out the pool and the jacuzzi if I'm honest I'm feeling pretty nervous right now um one of the ladies who guided Us in here to the changing rooms asked me if I could change in a private room because of fear of everyone being offended from my tattoos she asked me to keep my coat on and yeah already getting a bit of a weird [Music] [Applause] [Music] reception this is so weird I don't know if they're more freaked out by my tattoos or the fact that I'm wearing a Burberry coat in a spa ooh this is nice I found out that more than 60% of young women in their 20s have had cosmetic surgery here I wanted to find out how Lana felt about the issue do you think that girls in South Korea are getting plastic surgery too young for me personally um a lot of the procedures that girls over here get when they're very young is pretty extreme um purely because of the age that they are [Music] how I have done nose job mhm my nose shape was was not straight so I make it straight okay anything else I got bob toas every 6 months I stuck on my fat from my leg put on my face wearing your face today everywhere everywhere forehe had chick and um what differences did you feel where the biggest in your appearance changing I have no fast on my face so I look prettier with these girls and guys who are young do you think it's the pressures of society telling them that they should look a certain way how going she's been really open with me about everything she's been through but this whole kind of sense that K-pop has such a huge influence on the way young girls look I think it's great to idolize people who you admire but for me for 18-year-old girls to start getting Botox just because they feel like they have to fit into this K-pop ideal almost kind of made me feel a bit uncomfortable [Music] one thing that I noticed here that's really weird is that there's just a big room of people and they just they're asleep on the floor like randomly yes but then there just like their parents are sleeping and the kids are like playing around and stuff and they sleep here all night yes all night and I used to sleep here every weekend with my friend Iana just tell me how important beauty is for you like your beauty regime how would you feel if someone took that away from you and told you that you could never have cosmetic surgery again and you could never wear makeup again how would you feel I will die really yeah yes I want to become prer this is a pretty bizarre place if I'm honest I've never been to a Spa before that's open 24 hours I've never been to a spa that has like an arcade in it I'm used to going to spas or being in a swimming pool and maybe people looking at me funny because I'm heavily tattooed but never quite to this extreme you can tell that just not impressed by me at all um and I definitely think it's got to be the tattoos and the stigma around tattooing a few years ago I wouldn't even been let in a place like this like I would be completely banned from coming into a into a spa it's clear that oana reflects South Korea's mainstream Beauty culture while I'm uneasy that this billion dooll business puts huge pressure on young girls to look perfect it's easy to see why so many are influenced especially when K-pop Idols themselves are having to conform to the very narrow Beauty ideals I know young women in the west are facing a lot of the same pressures Al although in South Korea it's socially acceptable for teenagers to have cosmetic surgery it is illegal to be a tattoo [Music] artist I'm fascinated to understand how younger Generations are challenging traditional views of beauty I've traveled to South Korea to explore their alternative beauty industry I wanted to know why tattooing is illegal here and meet the young Koreans embracing alternative ideas of beauty and body image