The beginning of K-beauty: dive into the beauty secrets of the Silla Kingdom

 Beauty and skincare in the Silla Kingdom

Hwarang, the K-drama.KBS2 

Beauty and skincare all over the world has roots going back thousands of years. In our school studies, we may have read about Egyptian or even Greek beauty care, but in the Middle Ages it seemed to have disappeared completely.In Europe, it was described as the Dark Ages, while in the other side of the world, beauty and skincare was taking off, as if we were talking about a different dimension.

In the following posts, I invite you on a journey through time to discover the origin of K-beauty.The  beauty rituals of Silla, Goryeo and Joseon, and to understand Korea today.

Queen Seondeok,Queen Seondeok series.MBC

The defining idea of beauty during the Silla Kingdom (57- 935 BC) was the so-called young-yook-il-chi-sa-sang( 영육일치사상), which means that a beautiful body is inhabited by a beautiful soul. Beauty was therefore extremely important to the people of Silla.They spent a lot of time on the care and styling of their hair as well as their clothing.

To emphasize their external wealth, what else could they use for jewellery making but gold.Some scholars have called this period flamboyant. There are even records that attractive appearance and a fair skin tone were  prerequisites for becoming a good leader. Even the legends of the founding of Silla (Samguk yusa,삼국유사) describe the founder Pak Hyeokgeose as a very handsome man and his wife as a very distinguished woman.

At the beginning of the period, make-up was not so heavy, but as time went on, it became more intense and colourful.Not only women used make-up during that time but also men.The most popular product was yeonji (연지), a red-coloured product made from safflower, which was used on the skin of the face or lips.

 They often had their eyebrows plucked out to make their faces look neater and their foreheads higher.Meemook (미묵), which was used to draw the eyebrows, was made by mixing cotton flower, burnt sesame seeds or ashes of beech and oak trees with soot. As the enthusiasm for make-up products grew, more and more related products began to be produced.As I mentioned earlier, light skin tone and beauty had both cultural and political importance.

Lady Mishil, Queen Seondeok series.MBC

The  people of Silla regularly took baths as part of their daily routine, as they believed that a pure body is accompanied by a pure heart.According to the Samguk yusa, when a sinner ran away, the community would bathe his remaining sons in a pond inside a palace as atonement for his sins. Later, bathhouses were opened and members of the nobility built their own baths in their homes, but the peasants could not afford them, so they visited the baths of Buddhist temples.

Long hair was popular among the ladies of Silla, which was adorned with various hair ornaments, and later wigs appeared, such as the so-called gachae ( 가채), which was a moulded, highly decorated type of wig.The Silla gachae were famous for their high quality during the period.

The famous figures of the Silla kingdom, Misil (미실), Queen Seondeok (선덕여왕), and the Hwarang (화랑) were all known for their beauty. Misil, known from the chronicle of the Hwarang saegi(화랑세기), is said to have been one of the most beautiful women in Korean history.She was an aristocrat whose historicity is debated,but according to Hwarang saegi thanks to her beauty she became the concubine for several kings. Queen Seondeok, the 27th ruler of Silla, the first queen of Korea was also known for her beauty besides her wit and wisdom.The hwarang, or flower knights,whose name is already tells a lot about them.They were young knights who were raised with a beautiful body and a beautiful soul.The hwarang wore elegant uniforms and decorated their hats with pearls.

So the selence of beauty has opened in the ancient Korea and we are ready to dive in more.In the upcoming part we are going to discover the beauty secrets of Goryeo.