Where does this shampoo go in my routine?

In place of your usual shampoo, on hair wet all the way through. Anything thinner than a shampoo goes on before it, and anything richer goes on after. If you are adding it to a routine you already like, give it a week on its own first, so what you see is the Menthol and not three changes at once.

Does this shampoo contain fragrance?

Yes. The ingredient list names Fragrance, Limonene and Linalool. They sit on the panel printed on this page, so you can read the position for yourself before you buy. If fragrance components are something you avoid, this shampoo is not the one.

What else is on the list besides Menthol?

Niacinamide, Salicylic Acid and Pearl Extract. The order they are printed in on this shampoo's panel is the order on the box, so you can see where Menthol sits relative to them. Further down the same panel: Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract, Ecklonia Cava Extract and Hizikia Fusiforme Extract.

Growus

Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo 500g

Name: Growus Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo 500g
Brand: Growus
SKU: 7813222537
Price: 42.5 USD
Availability: InStock

Sea water is fourth on this 500 g shampoo's list, with walnut shell powder tenth for the scrub and menthol eleventh for the cool. Massaged into the scalp for a minute, then rinsed. Original Korean Formula.

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$42.50

500 g

$8.50 per 100 g

Korean-market formula
Ships from California or direct from Korea
Korean barcode and batch code intact

Suited to: Congested skinUneven textureDehydrated skinSensitive skin

Helps with: Shoppers looking for Menthol in a shampooRoutines that want Menthol and Niacinamide in one stepFilling the shampoo step with a Korean-market formula

In stock. Arrives in 3 to 7 business days

You’re $100.00 away from free US shipping.

30-day returns
Free US shipping on orders of $100 or more
Tracked delivery to your door

Verified authentic Shipping and returns

How it works

The Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo is a 500g shampoo, used in place of your usual shampoo, on hair wet all the way through. The active it is built around is Menthol, named eleventh on its own ingredient list. The same list carries Niacinamide, Salicylic Acid and Pearl Extract, so the active is not the only thing on it worth naming. How much of the Menthol stays on the skin, and for how long, is decided by the shampoo format rather than by the list alone. Growus sells this Menthol shampoo in Korea, and this is that version.

Key benefits

Menthol, the active this shampoo is built around
Niacinamide on the same list, an active
Salicylic Acid on the same list, an exfoliant
Pearl Extract on the same list, a protein
Ecklonia Cava Extract and Hizikia Fusiforme Extract further down the same list
Laminaria Japonica Extract and Sargassum Fulvellum Extract further down the same list

How to use

In the shower, on wet hair and scalp. Lather, massage into the scalp for a minute, then rinse fully before conditioner or treatment.

1 of 4

42 of 50 explained

Water solvent: Water is the base almost every serum, toner and cream is built on. It dissolves the water-loving ingredients and sets how light the finished texture feels. On an INCI list it is usually first, which only means it is the largest single ingredient by weight.
Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate surfactant: A strong anionic surfactant that foams heavily. It is a sulfate alternative in name but not in strength, and it is more common in shampoos than in facial cleansers.
Acrylates Copolymer film former: Acrylates Copolymer is a synthetic polymer that forms a film as the water leaves. It holds a formula in place, controls shine and helps a texture stay put.
Sea Water mineral: Sea Water is filtered and desalinated seawater used in place of plain water. It carries magnesium, calcium and potassium, so it brings the mineral balance of the base closer to skin's own.
Butylene Glycol humectant: Butylene Glycol is a small glycol that does two jobs at once: it holds water in the top layer of skin and it dissolves plant extracts and actives that plain water cannot. It also thins a formula, which is why watery Korean essences lean on it.
Lauryl Hydroxysultaine surfactant: Lauryl Hydroxysultaine is a mild secondary surfactant that keeps foaming even in hard water and at low pH.
Fragrance fragrance: Fragrance, or Parfum, is a single declaration standing for a whole scent blend, which can be dozens of materials. Regulators allow it as a trade secret, so a list showing only this word does not say what the scent is made of. It is the most common trigger named by people with reactive skin.
Arginine amino acid: Arginine is an amino acid that does two jobs here: it holds water in the outer layer of skin, and it neutralises acidic gelling agents, which is why it often stands in for a synthetic pH adjuster.
Microcrystalline Cellulose absorbent: Microcrystalline Cellulose is purified cellulose ground fine. It thickens, holds powders in suspension and gives a soft, matte feel.
Menthol active: Menthol is the cooling compound in mint. It acts on the nerve receptor that also answers to cold, which is why skin feels cool without any change in temperature.
1,2-Hexanediol humectant: 1,2-Hexanediol is a glycol used for two reasons: it holds water like glycerin, and it makes a formula harder for microbes to live in, so less traditional preservative is needed. Korean formulas use it heavily for that second reason.
Dipropylene Glycol humectant: Dipropylene Glycol is a glycol used as a solvent and a light humectant. Its main job is keeping the rest of the formula dissolved and the texture fluid rather than adding hydration of its own.

