Decoded Korea

Most cosmetic products contain fragrance. A typical perfume or scented moisturizer uses dozens of individual fragrance compounds, blended together and listed on the label as a single word: "Parfum" or "Fragrance." That single word is about to get a lot more specific — in the EU, at least. EU Regulation 2023/1545, published in July 2023, expanded the list of fragrance allergens that must be individually named on cosmetic product labels from 24 to 80. New products placed on the EU market must comply by July 31, 2026. Existing products already on shelves have until July 31, 2028. We checked our 10-country regulatory database to see how many of these allergens are regulated elsewhere. What changed in the EU Before 2023, the EU required individual labeling for 24 fragrance allergens. If a product contained Linalool above 0.001% in a leave-on product (or 0.01% in a rinse-off product), the label had to say "Linalool" — not just "Parfum." Regulati...

Korea's chemical substance management system, K-REACH, tracks over 47,000 registered substances. Each one carries up to 9 regulatory flags — toxic, restricted, prohibited, priority management, CMR, accident preparedness, registration required, persistent organic pollutant, and Rotterdam Convention. Of those 47,000+, only 97 carry the "prohibited" flag. That is 0.2% of the database. These are substances where handling itself is banned in Korea — manufacturing, import, and use are all prohibited. We pulled the full list to see what Korea considers dangerous enough to ban entirely. What the 97 look like The 97 prohibited substances fall into a few recognizable groups. Banned pesticides — the largest group About half the list consists of pesticides that were widely used in agriculture before being phased out globally. Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, Heptachlor, Chlordan, Endosulfan, Paraquat, Parathion — names that show up in environmental science textbooks. Most of these ar...

Vitamin C serums are sold at 10%, 15%, 20%, and sometimes 30% concentration. These are high numbers for an active ingredient. For comparison, the EU recently capped retinol at 0.3% in most cosmetics. So how is 20% vitamin C legal when 0.3% retinol is the EU limit? Because no country regulates L-Ascorbic Acid concentration in cosmetics. None of the 10 markets in our database — EU, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, ASEAN, Brazil, Argentina, the US, or Canada — has a limit. 76 forms of vitamin C Our database contains 76 ingredients with "Ascorbic" or "Ascorbyl" in their INCI names. Vitamin C in skincare is not a single ingredient — it is a family of compounds, each with different stability, potency, and skin penetration characteristics. The ones consumers encounter most often: Form INCI name Characteristics L-Ascorbic Acid Ascorbic Acid Most potent, least stable. Requires low pH. The form used in 10–20% serums MAP Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate Stable,...

"Sulfate-free" is printed on shampoo bottles, body washes, facial cleansers, and toothpaste. The marketing message is the same one behind "paraben-free" — these ingredients are bad, and this product does not have them. We checked the two most feared sulfates — Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) — across our 10-country regulatory database. Neither one has a single regulatory restriction in any country we track. The sulfates that are actually regulated? Most consumers have never heard of them. What sulfates are Sulfates are surfactants — they make products foam and help remove oil and dirt from skin and hair. SLS and SLES are the two most common sulfates in personal care products. SLS is the stronger cleanser; SLES is a milder, modified version. The concern about sulfates is that they can strip natural oils from skin and hair, causing dryness and irritation — especially for people with sensitive skin, eczema, or color-treated hair. Th...

Retinol is probably the most recommended ingredient in skincare. Dermatologists recommend it. Beauty editors rank it above everything else. K-Beauty brands put it in serums, creams, and sleeping masks. It has decades of published research behind it. For most of that history, most countries did not regulate how much retinol a cosmetic product could contain. Canada had a limit (1.0% Retinol Equivalent), but Korea, Japan, China, the US, and the EU had none. That changed in April 2024, when the EU adopted Regulation 2024/996 and set concentration limits well below Canada's. We checked our database to see how this compares across 10 countries. What retinol is Retinol is a form of vitamin A. In skincare, it promotes cell turnover — old skin cells shed faster, new ones replace them. This is why retinol is used for fine lines, uneven skin tone, acne, and texture. It is one of the few cosmetic ingredients with clinical evidence supporting its anti-aging claims. Retinol is not a single...