[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] A strange sight has been unfolding at Olive Young stores and drugstores recently. Consumers, while selecting shampoo or cosmetics, are taking photos of the back of the product with their smartphones. Instead of capturing the pretty packaging or the model's face, they're taking pictures of the "full ingredient list" printed in tiny print.

 

If you upload the photos to an ingredient analysis app like Hwahae, Glowpick, or Picku, the app will immediately analyze the product's ingredients and provide information on potential allergens, EWG ratings, and the type of surfactant used. If you like the product, buy it. If you see any suspicious ingredients, put it back on the shelf.

 

This "all-ingredient filtering" trend is rapidly spreading, especially among the MZ generation. According to Open Survey's "Beauty Trend Report 2020," 70% of consumers said they consider ingredients when making purchases. Fashion platform ZigZag also analyzed search data from April 2024 and reported that ingredient-related searches tripled year-over-year, while indie beauty brand transactions increased 46-fold.

 

The Birth of the Full Ingredients List: A System Created by Consumer Harm

 

While the full ingredient list for cosmetics is now taken for granted, it harbors a history of consumer harm. In the early 2000s, a series of cosmetic side effects issues arose in Korea. In particular, the 2006 heavy metal contamination incident in the luxury Japanese cosmetic brand SK-II sent shockwaves throughout the industry.

 

When the General Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection of China announced that banned ingredients such as chromium and neodymium were detected in SK-II cosmetics imported from Japan, the controversy spread from China to Korea. Since then, heavy metals have been detected in whitening cosmetics, and complaints of skin problems after using products for infants and young children have rapidly increased. In 2007, consumer anxiety reached its peak, with skin rashes, hives, and chronic itching caused by cosmetics accounting for 4.4% of all reports of harmful effects received by the Korea Consumer Agency.

 

At the time, consumers' demands were simple: "I want to know what's in the products I use." However, there was no requirement to disclose all ingredients at the time, and companies refused to disclose them, citing "trade secrets."

 

This was followed by ongoing concerns raised by consumer groups, national petitions, and legislative action. Ultimately, in 2008, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety implemented the "Mandatory Labeling of All Cosmetic Ingredients System," mandating the labeling of all cosmetic containers and packaging.

 

In this way, the full ingredient list is a trace of a system created in response to consumers' demands for safety, and is a kind of promise made between companies and consumers.

 

The full ingredient list exists but has become 'unreadable information'

 

Seventeen years later, is the ingredient list truly fulfilling its purpose? Unfortunately, the reality is not so.

 

All ingredients are listed using the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI), transliterated or translated into Korean. Therefore, most product ingredient lists are littered with chemical terms like "purified water," "sodium laureth sulfate," and "cocamidopropyl betaine." While these appear to be Korean, they are actually closer to scientific terms that require expert interpretation, making them difficult for the average consumer to understand.

 

Adding to this the problem of excessively small font sizes, consumers have been repeatedly responding with, “I can’t see the font,” “I can’t understand what it says,” and “I give up on reading it” when they want to check the ingredient list.

 

This problem is particularly evident in shampoos. Because ingredients lists must be listed in descending order of concentration, the first ingredient in most shampoos is purified water. While there are no specific cosmetics standards for purified water, water is used after impurities have been removed through ion exchange, distillation, or reverse osmosis, following official regulations such as the Korean Pharmacopoeia (KP).

 

KP and over-the-counter drug standards specify test parameters, such as pH 5.0-7.0, and manufacturers are required to use purified water that meets these standards. However, the full ingredient list does not specify the process used to produce the water or the grade of purified water. This creates a structural paradox, making it difficult for consumers to properly understand the properties of purified water, which accounts for 50-70% of the product's contents, and its impact on the scalp.

 

The Emergence of the "Decoding Consumer": Reading Products by Ingredients

 

However, changes in consumer behavior have been evident in recent years. The ingredient analysis app "Hwahae" surpassed 12 million cumulative downloads as of 2024, and the number of users of ingredient analysis apps like Glowpick is steadily increasing. The increasing number of consumers taking photos of all ingredients in offline stores is also in line with this trend.

 

The criteria for selecting products are also changing. In the past, consumers chose products based on brand recognition, fragrance, model, and advertising imagery. Now, they consider the first ingredient, the type of surfactant, whether alcohol, silicone, or fragrance is included, and whether the content is clearly labeled.

 

This shift in perception is growing increasingly widespread, intertwined with the prudent consumption culture of the MZ generation. For them, purchasing a product is not simply a matter of consumption; it's an act of putting their values ​​into practice. This is why keywords like clean beauty, vegan beauty, and sustainability are no longer mere buzzwords but rather purchasing criteria.

 

The emergence of a brand that "doesn't hide" its full ingredient list.

 

Amidst this shift, some brands have begun using ingredient lists beyond mere legal obligations as a "window to brand philosophy." Instead of vague terms like "additive-free" or "hypoallergenic," they're disclosing the type and content of ingredients in numerical form.

 

Brands promoting clean beauty are transparently disclosing their base ingredients and emphasizing vegan certification and EWG Green Grade ingredients to enhance their credibility. Full ingredient lists are evolving beyond mere legal obligations into a tool for building trust between brands and consumers.

 

Hiniis Creates a 'Readable Ingredient List'

 

A representative brand that has joined this trend is Hiniis. This brand has attempted to differentiate itself from the start, starting with its full ingredient list.

 

The most striking feature is the base ingredient. Unlike typical shampoos and scalp tonics that use purified water, Hiniis uses cypress water from Chukryeongsan Mountain in Jangseong, Jeollanam-do. Rather than simply stating "contains cypress," the product clearly states the ingredients: 79% for the scalp tonic and 45% for the shampoo. This numerical representation clearly shows what makes up more than half of the product.

 

Furthermore, Hiniis even lists the essential oil content in parts per million (ppm). This contrasts sharply with the practice of vaguely labeling essential oils or plant extracts as "contains a small amount." ppm is a unit 1,000 times larger than ppb, allowing for more specificity in determining the content.

 

This approach leaves consumers free to judge a product by its "visible structure." This is the moment when the ingredient list is no longer a nuisance hidden in small print, but rather the most honest brand description.

 

The truth is always on the back… and the true value of a product is revealed.

 

A full ingredient list isn't just a legal requirement; it's a blueprint for the substances we apply to our skin and scalp every day.

 

The moment you start reading the back of your shampoo bottle, consumption changes. Consumers evaluate products based on their ingredients, not their fragrance or advertising. Brands are validated not by their words, but by the sincerity behind them.

 

The mandatory ingredient labeling system, introduced in 2008 to protect consumers, is finally finding its true meaning after 17 years. The era of hiding ingredient lists in small print is over. Brands' new challenge is to create information consumers can read, understand, and make informed choices about.

 

The reason Generation MZ takes pictures of the back of shampoo bottles is simple: the truth is on the back, not the front.