30 more explained

Polyquaternium-10 film former: A cellulose polymer carrying a positive charge. It deposits from a rinse-off formula onto hair or skin and leaves a smooth, anti-static film.
Hydroxyacetophenone preservative booster: Hydroxyacetophenone is an antioxidant that also strengthens a preservative system, so a formula needs less traditional preservative. Korean formulas pair it with 1,2-hexanediol constantly.
Hexadecene emollient: A light hydrocarbon used as a carrier and spreading agent within a thickener system.
Tetradecene emollient: A light hydrocarbon used as a spreading agent, mostly in the polymer blends that thicken a lotion.
Dexpanthenol humectant: Panthenol is pro-vitamin B5: skin converts it to pantothenic acid. It is a humectant that holds water and leaves skin feeling soft and less tight, and it is one of the ingredients formulators reach for when a formula also contains something harsh.
Salicylic Acid exfoliant: Salicylic Acid is a BHA, and the only common exfoliant that is oil soluble, so it can work inside a pore rather than only on the surface. It loosens the dead cells that block pores and is used for the look of congested, oily skin.
Glycerin humectant: Glycerin is the most used humectant in skincare. It draws water into the outer layer of skin and holds it there, and it is one of the very few ingredients whose hydrating effect is settled science rather than marketing. Higher amounts feel tacky, which is why it is usually blended.
Niacinamide active: Niacinamide is vitamin B3, and it is the most studied active in Korean formulation. It is used at roughly 2 to 5 percent for the look of uneven tone and visible pores, and it is water soluble, stable and comfortable beside almost every other active, which is why it turns up in so many lists.
Ethylhexylglycerin preservative booster: Ethylhexylglycerin softens skin and boosts a preservative system, which is why it is nearly always sitting beside phenoxyethanol or 1,2-hexanediol. It also cuts down the odour bacteria produce, so it turns up in deodorising products.
Tetrasodium EDTA chelator: EDTA is a chelator: it locks up trace metal ions from water and packaging that would otherwise turn a formula cloudy, off-colour or rancid. It does nothing to skin and appears at a fraction of a percent.
Citric Acid pH adjuster: Citric Acid is used in tiny amounts to bring a formula to the pH its actives need, not as an exfoliant at that level. It is an AHA, so at much higher concentrations it can also exfoliate.
Sea Salt mineral: Sea Salt is the mineral residue of evaporated seawater: mostly sodium chloride with magnesium, calcium and potassium. It is used as a mild abrasive in scrubs and to adjust how thick a cleanser is.
Sodium Citrate pH adjuster: Sodium Citrate is the salt of citric acid, used as a buffer: it holds a formula at a steady pH rather than pushing it in one direction. It is also a mild chelator.
Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract plant extract: Knotted wrack, a brown Atlantic seaweed. Its extract carries alginates and polyphenols and is used as a hydrating marine extract.
Ecklonia Cava Extract plant extract: Ecklonia Cava is gamtae, a brown seaweed harvested off Jeju. It carries phlorotannins, an antioxidant group found only in brown algae, and it is used as a marine antioxidant extract.
Hizikia Fusiforme Extract plant extract: Tot, a Korean brown seaweed eaten as a side dish. Its extract is mineral rich and used as a hydrating marine ingredient.
Laminaria Japonica Extract plant extract: Laminaria Japonica is kombu kelp. Its extract carries alginates, minerals and iodine, and it is used as a hydrating, mineral-rich ingredient.
Pearl Extract protein: Pearl Extract is ground pearl treated so its calcium carbonate and protein fractions disperse. It is used as a mineral-and-protein conditioning ingredient with a faint light-scattering effect.
