Men in Beauty: Meet the co-founder behind the world's first Peranakan skincare line

The founder: Raphael Jiang is the co-founder of Pera Skincare.

His background: A bad skin breakout a few years ago led Jiang to discover the efficacy of traditional Peranakan skincare remedies. “Nothing seemed to work,” recalls Jiang. “Until my co-founder, Michael Lim, a Peranakan himself, introduced me to a home remedy for pimples.” The breakouts subsided, and this piqued Jiang’s interest in Peranakan culture.

The brand: Combining age old knowledge with modern technology, Pera was born to take traditional Peranakan remedies into the future. Among other details, Jiang learnt that rose water, cucumber and banana were used in Peranakan beauty recipes. “Peranakan culture is very rich but it’s fading away, and I want to preserve it while sharing the efficacy of these traditional remedies,” he says.

So if you're keen to try Pera Skincare, here are some of our favourites that you can add to your collection.

This story was first published on Her World's June 2019 issue.

Other Men in Beauty Stories:

- MEN IN BEAUTY: SHINJI YAMASAKI ON HIS SKINCARE LINE THAT PROMISES TO GIVE YOU "MOCHI SKIN"

- MEN IN BEAUTY: FROM KNOWING NOTHING ABOUT SKINCARE TO MAKING HUXLEY A CULT-FAVOURITE LUXURY K-BEAUTY BRAND

- MEN IN BEAUTY: CLEAN BEAUTY ADVOCATE ERIC TAN OPENS UP ABOUT HIS VEGAN-FRIENDLY JAPANESE SKINCARE LINE