Your Ultimate Guide to Glass Hair (2025)

Newsflash: Korean hair-care products and their skin-care counterparts aren’t much different. Mentions of cica, peptides, niacinamide, salicylic acid, and ceramides make many of their ingredient lists nearly indiscernible from each other. But why are Korean skin-care and hair-care products so similar?

In short, K-beauty takes scalp care just as seriously as skin-care routines. Many even view the scalp as an extension of the face, and keeping both hydrated and nourished helps ward off fine lines and wrinkles. Most of all, scalp care is “ultimately what will save your hair,” Los Angeles-based hairstylist Cherin Choi tells Allure. It’s important to pay attention to how your scalp feels to better maintain your overall hair health, she adds.

Our Top Picks

• Our Favorite Korean Hair-Care Product: Dr. Groot Scalp Relief Tonic, $30
• Best Korean Hair-Care Product Under $10: Elizavecca CER-100 Collagen Ceramide Coating Protein Treatment, $8
• Best Korean Shampoo: Dr. Orga Alpine Rose Shampoo, $19
• Best Korean Conditioner: Free Moment Refresh Moment Perfume Treatment in 02 Fig Fog, $14
• Best Korean Hair Product for Frizzy Hair: Growus Damage Therapy No Wash Treatment, $26
• Best Korean Hair Product for Dry Hair: Unove Deep Damage Treatment Ex, $27
• Best Korean Hair Product for Curly Hair: British M Stylish Curl Cream, $24
• Best Korean Hair Product for Oily Hair: Aromatica Rosemary Root Enhancer, $17
• Best Korean Hair-Care Serum: Mise En Scene Perfect Serum, $12
• Best Korean Hair Oil: La’dor Perfumed Hair Oil, $33

So, what are the best Korean hair-care products in the game right now? Ahead, K-beauty industry insiders, as well as a hairstylist to popular K-pop groups and a former K-pop star who has dyed her hair dozens of times over the years, share their top picks.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Meet the experts
• How we test and review products
• Our staff and testers

Our Favorite Korean Hair-Care Product: Dr. Groot Scalp Relief Tonic

Why it’s worth it: Dr. Groot is one of the most popular Korean beauty brands for scalp care and hair loss treatments due to its esteemed credentials. Although Dr. Groot isn’t an actual person, the brand is supported by doctors who have performed extensive scalp and hair research, and every product is clinically tested for proven results. The Scalp Relief Tonic, in particular, eases itchiness and inflammation quickly with the help of soothing cica, chamomile, and rosemary oil, while hydrating panthenol, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid help prevent future dryness and flakiness from occurring.

Tester feedback: “No matter what I do, my scalp always gets itchy and flaky near the nape of my neck. Dr. Groot’s Scalp Relief Tonic imparts a cooling sensation as you spritz it on via menthol, bringing instant relief to that area,” shares former Allure editor Devon Abelman. “It dries down fast without any residual greasiness—just a spa-like lemongrass scent—so you can definitely use it on dry hair throughout the day. Plus, you can sub it in for dry shampoo if that isn’t your thing to help refresh your hair between washes.”

Key ingredients: cica, chamomile, niacinamide, and rosemary oil | Who it's for: people with dry, itchy scalps | Fragrance-free: no

Best Under $10: Elizavecca CER-100 Collagen Ceramide Coating Protein Treatment

Why it’s worth it: Elizavecca's CER-100 Collagen Ceramide Coating Protein Treatment is one of the best-selling hair treatments on Amazon—and not just because it costs less than a bottle of soju. It’s gained popularity in the U.S. and South Korea for helping replenish hair with just one use, especially after dyeing, perming, and other chemical hair treatments.

Tester feedback: “One of the first K-beauty hair products on my radar back in 2016 was the CER-100 Collagen Ceramide Coating Protein Treatment, but I only tried it recently,” Abelman says. “I have no idea why I waited so long, but now what all the hype is about. My hair, which I dye ruby wine once a month, was a dry, tangled mess when I hopped in the shower. After shampooing, I saturated my hair in this protein treatment, and it effortlessly unraveled every knot in about a minute flat. I rinsed it out after about three minutes, and my hair felt like cashmere.”

Key ingredients: keratin, ceramides, and hydrolyzed wheat, corn, and soy proteins | Who it's for: color-treated hair and those who have dry, damaged hair that needs detangling | Fragrance-free: no

Best Shampoo: Dr. Orga Alpine Rose Shampoo

Why it’s worth it: According to Allure Korea editors, Dr. Orga’s Alpine Rose Shampoo is the best shampoo for damaged hair in the game. They love how this gentle yet potent formula protects hair from breakage and retains moisture with five rose-based ingredients. All are also rich in antioxidants to help protect hair from heat and environmental stressors, like UV rays, pollution, and smoke. With benefits like these, you might as well reach for this as your go-to hair cleanser, no matter what your hair type may be.

