“You’ve got to try rubber masking, man – it’ll change your life forever!” Coming from a beauty buddy stationed in Seoul? Challenge accepted.
But wait, what in Gaga’s name is a rubber mask? Consider this intriguing in-thing a “souped up” version of your standard sheet mask – and I mean that quite literally too, because you’re essentially stirring up a slurry from equal parts powder and warm water, which you whisk together to form a squishy salve that you can then slap onto your face.
As for the whys and wherefores, I’ll let celebrity cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson give her sciencey spiel. “The ‘rubber’ is formed when water activates a reaction between the alginate ingredients with the calcium sulfate and pyrophosphate,” Ni’Kita says. “As the formula ‘rubberises’, the skin is tightened, which provides a temporary firming effect.” Translation: This K-Beauty craze functions like a corset for your complexion. Take my money already!
Even better, the pulp’s porous properties means it acts like a thirsty sponge, sopping up serum and supercharging skin with all of the gloopy goodness that would otherwise go to waste by pooling in the packet of your conventional cotton mask. (Universal pet peeve: Fishing out face masks and creating a soggy mess on the sofa.)
Not completely convinced? Get a load of this: “Unlike most peel-off masks, [rubber masks] can be lifted away from skin very easily, and is often slathered all over the face, including over the eyes, eyebrows and lips,” notes Sarah Lee of seriously cool K-Beauty shopping portal Glow Recipe. (I order my Lindsay rubber masks off their site; the complexion-clarifying charcoal version is a crackin’ good choice for blasting away blackheads without leaving your face uncomfortably tight and stretchy.)
Bonus points for the masks’ Spiderman-worthy stretchiness. These babies boast a taffety-like texture that truly tightens every inch of your facial contours: Wrap it around your mien, splash off in the shower to reveal ravishingly radiant soft skin.
So, to recap. Reasons why you should swap your regular sheet masks for those made of rubber: They’re super absorbent, less messy and hence easier to apply; plus they’re perfect for use on even the most sensitive of skin. In short, masks made with this near-magical material are just darn good.
As it stands, rubber masks are still something of a nudge-nudge novelty that’s hard to find on the shelves of sunny Singapore, so if it blows up as the next big beauty thing in the coming year or two, you can say you heard it from me first!
