Basic Skin Care Products in Japan

The first year I lived in Tokyo I relied on my family to send me American skincare products via-post because I was absolutely afraid and unknowledgeable about Japanese products.

Aside from the fairly straightforward face washes, everything else was totally foreign to me. There seemed to be no face creams or lotions whatsoever. Product lines had three or four different components to them. It was too confusing, too much, and relying on my family was the easiest and least stressful option (for me – not my poor mom who had to ship stuff to me!) But as my stay in Tokyo got longer and longer, I realized that I would at some point have to start using Japanese products.

Coming from the United States, my image of skincare was deep cleansing followed by a cream moisturizer and any spot treatments you might need (like acne or wrinkle treatments). The key to good skin was clean skin.

Japanese skin care takes a much different approach: good skin comes from thorough moisturizing. Cleansing is important, but it seems like the crux of skincare here relies upon the products you apply after cleansing.

Cleansers

I think face washes and cleansers are probably the most similar to what’s available in the United States (you can even buy Dove face wash if you want to!) Cream face washes are the most abundant, though cream scrubs, peeling gels and acne washes are are also easy to obtain. For daily cleansing, I recommend giving one of Biore’s face washes a try (left), or the cream cleanser from the Tonyuu Infurabon line (right). Both cleansers are gentle, lather up nicely, and can be used year-round. The Tonyuu Infurabon cleanser is also fragrance free.

Skin Conditioning with Keshousui

After washing your face, you’ll want to apply 化粧水 (keshousui) which is a moisturizing toner. Keshousui is a transparent, moisturizing liquid that you apply to the face with either cotton puffs or your bare hands. There are lots of different kinds of keshousui available that can do anything from simply moisturizing your skin, to whitening and even prevent wrinkling.

There are generally two basic varieties of keshousui on the market: しっとり (shittori) – moisturizing – and さっぱり (sappari) – “refreshing,” which is not as moisturizing. If you have extremely oily skin, a sappari moisturizer might work well for you. But be careful because over-cleansing can cause excess oil production, so if your skin feels tight, squeaky or dry after cleansing, try finding a gentler face wash and swithing to shittori keshousui instead.

A couple of very basic keshousui that are good to start out with are Barrier Repair (left) or Tonyuu Infurabon (right.) They’re both widely available, inexpensive and seem to be ok for sensitive or combo skin (which I have.)

Depending upon your skin type, the season, and what kind of effect you are looking for, you’ll probably want to experiment with your keshousui. If you’re experiencing extreme dryness, I’ve heard that products containing hyaluronic acid (ヒアルロン酸）can be especially effective.

Finishing with an Emulsion

I’ll admit that this is one area of skincare where I’m still not particularly familiar with the products, but essentially, after applying the keshosui, you finish with a creamy emulsion known as 乳液 (nyuueki). The consistency of a nyuueki falls somewhere between cream and liquid and, as far as I can tell, acts as a replacement for the cream moisturizers commonly found in the West.

I personally haven’t used any nyuueki long enough yet to provide recommendations, but as with the above, I’m sure the Infurabon line is a good place to start. Also, for those of you who prefer a cream moisturizer, Infurabon makes one (in fact, they seem to be one of the only drugstore companies to sell an actual cream in addition to nyuueki.)

If anyone has any recommendations for nyuueki please let me know! Also, I’m not being paid by SANA to publicize their Infurabon products. Rather, I’ve simply found that they’re budget friendly, gentle and kept my skin in good condition during both the summer and winter months.

Acne Products

Acne products with either salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide are unavailable (or simply do not exist) over the counter in Japan. Acne face washes, spot treatments and oral medicine for acne are all available at drug stores, but if you want anything stronger you’ll need to go to a dermatologist.

Dermatology (皮膚科 hifuka)  is covered by national medical insurance in Japan, so if you find yourself in need of acne medication at any point, a trip to your local dermatologist is all you need (and chances are it will be cheaper and more effective than what you could do with over the counter medicine.)

Makeup Removers

Makeup removers (メイク落とし meiku otoshi / 化粧落とし keshou otoshi）in Japan don’t differ much from their Western counterparts, with the most common kinds being either liquid removers or wipes. While I personally don’t tend to wear make up heavy or durable enough to require the daily use of makeup remover, I did stumble across a really fantastic remover when I had eyelash extensions:うる落ち水クレンジング (uru-ochi mizu kurenjingu)

Uru-ochi comes in a blue, pump-top bottle, is oil free, fragrance free and doubles as keshousui. I use this product primarily to remove eye makeup and what I love about uru-ochi is it doesn’t dry or irritate the skin around my eyes out like other removers have. Uru-ochi is readily available at drugstores, relatively inexpensive and safe to use on eyelash extensions.

Closing thoughts

There are a ton of skincare products on the market, so many that it would be difficult for me to provide a remotely comprehensive guide to products in Japan. However, I hope that this little post will help people become more familiar with Japanese skin care and perhaps even guide you to a couple of good products.

Also, a word of warning about skincare here: products containing collagen for external or internal use (such as collagen supplements) will do nothing for you skin! There are tons of collagen products saturating the Japanese market, all of which promise to give you beautiful, supple skin, but there is currently no medical data that proves collagen when ingested or applied externally has any effect at all. Don’t be fooled by the hype!