Author: Dan Hastings

After attending a slew of K-pop concerts, Melissa Alfer noticed something incongruous.The audiences at the shows she attended in the US and Europe were overwhelmingly attended by fans with melanin-rich skin, including Black, Latino and hijabi teens and twentysomethings. But K-beauty, another key element of Korean culture, seemed to exclude them. “Melanin-rich consumers love K-beauty, but K-beauty wasn’t designed with us in mind,” Alfer told The Business of Beauty. “They’re fluent in Korean culture, but not reflected in the skincare made in Korea.” Her observation dovetails with data. In a recent report released in September, market research firm Mintel found…