(Body Care)
K-Beauty Body Care Is Bringing Bathhouse Traditions To Your Shower
Next-level treatments from the neck down.
Steaming hot-water soaks, vigorous scrubs, and fluorescent Italy towels: the enduring hallmarks of the jjimjilbang experience. Once a ritual requiring a flight to Korea — or at least an afternoon at your nearest Korean bathhouse — these practices are now trickling over to your K-beauty body care routine.
“Korean bathhouse culture is special because it's deeply woven into our culture and upbringing,” says Erica Choi, esthetician and founder of Superegg. “Many Koreans and Korean Americans have memories of going to the neighborhood bathhouse with their parents or grandparents as children. It wasn’t just about getting clean; it was a place to spend time together, unwind, and care for your body.”
Beyond the nostalgic elements, Korean bathhouse culture has a few defining features that set it apart from other body care routines. And if you’re curious to see what those are, K-beauty brands have begun reinterpreting those practices for your shower shelf. Below, everything you need to know about the rising wave of jimjilbang-rooted body care rituals — plus expert-approved picks to bring you a little closer to the experience.
What Is A Jjimjilbang, Or Korean Bathhouse?
Jjimjilbang refers to the bathhouses found in every neighborhood in Korea, a combination of a community bathhouse and wellness spa and a regular fixture of “places you have to visit in Korea” TikToks. Many are open 24/7, most are affordable, and all should leave you feeling revived.
But to define it just as a place doesn’t quite capture the significance of the jjimjilbang experience. Choi recalls the signature snack bar, where banana milk, Yakult, and roasted sauna eggs reign supreme. “Somehow it always tasted better after spending hours soaking, steaming, and scrubbing,” she says. There are also the coordinated shirt-and-shorts uniforms provided for lounging in shared areas, yangmeori towels rolled up to resemble sheep’s heads, and nude mogyoktang areas for bathing and soaking, always split by gender.
“There’s not really a great analogy in the West,” says Michelle Lee, chief marketing officer of Landing International | K-Beauty World and former editor-in-chief of Allure. “It’s not like a super luxe, relaxing spa experience. Every jjimjilbang is a bit different, but typically you’re cycling through heat, steam, cold, and exfoliation with some food along the way. You're naked and then wearing a provided outfit, you're getting scrubbed hard, you're sweating, you’re freezing your ass off, and you’re not feeling self-conscious, ideally. It’s a cultural thing and seen as a bonding experience for a father to bring his son or a mother to bring her daughter.”
Charlotte Cho, esthetician and co-founder of Then I Met You and Soko Glam, also emphasizes the communal element as key to the Korean bathhouse experience — something admittedly difficult to recreate in a single product. “You are encouraged to relax, nap, and munch on snacks for hours, all in the proximity of your friends and family,” she says. “At a Korean bathhouse, overstaying your welcome is part of the wellness experience, which includes detoxing, massages, facials, body scrubs, and even a vaginal cleanse.”
With multiple areas to dip in and out of, it’s easy to overstay. “The hot saunas have themes, such as the Himalayan salt room, which uses salt’s properties to regulate blood pressure, clear the skin, and even relieve allergies,” says Cho. “There are ice rooms, which are cold rooms that stimulate the body’s natural antioxidants while firming the skin. In hot tubs, the focus is often on hydrotherapy, utilizing strategically placed jets as a form of aqua-acupuncture to enhance circulation.”
Not all of these aspects travel easily from bathhouse to bathroom counter, but a few are going global.
How Are Korean Bathhouse Practices Influencing K-Beauty Body Care?
You can do a lot at the jjimjilbang, but there’s one treatment everyone always talks about: the extremely thorough full-body scrub. “It’s one of my favorite treatments at a Korean bathhouse because a lady in bras and panties will slough off your dead skin using an exfoliating body mitt,” says Cho. To be precise, the mitt is an Italy towel, easily recognizable by its bright green, pink, yellow, and blue colors. “The Italy towel has been a bathhouse staple forever and spawned a whole generation of body exfoliation tools and textures,” says Lee. “Physical exfoliation fell out of favor for [K-beauty] facial skin care, but it’s in full force when it comes to the body.”
