Heat haze rises over Yeouidae-ro in Seoul on Tuesday morning. [Herald DB]
Heat haze rises over Yeouidae-ro in Seoul on Tuesday morning. [Herald DB]

As an extreme heat wave continues to grip the country, consumers are opening their wallets for a range of beauty and fashion products designed to beat the heat.

Industry sources say stock of the limited-edition cooling shampoo "Extra Cool Fresh" — launched Friday by Gravity, a hair care brand developed by a team led by KAIST professor Lee Hae-shin — is selling out rapidly. Word of mouth has spread calling it an "air conditioner shampoo" for its long-lasting cooling sensation. The product was marketed from the outset with the condition that it would disappear when summer ends, meaning no additional production will follow once current stock runs out.

The shampoo retains its efficacy as a functional hair-loss-relief product while also cooling the scalp and maintaining hair volume in the hot, humid summer environment. Its formulation reflects the insight that summer hair flatness results not from heat alone but from the combined effect of heat and humidity. Clinical trials confirmed a 5.05-degree Celsius drop in scalp temperature and a 16.91 percent improvement in scalp-soothing effect immediately after use.

Amorepacific's Labo-H launched a scalp-dedicated UV protection line, "UV Protector 365" (SPF50+), in May, while Dr. ForHair released upgraded versions of its "Aero Cooling" shampoo and spray the same month, intensifying competition to lower scalp temperatures. With the heat wave adding fuel to the trend, cooling shampoo and treatment sales at E-mart jumped 23.6 percent year-on-year last month.

Gravity's limited-edition "Extra Cool Fresh" shampoo [Provided by Polyphenol Factory]
Gravity's limited-edition "Extra Cool Fresh" shampoo [Provided by Polyphenol Factory]

A broad range of other cooling beauty and fashion products are also drawing strong consumer interest. On the fashion platform Zigzag, sales of cooling shirts surged 1,429 percent year-on-year between July 25 and early August. On 29CM, transactions for cooling pads jumped 206 percent and seersucker shirts 164 percent in July. At CJ Olive Young, makeup fixer sales soared 864 percent year-on-year during July.

CJ Olive Young's "Cooling Special Exhibition" is being searched more than 20,000 times a week, and searches for "cooling no-sebum" products have surged 19-fold — up 1,870 percent — compared to the same period last year. On the price-comparison platform Enuri, sales of Head & Shoulders Cool Menthol Shampoo (850 milliliters) and Dr. Ato Cooling Sun Spray (150 milliliters) rose 18 percent and 115 percent, respectively, from the previous month during the period from June 21 to July 20. At Daiso, which expanded its cooling product lineup from 70 to 90 items, a MagSafe smartphone fan sold out almost immediately after hitting shelves.

The phenomenon is not unique to Korea. In neighboring Japan, temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius were recorded for four consecutive days this summer in Mino, Gifu Prefecture. Shiseido released a freeze-and-use essence, and Unicharm launched a menthol sanitary pad and a cooling diaper that lowers the temperature inside the diaper by 2 degrees Celsius. "Demand has grown for products that reduce heat and help care for the scalp and skin during a record-breaking heat wave," an industry official said.


spa@heraldcorp.com