Tester feedback: “The first time I washed my hair with the Dr. Orga Alpine Rose Shampoo, I was surprised by how decadently it lathered up because it’s formulated without any chemical surfactants,” Abelman says. “The experience reminded me of getting my hair washed at a salon. I thought it would be hard to rinse out my hair, but it did so easily without leaving my hair feeling squeaky clean or stripping away any of its red velvet color. I love how subtle and elegant the shampoo’s rose scent is, too.”

Key ingredients: aloe leaf juice, grape cell extract, and Rose 5 Blend Complex (rosewater, Alpine rose extract, damask rose extract, cabbage rose extract, and rosehip oil) | Who it's for: everyone, particularly those with damaged or dyed hair | Fragrance-free: yes

Best Clarifying Shampoo: D'Alba Professional Repairing Scalp Therapy Serum Shampoo

Why it’s worth it: All of D’Alba’s beauty products—skin and hair care included—are infused with white truffle extract, which is naturally rich in vitamins C and B12, as well as amino acids and antioxidants. The Professional Repairing Scalp Therapy Serum Shampoo relies on white truffle to keep your scalp and hair deeply hydrated while salicylic acid and rice ferment filtrate remove product buildup and excess oil to help reset your scalp. Your hair is sure to feel fresher and fuller after each wash.

Key ingredients: white truffle, salicylic acid, ginseng extract, plant-based oils, and rice ferment filtrate | Who it's for: those with dry, itchy scalps or limp hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best Shampoo for Hair Loss: CKD Amino Biotin All-Powerful Shampoo

Why it’s worth it: CKD’s Amino Biotin All-Powerful Shampoo is another amazing K-beauty shampoo selection from Allure Korea editors. It’s their favorite formula for helping to reduce hair loss thanks to the “synergizing effect” of biotin and proteins, which help make hair feel thicker and stronger. In fact, the first ingredient featured in this shampoo is Chamaecyparis Obtusa (aka Japanese or Hinoki cypress) water to help minimize hair loss. It’s also packed with hydrating ingredients, like niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and pumpkin seed oil, as well as gentle exfoliants for a happy, healthy scalp free of flakes.

Key ingredients: biotin, niacinamide, amino acids, peptides, hydrolyzed keratin, and hyaluronic acid | Who it's for: everyone, particularly those with thin, fine hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best Conditioner: Free Moment Refresh Moment Perfume Treatment in 02 Fig Fog

Why it’s worth it: If you see a Korean hair product labeled as a treatment, it’s most likely a conditioner, and the Refresh Moment Perfume Treatment in 02 Fig Fog is no exception. It seeps hair of all types in rich moisture without sulfates, silicone, and parabens. Best of all, this conditioner contains Chamaecyparis obtusa (a.k.a. Japanese or Hinoki cypress) water, which studies have found helps increase the circulation that supplies the nutrients required for hair growth and overall healthy hair.

Tester feedback: “I savored every last drop of this conditioner,” Abelman says. “It has a creamy gel consistency that keeps my hair so soft, hydrated, and healthy that I don’t need any curl products to hold the definition of my natural loose ringlets. Plus, the subtle fig-based scent helps my hair smell fresh for days. Anyone who hugs me after using the Free Moment Refresh Moment Perfume Treatment can attest to this.”

Key ingredients: Japanese cypress, soybean oil, and wheat protein | Who it's for: those who want healthier, softer hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best for Frizzy Hair: Growus Damage Therapy No Wash Treatment

Why it’s worth it: Seoul-based hair stylist Mujin Choi, who works with the likes of BTS, TXT, and Cha Eun Woo, recommends spritzing the Growus Damage Therapy No Wash Treatment all over your hair before blow-drying for smoother, sleeker, and more manageable hair with major heat protection. “Simply spray, comb through, and then dry your hair,” he tells Allure. This pretty pink liquid is even flecked with shimmer made out of pearls, which not only give hair extra luster but also fortify it with its naturally occurring vital minerals.

