Global Survey Reveals Most Skin-Confident Countries

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How comfortable are you in your skin? If you live in North America, the answer is most likely very! Clarisonic and Harris Poll conducted a survey of 10,000 adults worldwide to uncover skincare attitudes and behaviors in celebration of Healthy Skin Month in November.

Countries whose respondents reported being “proud to show off their skin without anything on it” were Canada and the United States with 28 percent and 27 percent respectively, the United Kingdom with 25 percent, China and France at 20 percent, South Korea at 12 percent and Japan at 10 percent.

Interestingly, women and men appeared to have equal levels of skin confidence, but overall skin confidence was relatively low across the surveyed countries.

Clear Skin

Thirty-one percent of adults worldwide agreed that they feel more confident when their skin is clear and healthy-looking. This is especially true for China, with 53 percent of respondents agreeing, the U.S. with 32 percent, Canada and the U.K. with 31 percent each, Germany with 29 percent of respondents in agreement, South Korea with 28 percent, France with 26 percent and Japan with 19 percent.

Firm and Youthful

Twenty-three percent of adults globally report feeling more confident when their skin is firm and youthful-looking. This was true for 43 percent of respondents in China, 23 percent in Japan, 22 percent in the U.K., 21 percent in South Korea, 19 percent in France and the U.S., and 17 percent in Canada and Germany.

Sacrificing for Perfection

When asked to pick their top beauty wish, respondents from South Korea showed a clear preference for perfect skin (34 percent) over everything else. Adults in China (21 percent) and Japan (20 percent) placed perfect skin as second to a toned body (53 percent versus 46 percent, respectively).

In exchange for a lifetime of great skin, 33 percent of participants globally were most willing to give up chocolate/sweets, while 24 percent were willing to give up social media. Meanwhile, 15 percent of respondents were willing to give up vacations, shopping (14 percent), sex (13 percent), smartphones (11 percent) and electronic entertainment (10 percent) in exchange for perfect skin. China ranked the highest at giving up sweets (62 percent) and France ranked the highest at giving up social media (34 percent).

Skin Confidential

Almost half (47 percent) of all global adults who suffer from acne or blemishes admit that there are times when they don't feel confident about their skin, with South Korea (78 percent), China (67 percent) and Japan (64 percent) reporting the highest responses and the U.S. reporting the lowest (30 percent).

Additionally, Chinese and South Korean adults who have suffered from blemishes or acne were the top two countries that reported not going to an important event (24 percent and 14 percent), postponing an important event (19 percent and 17 percent) or cancelling plans with friends (31 percent and 24 percent) because they weren't feeling confident about their skin.

Additionally, adults in China were most likely to admit they feel embarrassed if caught in public without makeup (22 percent) and that they would never allow themselves to be photographed without makeup (16 percent). The countries with the least concern about being in public or photographed without makeup were Germany and France.

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