You might think that the popularity of physical scrubs would translate into hundreds of at-home body care options, but that’s not the case, at least not yet. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of Korean skin care options available for your face, K-beauty body care offerings are somewhat scant. “People assume K-beauty is all about skin care, but body care in Korea is surprisingly simple,” says Christina Han, co-founder of Sluff. “Go into any Olive Young in Seoul and there are entire floors dedicated to facial skin care. Ask where the body care is, and it's usually one shelf in the corner.”
So Han founded Sluff to make that shelf stretch a little further, and to recreate the bathhouse body scrub experience (but faster, easier, and possible from the comfort of your own shower, anywhere in the world). Her curated line includes an exfoliating Pre-Sluff Bar, an Italy towel-esque Mitt Duo, and nonsticky body lotion to slather all over when you’re done. Combined, they recreate the feeling of leaving the jjimjilbang — “your skin is baby soft; you feel reborn” — whenever you feel like it. “Without booking a spa appointment or getting naked in front of strangers,” says Han.
Han’s brand is one of several dreaming up genius ways to make the bathhouse experience more accessible worldwide. Others like Laundryoü, House of Balance, and Knock are also teasing out some of the best parts, from the poststeam toner splash to a pre-soaked body glove (more on those below). Lee says she’s also noticed shifts in K-beauty body care aimed at hydration. “Formulationwise, the bathhouse obsession with clean, deeply hydrated skin has pushed Korean body care toward a much more sophisticated moisture-barrier philosophy than Western body lotion ever really had,” she says.
Can Everyone Use Bathhouse-Inspired Korean Body Care?
Everyone can reap the benefits of bathhouse-inspired Korean body care. Better yet, the routine requires no more than three steps. Some enjoy a 10-step Korean skin care ritual, but if you’re not one of those people, rest assured that K-beauty body care involves far fewer products.
According to Han, “sluffing” and jjimjilbang-rooted body care works for all skin types, although those with especially sensitive skin should take care to be gentle. “You control the pressure, how often, and which areas need the extra attention,” she says. “Some people go all in once a week. Others just focus on rough spots like areas with [keratosis pilaris (KP)], elbows, and knees.” The benefits are immediate. “Softer, smoother skin; self-tanner goes on more evenly; old tans come off faster; ingrown hairs become less frequent; KP bumps are smoother; and for those who slather themselves in body creams and oils, these products will actually absorb better instead of sitting on top of dead skin,” she says. “It isn't about adding another cream to your routine; it's about removing what's standing in the way first. Once you get rid of the dead skin layer and product buildup barrier, everything you apply afterward works better.”
Aside from the extra-thorough exfoliation, Choi believes the intentional nature of bathhouse body care is something everyone can (and should) enjoy. “Many of us grew up with memories of our mothers or grandmothers asking us to soak in hot water before gently scrubbing our skin, or being scrubbed by the experienced ajummas at the bathhouse until your skin felt unbelievably soft,” she says. “It wasn't treated as a luxury. It was simply part of taking care of yourself.”
The Top K-Beauty Body Care Picks Inspired By Korean Bathhouse Traditions
If you’re headed to Seoul, you can find a jjimjilbang wherever you stay with minimal effort; just pick a direction and start walking. For those searching for one close to Incheon airport, Choi especially recommends Cimer at Paradise City. “It has a more modern, elevated feel while still incorporating many traditional Korean spa experiences,” she says. “I love that it combines pools, thermal baths, saunas, and classic jjimjilbang rooms in one beautifully designed space. If you land early on an overnight flight, spending a few relaxing hours there before checking into your hotel is a wonderful way to recover from jet lag and ease into your trip.”
For those staying at home, these scrubs, towels, gloves, and body toners will get you pretty close to the real thing.
