Recently, the official website of the National Medical Products Administration released Announcement No. 60 of 2023 on cosmetic quality inspections, stating that 9 batches of cosmetics were found to contain prohibited ingredients. Based on the information from the announcement, the cosmetics found to contain prohibited ingredients were mostly hair care products.
According to incomplete statistics from CHAILEEDO, the National Medical Products Administration has identified 79 batches of cosmetics containing prohibited ingredients so far this year. Among them, hair care products accounted for nearly 50% of the cosmetics found to contain prohibited ingredients, making them frequent subjects of inspection reports.
Most of the products are hair care products
According to the announcement, in the national cosmetic sampling and testing work of 2023, 9 batches of cosmetics, including “Fadao Silicone-Free Oil Control Repair Shampoo,” “Xichong Jingrun Highlighting Hair Mask,” and “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner for Women,” were found to contain prohibited ingredients through inspections conducted by units such as the Jiangxi Provincial Institute for Drug Control. It was observed that the cosmetics found to contain prohibited ingredients were mainly hair care products, including shampoos, conditioners, hair masks, and hair dyes.
Among them, three batches of cosmetics, namely “Fadao Silicone-Free Oil Control Repair Shampoo,” “Fadao Silicone-Free Cooling Anti-Dandruff Shampoo,” and “Gulanxuanxiu Plant-Based Rose Nourishing Shampoo,” were found to contain the same prohibited substance, triclosan. Triclosan is a common broad-spectrum antimicrobial and antifungal agent. Research has shown that triclosan is an endocrine disruptor that can affect thyroid function.
According to the “Technical Specification for Cosmetic Safety” (2015 edition), triclosan should not be detected in shampoos and hair conditioners. Triclosan is only allowed to be used in hand soaps, bath soaps, shower gels, deodorants (non-spray), cosmetic powders and concealers, and nail cleansers (with a frequency of no more than once every two weeks), with a permitted concentration limit of 0.3%.
In addition, five batches of cosmetics, including “Gulanxuanxiu Plant-Based Rose Nourishing Shampoo,” “Xichong Jingrun Highlighting Hair Mask,” “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner for Women,” “Fakangbao Sheep Placenta Moisturizing Wax,” and “CHUIDU Leave-In Silky Fluid,” were found to have the same non-compliant item: a mixture of methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone with magnesium chloride and magnesium nitrate (in a ratio of 3:1).
Public information shows that the main function of the mixture of methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone with magnesium chloride and magnesium nitrate in cosmetics is as a preservative. Methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and methylchloroisothiazolinone (CMIT) are both preservatives. According to the “Technical Specification for Cosmetic Safety” (2015 edition), the maximum allowed concentration of MIT alone in cosmetics is 0.01%. The maximum allowed concentration of a mixture of CMIT and MIT, among others, is 0.0015% in cosmetics, and it is limited to rinse-off products and should not be used simultaneously with methylisothiazolinone.
Regarding the cosmetics that did not meet the regulations in the sampling inspections, the National Medical Products Administration stated that “the drug supervision and administration departments of each province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government) must order the relevant cosmetic operators to immediately cease the sale of the above-mentioned cosmetics, investigate their purchase and inspection records in accordance with the law, trace the origins of the illegal products, and, if any illegal activities are found, handle them seriously according to the law. If there is suspicion of a crime, they shall be transferred to the public security organs in accordance with the law.”
Multiple product filing information shows that it has been canceled
At the same time, CHAILEEDO learned through data query on the official website of the National Medical Products Administration that among the 9 batches of cosmetics containing prohibited ingredients mentioned above, the filing information of 5 batches of cosmetics, including “Fadao Silicone-Free Oil Control Repair Shampoo,” “Fadao Silicone-Free Cooling Anti-Dandruff Shampoo,” “Xichong Jingrun Highlighting Hair Mask,” “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner for Women,” and “Wubeizi Plant-based Hair Care Cream,” shows that they have been canceled.
Among the 9 batches of cosmetics mentioned in the report, the products labeled as “Fadao Silicone-Free Oil Control Repair Shampoo” and “Fadao Silicone-Free Cooling Anti-Dandruff Shampoo” indicate that they were commissioned by Shenzhen Fadao Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (“Fadao Biotechnology”) and entrusted to Guangzhou Jiaozi Daily Chemical Co., Ltd. According to the official website of Fadao Biotechnology, the self-owned brand “Fadao” was registered in 2003 and is a hair care brand with 20 years of experience. Currently, it has over 500 chain stores nationwide.
