And as bad as all this sounds, it’s actually even worse. And while ALL the pictures are pretty distressing, one Reddit translator said that the truly gross thing wasn’t even pictured. “She says that after the fermented mask was made, before essence is added and sealed, they had to manually pick out particulate matter with tweezers.” Ew. Ew. Ew. But let us consider the source before we panic. This post was written back in 2011 by someone, who according to the translations, didn’t like her job much, nor was she given a lot of responsibility. That could have easily colored the way she recorded things. However, her assertions about industry-wide grossness are backed up by a 2014 investigation of a sheet mask factory that discovered that workers often smoked onsite. Folding masks in your home is technically illegal in South Korea, but because the skincare industry is so huge, a lot of people do it anyway. Racked summarizes the process like this: WeeklyDongA reports that a mask-folder earns “3 South Korean won for folding single sheets, which is equivalent to about 1/4 of a US penny. For folding masks with a backing layer workers could earn 4 to 5 won each.” Per Racked, for folding 1,200 sheet masks, a worker could be paid $3.21. That is some sweatshop-level unethical fuckery right there. While it’s difficult to tell if these issues are the result of unfair labor practices, unsanitary factory conditions, or a poorly regulated at-home industry, I think we can all agree that something bad is up here. It’s really bogus that something people buy as an affordable indulgence, or to take care of very real skin conditions, could actually be affecting their skin negatively.
title: “Some Korean Sheet Masks Might Be Secretly Disgusting” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-28” author: “Terri Lajara”
And as bad as all this sounds, it’s actually even worse. And while ALL the pictures are pretty distressing, one Reddit translator said that the truly gross thing wasn’t even pictured. “She says that after the fermented mask was made, before essence is added and sealed, they had to manually pick out particulate matter with tweezers.” Ew. Ew. Ew. But let us consider the source before we panic. This post was written back in 2011 by someone, who according to the translations, didn’t like her job much, nor was she given a lot of responsibility. That could have easily colored the way she recorded things. However, her assertions about industry-wide grossness are backed up by a 2014 investigation of a sheet mask factory that discovered that workers often smoked onsite. Folding masks in your home is technically illegal in South Korea, but because the skincare industry is so huge, a lot of people do it anyway. Racked summarizes the process like this: WeeklyDongA reports that a mask-folder earns “3 South Korean won for folding single sheets, which is equivalent to about 1/4 of a US penny. For folding masks with a backing layer workers could earn 4 to 5 won each.” Per Racked, for folding 1,200 sheet masks, a worker could be paid $3.21. That is some sweatshop-level unethical fuckery right there. While it’s difficult to tell if these issues are the result of unfair labor practices, unsanitary factory conditions, or a poorly regulated at-home industry, I think we can all agree that something bad is up here. It’s really bogus that something people buy as an affordable indulgence, or to take care of very real skin conditions, could actually be affecting their skin negatively.
title: “Some Korean Sheet Masks Might Be Secretly Disgusting” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-08” author: “Jefferson Guzman”
And as bad as all this sounds, it’s actually even worse. And while ALL the pictures are pretty distressing, one Reddit translator said that the truly gross thing wasn’t even pictured. “She says that after the fermented mask was made, before essence is added and sealed, they had to manually pick out particulate matter with tweezers.” Ew. Ew. Ew. But let us consider the source before we panic. This post was written back in 2011 by someone, who according to the translations, didn’t like her job much, nor was she given a lot of responsibility. That could have easily colored the way she recorded things. However, her assertions about industry-wide grossness are backed up by a 2014 investigation of a sheet mask factory that discovered that workers often smoked onsite. Folding masks in your home is technically illegal in South Korea, but because the skincare industry is so huge, a lot of people do it anyway. Racked summarizes the process like this: WeeklyDongA reports that a mask-folder earns “3 South Korean won for folding single sheets, which is equivalent to about 1/4 of a US penny. For folding masks with a backing layer workers could earn 4 to 5 won each.” Per Racked, for folding 1,200 sheet masks, a worker could be paid $3.21. That is some sweatshop-level unethical fuckery right there. While it’s difficult to tell if these issues are the result of unfair labor practices, unsanitary factory conditions, or a poorly regulated at-home industry, I think we can all agree that something bad is up here. It’s really bogus that something people buy as an affordable indulgence, or to take care of very real skin conditions, could actually be affecting their skin negatively.