Key ingredients: pearl extract, salicylic acid, marine collagen, squalane, and panthenol | Who it's for: anyone with frizzy hair; those who heat-style their hair or want to add extra shine and hydration | Fragrance-free: no

Best for Dry Hair: Unove Deep Damage Treatment Ex

Why it’s worth it: The Unove Deep Damage Treatment Ex is like the K18 of Korea. It has the same level of fanfare with the top-selling spot in the hair-care category at Olive Young, which is Korea’s version of Sephora-meets-Ulta, to prove it. Deep Damage Treatment Ex even offers the same results as K18’s must-have hair mask. (The only major difference is you can use Unove’s formula in the shower.) It packs a whopping 31 bond-building proteins and amino acids extracted from milk, wheat, corn, and soy, to help mend split ends, reduce frizz, stop breakage, and make hair feel silkier than ever.

Unove is backed by a popular Korean hair-care brand called Dr.ForHair, which is known for doing rigorous research out of its own scalp-care clinic, Cherin Choi says. The brand also worked with a perfumer to create the Deep Damage Treatment Ex’s gorgeous floral scent with notes of amber and sandalwood.

Key ingredients: hydrolyzed keratin, proteins, amino acids, and plant-based oils (olive, macadamia, argan, sunflower seed, and camellia) | Who it's for: those with dry, damaged hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best for Curly Hair: British M Stylish Curl Cream

Why it’s worth it: British M’s Stylish Curl Cream won a 2023 Allure Korea Best of Beauty Award in the best curl cream category due to its watery, barely-there consistency that allows curls to be as bouncy as possible. A lineup of eight different kinds of hyaluronic acid also coats each hair from root to tip in essential moisture for soft—never crunchy—spirals.

Tester feedback: “This Korean curl cream feels like a gel moisturizer,” Abelman says. “Deep moisture is typically associated with weighty formulas, but the British M Stylish Curl Cream hydrates my long, curly hair without making it look flat and straight (like many moisturizing curl creams tend to do). Plus, it gives my curls a solid hold and major definition without creating a hard shell around them. My only qualm is it has an old-school hairspray scent, but it dissipates quickly.”

Key ingredients: eight kinds of hyaluronic acid | Who it's for: curly and wavy hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best for Oily Hair: Aromatica Rosemary Root Enhancer

Why it’s worth it: Dealing with an oily scalp? Aromatica’s Rosemary Root Enhancer comes highly recommended by Denise Kim, a former member of the K-pop group Secret Number and K-beauty enthusiast. The herbaceous formula is “great for refreshing and soothing the scalp while keeping oil at bay,” she tells Allure. Salicylic acid helps clear hair follicles of excess sebum, dead skin cells, and other buildup, while rosemary extract helps improve scalp health, minimizes breakage, and may even promote hair growth. For these reasons, New York City-based hairstylist Genevieve Collerton often suggests Aromatica Rosemary Root Enhancer to her clients who are trying to grow their hair out.

Key ingredients: salicylic acid, rosemary extract, caffeine, panthenol, and biotin | Who it's for: people with thin hair or whose hair gets oily easily | Fragrance-free: yes

Best for Dandruff: Unove Silk Oil Essence

Why it’s worth it: Unove's Silk Oil Essence is basically the hair oil version of its best-selling deep conditioner, and Minnie Kim can’t get enough of it. You can rake the featherlight formulation through wet or dry hair to coat it in shine-inducing sea buckthorn oil, dandruff-preventing false daisy extract, and detangling moringa oil. All work with a menagerie of proteins and amino acids to soften hair, give it a glassy effect and eliminate flyaways without greasiness.

P.S. This honey-like formula is also great for post-perm upkeep. Jay Park gave it a shoutout in his Allure 10-minute beauty routine video for its hydrating, frizz-taming properties.

Key ingredients: hydrolyzed silk, argan oil, sea buckthorn oil, false daisy extract, and moringa oil | Who it's for: everyone | Fragrance-free: no

Best Serum: Mise En Scene Perfect Serum

Why it’s worth it: The K-beauty industry moves fast, but even it has yet to move on from this classic Korean hair-care product launched in 2012. The Mise En Scene Perfect Serum has built a following over the past 12 years for its intensely nourishing blend of oils (argan, olive, coconut, apricot, marula, jojoba, and camellia) that somehow never makes hair feel greasy. Instead, it helps smooth frizz, lock in moisture, and protect hair from heat styling with a weightless feel.

Tester feedback: “My ends are seriously parched and borderline lifeless, but you wouldn’t know it because the Mise En Scene Perfect Serum instantly rejuvenated them without any oily or stiff residue,” Abelman says. “I also love how it gives my hair a dreamy powdery floral scent.”

