On October 25, 2024, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) revealed the inspection results of 151 online postings for cosmetics claiming to alleviate hair loss symptoms. In total, 67 cases were identified as false and exaggerated advertising in violation of Article 13 of the Cosmetics Act, prohibiting “improper labeling and advertising practices”. These postings will be blocked from access under MFDS requests. Additionally, among the 67 improper cases, 27 postings directly promoted by the responsible cosmetic sellers were found illegal via on-site inspections, resulting in administrative penalties.

Looking into the 27 illegal cases subject to administrative penalty, 21 raise concerns about misleading consumers into perceiving cosmetics as pharmaceuticals, accounting for 77.8%. In particular, some products claimed unverified medical benefits such as “promoting new hair growth,” “improving hair thickness,” “preventing hair loss,” “hair loss prevention,” and “reducing inflammation.” The rest 6 advertisements, representing 22.2%, could deceive consumers or create misconceptions that diverge from the facts, such as “no animal testing”.

According to the authority, for cosmetics with the claim of aiding in the alleviation of hair loss symptoms, enterprises should submit test data regarding human applications to MFDS to obtain a functional cosmetic recognition. Such test data includes evaluations of hair density (1 cm²) in test and control groups, expert visual assessments, etc. Moreover, even for recognized functional cosmetics, advertising that may mislead consumers into perceiving cosmetics as therapeutic products is prohibited.

Examples of Noncompliance Advertising：

Examples of Noncompliance Advertising	Illegal Advertising Phrases
	Promoting hair growth (모발 성장을 촉진)
	The product contains various peptides that promote   new hair growth. (새로운 모발 성장을 촉진하는 각종 펩타이드가)
	No animal tests (동물 실험 없이 만든) (Notes: As South Korea bans animal testing on distributed cosmetics, cosmetic enterprises shall not advertise “no animal testing” as an advantage of their products.)

Reference links: South Korea Cosmetics Registration

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