Through the official website of Fadao Biotechnology, it can be seen that the claimed efficacy of Fadao brand products includes hair loss prevention, oil control and dandruff removal, and restoring gray hair to black. It is worth noting that this is the second time this year that Fadao Biotechnology has been reported for non-compliant products. In October of this year, according to an administrative penalty decision issued by the Shenzhen Market Supervision Bureau, Fadao Biotechnology was fined a total of 11,400 yuan for violations of cosmetics regulations.
Notably, when using the product names of the 9 batches of cosmetics reported by CHAILEEDO as keywords to search on the Taobao app, it was found that except for the three products “Fadao Silicone-Free Oil Control Repair Shampoo,” “Fadao Silicone-Free Cooling Anti-Dandruff Shampoo,” and “Wubeizi Plant-based Hair Care Cream,” the other six products were being sold by merchants. Among them, the related product “Fakangbao Sheep Placenta Moisturizing Wax” showed sales of over 2000+.
Among them, there is a top-rated store on the Taobao app named “Congtou Kaishi XXX Hair Care Salon” that is selling a product called “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner.” CHAILEEDO noticed that apart from not indicating “for women” on the product being sold, this product being sold is completely consistent with the filing information of the reported product “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner for Women” in terms of product name, brand name, and manufacturer. The product images openly displayed by the store are also identical to the filing images of “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner for Women.”
According to the product details page, the registration number of “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner” is “国妆特字G20100759” (National Cosmetics Special Character G20100759). CHAILEEDO searched through the registration information system for domestic special cosmetics and found that the corresponding product name for this registration number is “Maoboshi Anti-Hair Loss Hair Tonic,” registered by Nanning Daxu Cosmetics Co., Ltd.
In the “Congtou Kaishi XXX Hair Care Salon” store, the “Maoboshi Anti-Hair Loss Hair Tonic” with the registered number “国妆特字G20100759” is also being sold. This means that the same registration number “国妆特字G20100759” is being used for two different products, “Congtou Kaishi Hair Conditioner” and “Maoboshi Anti-Hair Loss Hair Tonic.” Industry insiders point out that this is a clear case of one registration number being used for multiple purposes.
Violations’ Heavy Zone
In recent years, with the increasing awareness of consumer health and the upgrading of hair care demands, the size of the Chinese hair care product market continues to expand. According to the “2024 Hair Care Product Market Trend Insight Report” published by Qingyan Intelligence, the compound annual growth rate of the Chinese hair care market from 2019 to 2023 was 3.24%. In 2023, the market size of hair care products reached 65.1 billion yuan, and it is expected to exceed 70 billion yuan by 2025.
However, as the hair care market develops rapidly, it is inevitable that some irregularities will occur. According to incomplete statistics from CHAILEEDO, the National Medical Products Administration has detected 79 batches of cosmetics containing prohibited ingredients this year. Among them, nearly 40 batches were hair care products containing banned ingredients, accounting for nearly 50% of the total. In addition, hair care products accounted for more than 20% of the 522 batches of non-compliant cosmetics reported by the National Medical Products Administration this year. This reflects that hair care products are a “heavy zone” of violations.
Just this month, the top three hair shampoos on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) encountered problems again. According to Consumer Reports, personnel from the magazine purchased “Shiercaoji Plant Hair Cleansing Essence – Sandalwood” (Batch LG120268 20260718; filing number: YUG Cosmetics Network Backup Word 2021500388) from the official flagship store of Shiercaoji and sent it for testing. The test results showed a total bacterial count of 7.3×106 CFU/g, exceeding the standard limit by 7300 times, which does not meet national standards.
In addition, since August of this year, a popular Douyin(TikTok) influencer with millions of followers, known as “Achun the Quality Evaluator” (referred to as “Achun”), has released multiple videos claiming that third-party testing reports showed the presence of 7.04% sodium laureth sulfate and 1.26% ammonium laureth sulfate in the Shiercaoji Plant Hair Cleansing Essence, which contradicts the brand’s claims. This raises suspicions of ingredient mislabeling and false advertising (for more details, refer to CHAILEEDO’s article “Troubles for the Top 3 Hair Shampoo Brands on Douyin Again!”).
Overall, although there are still many violations in the hair care market, with tightening regulations and platform supervision, as well as consumers’ growing awareness of hair care products, any behavior that does not comply with market and industry standards will be effectively curbed.
