Parkgabun – Korea¡¯s 1st Beauty Powder

Women want to look beautiful. That¡¯s why many women are interested in makeup products. Have you ever wondered since when Korean women started using makeup products? Here¡¯s the story.

The first official makeup product in Korea is called ¡®Parkgabun (¹Ú°¡ºÐ).¡¯ ¡®Park,¡¯ as you know, is a common family name in Korea, ¡®ga¡¯ here means family and ¡®bun¡¯ means powder in Korean. Therefore, ¡®Parkgabun¡¯ means ¡®Powder made by the Park family.¡¯

Parkgabun was sold by a merchant named Park Seung-jik. His wife made this makeup powder using burned shells, rice, wheat, and kudzu. Its color was white.

Parkgabun was trademarked in 1920. It became so popular among women at that time. More than 10,000 boxes were sold a day.

However, there was one problem. Parkgabun contained lead to make the powder stick firmly to the skin. This caused serious skin problems. By 1937, Parkgabun disappeared from the market.

Nowadays, many Korean companies make good quality makeup products. With them, of course, more and more women become beautiful.