【Seoul, South】Amorepacific Opens Renovated Beauty Lab at Yongsan Headquarters: From Skin to Scalp, Predicting the Present and Future

In 2026, humanity is creating self-thinking artificial intelligence (AI) and self-driving cars, but many challenges remain. These are not just grand endeavors like space exploration or the secrets of the Big Bang. Humanity still relies on umbrellas—sticks covered with cloth—when it rains, and rest is the only answer for a cold.
One of the most representative unsolved problems for humanity is hair loss. The joke, “What percentage of Nobel laureates are bald?” highlights that science has yet to solve this issue. Unlike other incurable diseases where research is lacking due to low profitability or limited affected populations, hair loss is a global concern with clear commercial potential, yet it remains unconquered.

Only two solutions have been discovered to date: one is proven oral medications (finasteride) or topical treatments (minoxidil); the other is prevention through scalp care. We have moved beyond the era of skin care into the era of scalp care. In the global hair care market, estimated at 130 trillion won, the share of hair loss and scalp care products is around 5%, but it has the highest growth rate. The trend of “skinification”—treating the scalp as part of the skin—is a key growth driver in the hair care market.
Amorepacific, which started its business with hair products, cannot afford to neglect this. In 2008, it launched the specialized scalp care brand ‘Ryo’, and in 2020, introduced the new brand ‘Labo-H’ to strengthen its scalp care category. Recently, it has gone a step further through ‘Amore Yongsan’, which offers skin and scalp diagnostics, personalized product recommendations, and lifestyle improvement suggestions. On the 21st, we visited ‘Amore Yongsan’ to explore solutions to modern challenges.

Amore Yongsan is a flagship store located on the second floor of Amorepacific’s headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul. It sells representative Amorepacific brands such as Sulwhasoo, Hera, and Estra, and offers ‘future-oriented beauty services’ like customizing foundation based on individual skin tones and essences for specific hair types.
Passing through the store, you enter the ‘Amore City Lab’. This space precisely diagnoses skin and scalp conditions and provides solutions based on accumulated data. At first glance, it seemed like a typical diagnostic service offered by beauty shops or care brands. I had received scalp diagnostics a few times on beauty platforms, but each time it felt like a mere sales tool. Of course, this was a superficial impression before experiencing the City Lab.

This service not only recommends product routines suited to skin and scalp types but also checks lifestyle habits that need improvement.
What sets the Amore City Lab apart from typical beauty diagnostic services is its professionalism. Instead of brand staff following a fixed manual, Amorepacific’s professional researchers directly examine, consult, and provide personalized solutions. These solutions are based on data accumulated since the ‘Bio Lab’ started in 2014, ensuring the advice is not superficial.

The My Skin Future service divides the hair area into six zones: left hairline, right hairline, front hairline, front center, crown, and occipital area, examining hair thickness, density, and scalp condition in each zone. In my case, I mentioned during the consultation that I was concerned about scalp itching, trouble, and hair thickness. I naturally have fine and sparse hair, so I also worried about hair loss.

The analysis was highly credible because it compared each zone’s hair density and thickness to average values, rather than just saying ‘it’s fine’.
The process of suggesting scalp and hair care routines was also satisfying. It didn’t just recommend popular Amorepacific products but explained in detail what active ingredients each product contains and what effects can be expected. This provided information to choose products according to one’s purchasing conditions, even if not the specific recommendations. I was advised to use Labo-H shampoo (for scalp strengthening) in the morning and Ryo Rootgen Aqua Fill shampoo (emphasizing sebum reduction) in the evening, followed by a scalp tonic from the same line.
The City Lab also suggests lifestyle improvements. As mentioned earlier, I was told to thoroughly blow-dry my hair after washing, preferably with cool or lukewarm air rather than hot air. There was also an analysis that the left hairline being thinner than the right could be due to a habit of sleeping on one side, increasing friction with the pillow and potentially thinning the hair.

After the consultation, visitors can create their own hair serum at the ‘Mise-en-Scène Perfect Serum Bespoke’ station in Amore Yongsan. After answering questions about hair and scalp concerns via an unmanned device and selecting a desired scent, a personalized serum is made on the spot. This is the pinnacle of ‘customized services’.
The current trend in the consumer market is ‘personalization’. The challenge for producers is no longer to offer products made for their convenience but to create segmented products tailored to consumer needs. In this regard, the Amore City Lab stands as a milestone pointing the direction beauty companies should take.