Sargassum Fulvellum Extract plant extract: Mojaban, a Korean brown seaweed. Its extract carries alginates, minerals and polyphenols and is used as a hydrating marine ingredient.
Chlorella Vulgaris Extract plant extract: Chlorella Vulgaris is a freshwater green algae. Its extract carries proteins, chlorophyll and amino acids and is used as a conditioning ingredient.
Corallina Officinalis Extract plant extract: Corallina Officinalis is coral seaweed, which holds calcium and magnesium in its structure. Its extract is used as a mineral-rich conditioning ingredient.
Codium Fragile Extract plant extract: Extract of a green seaweed known as dead man fingers. Like most green algae it carries sulphated polysaccharides and minerals, and it is used as a water holding marine extract.
Enteromorpha Compressa Extract plant extract: Green laver, the parae of Korean cooking. Its extract is a mineral-rich, hydrating seaweed ingredient.
Fucus Vesiculosus Extract plant extract: Bladderwrack extract, a brown seaweed named for the air bladders that float it. It carries fucoidan and alginates and is used as a hydrating marine extract.
Gelidium Cartilagineum Extract plant extract: A red seaweed extract from the genus agar is made from. It thickens and hydrates and leaves a cushioned film.
Spirulina Platensis Extract plant extract: Spirulina is a blue-green microalga, unusually high in protein. Its extract carries amino acids and the blue pigment phycocyanin, which can tint a formula.
Undaria Pinnatifida Extract plant extract: Extract of the brown seaweed Korean cooking calls miyeok. It carries fucoidan and alginates, both strong water-holding polysaccharides.
Limonene fragrance component: Limonene is the citrus-peel aromatic. It appears here because EU labelling requires 26 fragrance components to be named individually rather than hidden inside "fragrance", and it is one of them.
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone fragrance component: A soft violet and woody aromatic. It is one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling requires to be named.
Linalool fragrance component: Linalool is a floral aromatic found in lavender, bergamot and coriander. It is one of the 26 fragrance components EU labelling requires to be declared by name.

Inside the formula

Ingredients declared

Fragrance on the list

Worth knowing

Patch test this shampoo on a small area and wait a day before using it more widely, especially with Menthol on the list.
This list names Fragrance, Limonene and Linalool, so skip it if fragrance components are something you avoid.
Citric Acid and Salicylic Acid on this list makes this shampoo an exfoliating step, so do not stack it with another one on the same night.

Complete the routine

This itemGrowus Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo 500g$42.50
From the same Korean-market lineGROWUS Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Scaler 120g$32.50

Total for 2 items$75.00

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Growus, Korean-market original

Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo from Growus, a shampoo formulated around menthol.

Verify your unit when it arrives

Korean-market stock with the original barcode and batch code intact, exactly as it left Korea.

On the unit itself

The Korean-market barcode, unaltered from the retail package.
The manufacturer’s batch code, exactly as the maker printed it.

정품Genuine article, Korean-market stock

What professionals say

What skin-care professionals say about skin care, quoted from the medical sources linked beside each.

Your skin barrier is basically your outer layer of the skin.
Melissa Piliang, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic
Pretty much every step of a Korean skin care routine is going to have some component of hydration.
Alok Vij, MDDermatologist, Cleveland Clinic