How a Surgeon, Beauty Founder, and Mom of 3 Finds Peace in the Mornings
JULIE CHUNG |co-founder of T3
Julie Chung is a self-proclaimed fashion and beauty enthusiast. On Mondays, you’ll find the physician and surgeon at UCLA Health performing glaucoma and cataract surgeries, often in Miu Miu sneakers. The rest of the week, she trades her scrubs for her favorite jacket from The Row and heads to the T3 office in Santa Monica in founder mode. It’s a master class in switching between high-stakes roles...before even accounting for her role as a mom of three.
For a long time, though, she kept her love of beauty and fashion quietly on the back burner. As the daughter of a Korean immigrant and ICU nurse, the pinnacle of success was becoming a doctor. But while Chung was a medical student, her future husband and T3's cofounder, Kent Yu, noticed that drying her thick hair was the most frustrating part of her morning routine. So Yu—who comes from a family of hairdressers—designed a sleek, lightweight hair-dryer for Chung, which later became the first electrical device sold at Sephora. Twenty years later, the husband-and-wife founders are running T3 together and leading the charge when it comes to creating lightweight, high-tech hair tools that prioritize hair health (and look chic on your vanity).
Juggling school drop-offs, long hours as a surgeon, and running a company requires efficiency—she’s learned to streamline every step of her routine, whether it’s getting dressed, doing her makeup, or styling her hair. (The one step she never skips: washing her hair every single morning.) She's also incredibly selective about the products that make it into her routine: “Being discerning about what you use is not only more effective; it’s more efficient. You can get out the door faster.”
5:15 a.m.
I have three kids—twin 13-year-olds, and a 9-year-old boy. The only way I can find peace and quiet in the morning is to wake up way earlier than everyone else.
I'll check my texts really quickly because my husband, Kent, who’s also my work partner, will text me all the way through 2 a.m.
I grew up with a Korean mom whose morning was always a ritual. She had to do all the things to make sure her makeup and her hair were done. Because I grew up in that environment, the morning is my time. I prefer my husband doesn't talk to me about work so I can be completely by myself.
I run downstairs to grab a cup of coffee for me and Kent. I’ll try to eat at least two hard-boiled eggs and maybe some cottage cheese. A friend of mine practices traditional Chinese medicine and encouraged me to start my day with warm water mixed with manuka honey, lemon, and flaxseeds.
5:30 a.m.
I'll take a shower, and I wash my hair every single day, which I know my colorist really hates, but I have to wash my hair because it makes me feel awake. One of the goop beauty products I have really fallen in love with that a friend of mine gifted me for my birthday two years ago is the Himalayan Salt Scalp Scrub Shampoo. I use that at least once or twice a week because my hair is extremely thick and can get oily. It's a great way to get rid of any buildup and to stimulate my scalp.
I'm a big ttaemiri girl–a Korean practice that involves doing a body soak and scrubbing off the top layer of your skin with a mitt–but as I’ve gotten older, I don’t like tugging on my skin like that. I've leaned into exfoliant scrubs in the shower, and I really enjoy the Microderm Instant Glow Body Polish. I also try to dry brush once or twice a week. I bought my first dry brush because I heard Gwyneth talking about it.
5:45 a.m.
After my shower, I dry my hair with the Aire 360 blow-drying concentrator, and then I use my airbrush attachment. It’s what’s kept me from doing Japanese straight perms. The ceramic base of the airbrush helps smooth out my hair and prevents it from getting frizzy. I have a UK version as well for travel. I'll use the curler-straightener sometimes if I feel like styling my bangs—I'll straighten that out because my hair is a little coarse and frizzy.
I'll usually put in a heat protectant, but I'd be lying if I told you I use it all the time. My hair is very healthy and our tools are created to promote hair health as they aren’t extremely hot. We use this concept of soft air where it's a low-velocity and low-heat volume of air coming out that dries your hair just as fast as high velocity, high heat.
After I style my hair, I have to put in some sort of oil. I love Mara Roszak’s products. I think they’re fantastic. I add her hair oil to add some gloss and to tame flyaways.
6:00 a.m.
To keep my mornings simple, I go for a no-makeup makeup look. Moisturizing really well is important. First, I have to use vitamin C, which helps activate sunscreen, and as a Korean woman battling melasma, vitamin C plus a sunscreen is super important to me.
I follow with a nourishing face cream like the Youth-Boost NAD+ Peptide Rich Cream and the Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen. I try not to wear any foundation, so I’ll just dab a little bit of the Westman Atelier Vital Skincare Concealer right around my nose and eyes.
I used to be a powder blush girl for a long time until I went to the goop store at the Brentwood Country Mart and I tried the Colorblur Glow Balm. I like to apply the balm with my fingertips for a more flushed, natural look. (My go-to shade is Venus.) I really just prefer blush balms, and that one's definitely a favorite.
Then I swipe a little bit of the Hydra-Barrier Gel Gloss in Fig, which my daughter frequently steals to add to her “mini Sephora” in her bathroom. I find it has staying power and is very nourishing, so that’s something I like in my bag. Lastly, I brush up my eyebrows using the Kosas Air Brow Tinted Volumizing Treatment Gel.
6:15 a.m.
Clothing is a way I express myself–I probably spend a little bit more time than others looking at my clothes and deciding what to wear, even if it turns out I'm only wearing a great cashmere sweater and jeans.
I pay attention to accessories, because if I look and feel cute that day, then it's just something else off my mind. I have a clothing rack outside my closet—consider it an edit. I put out two weeks' worth of things that I would like to wear. It streamlines my morning because otherwise I'd be sitting in a pile of clothes, completely flummoxed and confused.
6:30 a.m.
My kids start waking up and I have to get them fed and dressed. I’ll do little things with my kids and, even though I’m busy, I want them to know that I’m present. I'll ask them what they're looking forward to in the upcoming day, and if there’s anything that they're worried about.
I think, as a full-time working mom, there's a lot of guilt. And so I try to make that morning a time where I can, even if it's for five minutes or even two minutes, I like to make sure that my kids feel really connected to me before I send them off.
7:30 a.m.
If I drive the twins to school, I leave the house at 7:20. If Kent drives them, I'll take my 9-year-old to school, which is 10 minutes away.
We have this really beautiful school community, where I have a lot of amazing women friends—it’s a great time for me to walk my kid into school and drop him off in a way that makes him feel happy, but also to connect with other women. That is very much a part of my morning: connecting with the immediate community around me.
Our T3 office is in Santa Monica, so I'm really lucky to have a 10-minute commute. We're only three days in office, but that in office time is so important to align with your team. I just feel really blessed to be able to do many different things that scratch the itch of different sides of me. And yet I'm making it happen. I don't know if I'm making it happen at 110 percent, but I'm trying my best.