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Instead, they were filledwith condoms.
Courtesy of brand
Her own experience buying protection for the first time was one of the major inspirations for starting the brand.
“The entire experience was horrible,” Park says.
“Every single product was super masculine with hypersexualized images, and their messages were all toward male satisfaction.
The signature BIAS three-piece Premium Condom
It didn’t feel like those products belonged to me.”
Still, K-beauty’s sexual wellness wave isn’t exactly a sign of rising sex positivity in South Korea.
“I was kind of indoctrinated into staying naive about anything related to sex,” Park shares.
Courtesy of brand
“I thought to be a ‘good girl,’ I should be like that.”
In her late twenties, she finally came to terms with the toll that ideology was taking on her.
Over coffee, Son mentions you might’t searchany termsrelated to sex without verifying your age.
The founders of Rael
With these barriers, “People don’t knowhow to use lube.
They don’t how to put on a condom,” Jang adds.
In fact, Son mentions, the Korean language doesn’t even have a word for intimacy.
The founders of Riley House
“I remember Mina’s mom saying, ‘Can I use this on my face?'”
Suddenly, K-beauty’s feminine wash selection went from sparse to abundant in the past couple of years.
Popular K-beauty brands, likeDr.
Courtesy of brand
G,Primera, andIlliyoon, have even jumped in on the trend by releasing feminine washes.
(The brands often call it “Y-zone care” to skirt the issue.)
However, Park suspects there’s something more sinister behind big brands entering this market.
Rael’s personal care line.
“We are taught that vulvas and vaginas are ‘dirty,'” she tellsAllure.
And if we ‘clean it,’ then, we can make the itch and pain go away."
Vaginas don’t need to becleaned, though.
They can even worsen underlying skin conditions and strip away the vagina’s natural moisturizers.
Feminine washes were just the beginning.
Ads for them are all over social media, Park says.
Son and Jang want to show the world that K-beauty goes far beyond the saturated skin-care market.
Then, her mother would help herscrub her body, and she’d do the same for her.
“This was a weekly ritual for my family,” Jang says.
Jang walked Son through the routine that she was raised on.
Jang, who’s known Son since 2017, walked her through the routine that she was raised on.
Rael is no different.
It launched avulva care linein 2021 following the success of itsperiod productsand menstrual cycle-inspiredskin-care line.
“We don’t have any shametalking about vulvas,” she adds.
Rael’s personal care line.
Park considers herself to be one of those discerning women.
Gynecologists echo Park’s driving concern for SAIB’s condoms, too.
“Certain chemicals, like spermicides, and even sperm itself can change the pH of the vagina.”
We don’t have any problems with selling these products with these ingredients.
Why are you creating such noise to disrupt the market?'"
If anything, SAIB and its competitors are proof of concept women buy condoms.