Key ingredients: argan, apricot, camellia, coconut, jojoba, marula, and olive oils | Who it's for: those with dry, damaged hair or anyone who often heat styles their hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best Serum for Curly Hair: Curlyshyll Moisture Glow Hair Essence

Why it’s worth it: The Korean hair-care brand Curlyshyll is beloved by Mujin Choi. However, its products, namely the Nutrition Support Daily Shampoo and Treatment, can be hard to find in the U.S. Luckily, Denise Kim’s favorite formula, the Moisture Glow Hair Essence, is readily available stateside. It acts like a moisture ampoule for dehydrated curls, bringing them major hydration relief while giving them a beautiful shine, she says. “A little bit goes a long way to moisturize hair without weighing it down,” she adds.

Key ingredients: rose extract, Edelweiss stem cell extract, propolis extract, tea tree leaf oil, and rosemary oil | Who it's for: those with dry, damaged, or dyed hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best Hair Oil: La’dor Perfumed Hair Oil

Why it’s worth it: Add this to your ends, so when the wind blows, everyone will catch a delicious whiff of this fragrance-forward hair oil. Minju “Minnie” Kim, a K-beauty industry insider who has worked with the likes of Cosrx, Medicube, and Skin1004, swears by La’dor’s Perfumed Hair Oil and its medley of botanical oils to moisturize her sleek bob without stickiness, tamp down frizz, and even enhance the color of her latest dye job (rich auburn brown at the moment). The Korean hair oil comes in three different scent selections: Hinoki (woodsy), La Pitta (citrus), and Osmanthus (musky floral), but the latter is Kim’s favorite.

Key ingredients: meadowfoam seed oil, argan oil, and camelia seed oil | Who it's for: everyone | Fragrance-free: no

Best Leave-in Conditioner: Healingbird Revive No Wash Treatment

Why it’s worth it: Minnie Kim reaches for Healingbird's Revive No Wash Treatment after washing her hair to keep it free of tangles, frizz, and breakage. The lightweight liquid is spiked with silk protein, argan oil, and hyaluronic acid to boost hydration and make split ends look less noticeable.

Key ingredients: turmeric root extract, silk protein, ceramides, amino acids, hyaluronic acid, and hydrolyzed keratin | Who it's for: people with damaged or easily tangled hair | Fragrance-free: no

Best Hair Mask: Narka Core Rebuild Confident Deep Treatment Hair Pack

Why it’s worth it: If your hair is craving an ultra-thick, buttery hair mask, it’ll be completely satisfied with the Narka Core Rebuild Confident Deep Treatment Hair Pack, which is a staple in K-beauty expert Mina Jang’s hair-care routine. A solid combination of nourishing plant-based butter melts into a luxe liquid as you work it into wet or dry hair and only needs five minutes to work its moisturizing magic. (Some reviewers say you can notice its effects in as little as 30 seconds, though.) After rinsing it out, your hair is sure to glossy, velvety, and in peak condition.

Key ingredients: shea butter, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, squalane, jojoba seed oil, shea butter, mango seed butter, cupuacu seed butter, avocado extract, and malt extract | Who it's for: all hair types | Fragrance-free: no

Best Heat Protectant: Narka Core Rebuild Straight Slick Hair Milk

Why it’s worth it: Another pick from Narka that Jang loves is the Core Rebuild Straight Slick Hair Milk and its jasmine-orange blossom scent. Biotin extracted from almonds helps protect hair from heat styling and keeps hair soft and straight for longer as its particles are smaller and more easily absorbable than other proteins. The milky cream also helps heal damage in the process.

Key ingredients: sweet almond extract and hydrolyzed sweet almond protein | Who it's for: people who wear their hair straight | Fragrance-free: no

Meet the experts

• Cherin Choi, a hairstylist and colorist based in Los Angeles
• Mujin Choi, a Seoul-based hairstylist and colorist

How we test and review products

When Allure tests a product, our editors look at it from every angle in an effort to best serve you. We review ingredients, scrutinize brand claims, and, when necessary, examine peer-reviewed scientific and medical studies. In addition to testing each and every product that's included in each and every review, we rely on experts who shape their fields, including dermatology, cosmetic chemistry, and medicine, to help us vet the ingredients and formulas.

For our list of the best body washes for dry skin, we considered each product's performance across five primary categories: product ingredients and efficacy, packaging, fragrance (or lack thereof), texture, and product wear. Every product was determined to have excelled in each category by our editorial team, which is composed of in-house writers and editors as well as contributors—along with special consideration from board-certified dermatologists. To learn more information on our reporting and testing processes, read our complete reviews process and methodology page.

Our staff and testers

A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.

After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we've solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser worthy of your hard-earned cash if it's never been tested on curls? We're proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet.

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