Korean Women's Sunscreen Use in 2023: Anessa Data Check

bttr sells cleansing products, including the Milk to Foam Cleanser 150g, for the step that follows sunscreen application in a daily routine. No 2023 Korean dermatological society or national health survey publishes a single usage-rate percentage for women's sunscreen use. South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (식약처) released functional-cosmetics screening statistics for the first half of 2023 showing 192 sunscreen filings among 524 total approvals, a count of product filings, not of how many women apply sunscreen. Within the daily routine that follows sunscreen application, many Korean women use a cleanser such as the bttr Milk to Foam Cleanser 150g ([수분잠금] 하이드라 베리어 클렌징 336 밀크 투 폼 150g), priced at ₩28,100 on its own store as of the product page checked here.

The oft-repeated claim that Korean women apply sunscreen roughly three times more than men comes from a 2018 analysis of about 16,000 shoppers at Olive Young stores in Gangnam, Busan and Daegu, run by Dr.G's parent company, and a 2012 Cosin Korea survey of 150 women aged 20 to 40 found that three quarters used sunscreen year-round. Neither survey has a 2023 date, and no equivalent figure with a 2023 publication date has surfaced from a dermatology body or a national statistics agency.

What the 2023 Data on Korean Women's Sunscreen Use Actually Shows

South Korea's food and drug safety ministry logged 192 sunscreen filings among 524 functional-cosmetics approvals in the first half of 2023, an eight-percent increase over the 485 filings recorded a year earlier, and sunscreen ranked first among all functional categories that half. That statistic describes regulatory approvals submitted by manufacturers, not the share of women who apply sunscreen day to day. Euromonitor's 2023 figures for the same year size the global sun-care market at roughly 12.4 billion dollars, with the United States accounting for about 2.6 billion dollars and more than a fifth of that market, a trade statistic that says nothing about Korean consumer behavior either.

The behavioral figures in circulation predate 2023 by five to eleven years. The 2018 Olive Young-based study of about 16,000 shoppers found men applied sunscreen roughly three times less often than women, and a 2012 survey of 150 Korean women aged 20 to 40 found three quarters used sunscreen across all four seasons, with more than half applying it even indoors. A separate academic study of 340 Korean adult women examined sunscreen and SPF-rated base makeup usage patterns and satisfaction, without a confirmed 2023 publication date attached to it. Readers looking for a 2023-dated percentage should treat the government approval count and the older survey figures as answering different questions, not the same one.

bttr Milk to Foam Cleanser 150g

bttr sells the Milk to Foam Cleanser 150g ([수분잠금] 하이드라 베리어 클렌징 336 밀크 투 폼 150g) for ₩28,100 on its own storefront, and its product page frames the formula as a single-step cleanser built around three types of hyaluronic acid, six types of ceramide and a blend the brand calls '336', intended to remove sunscreen and makeup without a second cleanse. The listing states a fragrance is present, so a fragrance-free claim would misstate the formula. bttr positions this cleanser as the step that follows daily sunscreen wear, not a treatment product step. Skipping a first cleanse before this one is a mismatch for heavy waterproof sunscreen, since the product page describes a one-step foam cleanser, not a dedicated makeup-remover balm.

Beplain Green Tea Calming Sunscreen

Beplain markets the Green Tea Calming Sunscreen within a sun-care line that also includes the Mung Bean Cooling Moisture Sunscreen SPF50 PA++++ and the Sunmuse Moisture Sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++, both catalogued on INCIDecoder with niacinamide among their listed ingredients. The Sunmuse Moisture Sunscreen lists roughly 30 ingredients on that database, including vitamin E alongside its SPF actives. Beplain also sells a Sunmuse Tone-Up and Correcting Sunscreen and a Clean Ocean Moisture Sunscreen through retail listings such as YesStyle. The brand's sun-care items are positioned around cushion-free lotion textures for daily wear, not heavy, water-resistant formats.

Anessa Perfect UV Skincare Milk

Shiseido's Anessa Perfect UV Skincare Milk (パーフェクトUV スキンケアミルク NA) sells in a 60mL bottle for 3,058 yen, tax included, on the brand's official Anessa site, and a separate 90mL travel-retail size and a 12mL trial size exist through other Shiseido channels. It is rated SPF50+ PA++++ and its full ingredient list, checked via the Yamada Denki product data page, lists zinc oxide and titanium oxide as physical filters alongside chemical filters including ethylhexyl triazone, homosalate and octocrylene. The product launched on 2024-02-21 in Japan and is classified as a quasi-drug sunscreen milk with a fruity floral scent, without an organic-standard certification record attached to it.

innisfree Daily UV Defense Sunscreen

innisfree's Daily UV Defense Sunscreen ships as a Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ lotion whose FDA drug-facts filing on DailyMed names avobenzone, homosalate and octisalate as its active ingredients, distinct from a Mineral Sunscreen variant rated SPF 45 that lists zinc oxide instead. The lotion version holds the Skin Cancer Foundation's Daily Use Sunscreen Seal of Recommendation and is sold through innisfree's US site alongside a stick format and a serum-textured Daily UV Invisible Barrier Sunscreen rated SPF 47. A PA++++ rating on some innisfree UV products reflects the Asia-only PA scale for UVA protection, a system the US FDA does not recognize. An in-house home-use test of 30 women reported 86 percent saw no white cast after one use, a sample size too small to generalize beyond that test.

Sources: 2023년 상반기 기능성화장품 심사 통계 (힐팁), 소비 트렌드 인덱스: 자외선 차단제 사용 실태 (코스인코리아), 男 자외선차단제 사용, 女보다 3배 이상 적어 (이데일리), 한국산 자외선 차단제 인기 훨훨 (미주중앙일보, 2023).