K-Pop Male Idols Are Shaving Their Armpit Hair

New summer etiquette? 🪒

안녕! It's Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a green chili salad, why K-Pop male idols are shaving their armpit hair, and a YouTube channel for Korean learners. Let’s start!

(Not Spicy) Green Chili Pepper Doenjang Salad

10000 recipe

Today’s food is a healthy salad or side dish that Koreans enjoy when having grilled meat or fresh raw fish. It’s “오이고추 된장무침” or green chili pepper seasoned with doenjang sauce. In Korea, there are many kinds of green chili peppers. One of them is “오이고추” which literally means “cucumber chili.” It tastes not spicy at all just like cucumber. So Koreans often dip the chili in doenjang sauce to eat or make a chili salad with the sauce. The salad will make a great side dish for your pasta or steak. When you don’t have green chili pepper that is not spicy, you can use cucumber instead. It’ll still be great since cucumber goes really well with doenjang. Watch the cooking video and try making it for yourself!

Tip. Add 1 tablespoon of honey to the doenjang sauce and thank me later! 😋

K-Pop Male Idols Are Shaving Their Armpit Hair

WOODZ @QgQG9Jo8F3mIVVI

As the weather gets warmer and K-Pop idols’ stage costumes are becoming shorter, there’s one thing that is being seen more: male idols’ shaved armpits. Those shaved underarms even have a name. It’s “클겨” meaning “clean armpits” in Korean. “클” came from the English word, “clean” which is pronounced as “클린” in Korean, and “겨” came from “겨드랑이” meaning “armpit.” If you search “클겨” on Twitter or TikTok, you’ll see many K-Pop male idols dancing on stage and showing off their “clean armpits.”

The trend started a few years ago. Though I can’t pinpoint which idol started first or when exactly it started, there was one incident that is believed to have triggered the trend. In 2017, a trainee from Produce 101, a reality television talent competition show based around the formation of a K-Pop boy group, was doing a live communicating with fans. He raised his arm during the live and his armpit hair was shown because he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. His gif went viral for his thick hair. Fans’ reactions were not good. This was the moment when untrimmed armpit hair on boy idols became a turn-off among K-Pop fans, and as a result, became a kind of taboo among male idols.

Renjun @NCTsmtown_DREAM

Another cause that accelerated the “clean armpits” trend is the change of male idols’ fashion style. With boy groups starting to take on a more feminine style in their fashion, such as eye makeup, cropped t-shirts, and long hair, their armpit hair, which is considered a masculine characteristic, no longer suits their new look.

Some complain that adult males’ armpits without hair look weird. Key from SHINee, a K-Pop boy group, once said, “I don’t want to look like a person who didn’t have puberty. It’s weird to have too much, but you need a bit (of hair).”Despite the criticism, the trend seems to continue for a while, as the majority of fans love their idols’ hairless armpits. While I’m not sure whether international fans feel the same way, I saw many Korean fans’ positive reactions online saying that shaved armpits make not only idols but also males in general look clean, well-groomed, and even sexy.

Will this trend become a new summer etiquette for males, just like putting on deodorant? 🤔 What’s your take on this trend? Let me know in the comments!

Mini Korean Lesson) Summer is coming

Let’s learn some expressions about summer etiquettes in the above article.

1. 제모하다: to shave/remove hair

   겨드랑이 제모했어? Did you shave armpit hair?

2. 데오드란트(를) 바르다: to put on deodorant

   헐, 데오드란트 바르는 거 깜빡했어. OMG, I forgot to put on deodorant.

I’d like to share a news video clip 👆 about the upcoming coronation of Great Britain’s King Charles III. Watching Korean news can be a great way to learn the Korean language, and picking news that you’re familiar with will help you understand it better. So, I selected this video for you. I hope it helps :D The YouTube channel this video is from has many other news videos, so you can also check those out. My recommendations are the massive ticket resales of Bruno Mars’ Seoul concert, EXO’s Kai’s military enlistment, and the drone attack on the Kremlin.

📢 Before wrapping up, I want to say something. These days, I’m having a hard time due to a lack of motivation 🫠 I can’t get myself to do things I had been doing easily and happily, like writing my newsletter, recording podcast, and others. This is why there have been no podcast episodes and unplanned breaks. I’m trying my best to overcome this, but in the meantime, I can’t guarantee the usual weekly newsletter and podcast. Please excuse me for possible breaks and delays in the future.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, like ❤️👇, leave a comment, share, or make a donation to support me. It’ll help me keep writing! I’ll be back next week, hopefully. 안녕!