GROWUS

GROWUS (그로우어스) is a South Korean brand for hair and scalp care. It's run by Eleven Corporation (주식회사 일레븐코퍼레이션), a beauty company based in Seoul. GROWUS describes itself as a thalassotherapy hair and spa brand: it starts from ingredients found in the sea, such as sea salt, sea water and seaweed, and turns them into a hair routine you can do at home. In 2022, it was one of ten brands chosen by Marie Claire Korea and Sephora for their Next K-Beauty program, which spots up-and-coming Korean brands. In Korea, its products are sold at Olive Young, among other places.

The range is split into four lines, each with its own ingredients from the sea:

• Damage Therapy: the line for hair damaged by color, bleach and heat. Marie Claire Korea describes it as built around Himalayan pink salt, pearl extract and marine collagen. It includes the Damage Therapy Shampoo EX, the Damage Therapy Treatment EX, the Damage Therapy Repair Clinic Hair Pack mask, the Damage Therapy Hair Oil, the Damage Therapy Hair Milk and the leave-in mists.
• Sea Salt Therapy: the scalp line, with sea salt and sea water: the Scalp Scaler, the Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo EX, the Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Purifying Bubble Tonic and the Sea Salt Therapy Treatment.
• Recover Therapy: sea water and seaweed shampoos for fine hair that lacks volume, plus a serum you apply to the scalp.
• Algae Therapy: the line created in 2024 with Korean YouTuber 회사원A, around a blend of Korean seaweeds that puts to use kelp from Wando rejected for its looks.

• Oily or quickly congested scalp: Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo EX every day, Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Scaler EX once or twice a week, then Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Purifying Bubble Tonic on a towel-dried scalp.
• Damaged, colored or bleached hair: Damage Therapy Shampoo EX, Damage Therapy Treatment EX or Damage Therapy Repair Clinic Hair Pack, then Damage Therapy No-Wash Treatment EX Due Rose before blow-drying.
• Dry, frizz-prone hair: a Light mist such as the No-Wash Treatment Light Pure Soap, the Damage Therapy Hair Milk or a few drops of Damage Therapy Hair Oil on the ends.
• Sensitive scalp: the gentle Algae Therapy Mineral Shampoo, with the Algae Therapy Mineral No-Wash Treatment on the lengths.
• Fine hair that lacks volume: Recover Therapy Shampoo for Women or Recover Therapy Shampoo for Men, with the Recover Therapy Hair Booster Serum EX on the scalp.

Skip sea salt scrubs on an irritated or broken scalp, and keep them to once or twice a week. Cosmetic advice, not medical advice: if in doubt, patch-test a new product on a small area first.

The products also sit in the Hair and Shampoo categories, and the scented hand creams are in Body. For a full routine, look at sets like the Damage Therapy Travel Kit or the Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo, Scalp Scaler, Treatment & Bubble Tonic Set. If you love Korean hair care, also check out UNOVE, LADOR and DASHU.

Thalassotherapy is the inspiration here, not a medical promise: GROWUS borrows the mood of seaside spas to design simple steps. Its signature step is a sea salt scalp scrub, the Scalp Scaler, which you massage into a wet scalp before shampooing. According to the brand, the EX version warms up slightly as you massage, an idea taken from scalp spas. Scent is the other signature. The Damage Therapy products come in carefully built fragrances such as Due Rose, a musky rose, and True Me, a floral musk, and in 2025 GROWUS carried them over to its first hand creams. Textures get the same attention: a pearly mist, a two-tone cream and oil mask, and a treatment that turns from water to cream as you work it in.

New to GROWUS? Start with the three products the brand highlights as its most wanted. The Damage Therapy No-Wash Treatment EX Due Rose is a pearly leave-in mist with collagen that Korean press presents as the brand's star product. The Algae Therapy Mineral Shampoo is a gentle seaweed and PDRN shampoo with a stretchy gel texture and a green muscat scent. The Sea Salt Therapy Shampoo EX cleanses oily scalps with sea salt, sea water and a touch of menthol.

For the scalp, the Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Scaler EX is the product most linked to GROWUS, and the Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Scaler is its first generation. For very damaged hair, the Damage Therapy Repair Clinic Hair Pack mask blends a cream and an oil as you apply it. Among the brand's more recent products, you'll find the Algae Therapy Mineral Water Treatment, a rinse-off treatment that turns from water to cream, the Sea Salt Therapy Scalp Purifying Bubble Tonic, a foaming scalp tonic, and the light No-Wash Treatment in the No-Wash Treatment Light Sunset Beach scent.