Over the years, K-Beauty, alias Korean beauty, has exploded in popularity around the world. From skin hydration, luminosity, brightening, smoothing and more, K-Beauty products have been revolutionary for all skin types.
Known for using creams rather than powders, K-Beauty is dedicated to developing products that will truly be absorbed into the skin.
They focus on natural sources, rather than artificial ingredients. Ingredients like snail mucin, licorice root, green tea leaves, fermented rice water, and many more have been used for their holistic benefits.
Their foundations focus specifically on compact pillows and SPF 35 sunscreens that emphasize proper blend and skin protection.
While K-Beauty continues to be the pinnacle of beauty care for many, their products weren’t designed for everyone.
Most K-Beauty brands does not offer nuances for those with darker skin tones. With Korean beauty standards that are prone to lighter skinBlack people are often completely excluded from the Korean beauty industry.
Fortunately, a woman is working hard to close this gap. Her name is Grace Okafor. Okafor is the founder of the first and only Black-owned K-Beauty brand created by a black woman for black women: Dr. Gio Cosmetics.
How Dr. Gio Cosmetics started
How Dr Gio Combines K-Beauty With African Culture
While Dr. Gio has just presented a few products to get started so far, Okafor has plenty of ideas on the horizon. One such idea is to incorporate its Nigerian culture into the Korean culture of the K-Beauty brand, especially with unique, nutrient-dense ingredients from Nigeria and some from Korea.
“I said, ‘Let’s start with the name, then through the names we can let people know where I’m from, what Africa is.’ Many African Americans say they don’t really learn about African culture in American schools.
Dr Gio Ultra 7 Brightening Foundation Cushion comes in six flattering shades for darker skin tones and will add even more in the future.
Each is inspired and named after the Nigerian tribes. For example, the color Aisha is inspired by Hausa tribe, while the additional colors are named after other tribes and even people in Okafor’s life.
In the future, Okafor hopes to incorporate even more cultural information about each project. “We want to include it so that when you buy something, you really know what you bought, what it represents. We provide everything in addition to the ingredients. We hope to add more cultural ingredients from Africa.
The ingredients make Dr. Gio’s foundation ideal for all skin types
Okafor remains true to K-Beauty’s awe of the powerful natural products that fill its cushion foundations.
Each foundation contains SPF 50 PA +++ (sun protection), hyaluronic acid (moisture retention), collagen (skin elasticity), shea butter (softens the skin), niacinamide (brightening and exfoliating), tea tree oil (soothing skin), adenosine (anti-aging), vitamin C (antioxidant and minimizes pores) and Centella Asiatica (anti-inflammatory moisturizer).
Each weighs 0.45 oz, and they’re best for hydrating, brightening, and anti-aging. For oily skin, it may be useful to add a translucent powder.
One of the best features of this foundation is that it is actually developed to work with face masks, especially to meet pandemic demands without having foundation all over the mask.
“We have infused cosmetics for the skin, so you don’t have to worry about rashes. So we have some ingredients like tea tree etc. In Korea, everything revolves around natural ingredients, and they try as much as possible to integrate nature into the beauty industry, ”Okafor explains.
A look at how Dr Gio hopes to develop
Although Dr Gio has already had an impressive start, there are many developments to come. Okafor wants customers to be patient as more shades are developed to cover as many skin tones as possible.
She also hopes her leadership in K-Beauty inclusivity will encourage other brands to do the same.
“I believe in K-Beauty. I’m opening a way so that tomorrow you can start seeing a lot of shades for blacks and dark skin tones. Once the big companies see what I’m doing I’m not sure, but maybe I would hold the light to them, which is good, and that’s actually what I want, ”says Okafor.
She realizes that the big K-Beauty companies have the wherewithal to really grow and expand their color offerings to a large audience, which is difficult for small and new businesses like hers to do.
“With what I’m doing today, they can create a line that’s for us. They have the facilities, they have the research, everything. So now they can understand that we need it and create something for us that will make it popular and accessible to more people. I think in the next couple of years, K-Beauty for Blacks will be huge.
Dr Gio is looking to expand the nuances soon, so fans can keep an eye out for new options to come. Dr. GIO Ultra 7 Brightening Foundation Pillows cost approximately $ 35 USD, excluding shipping.
BGN is certainly excited to see Dr. Gio’s impact on the K-Beauty industry, hoping to further catalyze a range of new options and products.
