Dexpanthenol
103.40%
of 0.2%
Loading...
GENOSYS
GENOSYS
Loading...
HR³ MATRIX Hair Tonic α · 70 ml
Three actives, all three measured on the batch.
Dexpanthenol at 0.2%, L-menthol at 0.3% and salicylic acid at 0.25% — and unusually, the certificate assays all three rather than declaring them. They came back at 103.40%, 99.37% and 101.28% of the stated amounts. Nearly a tenth of the bottle is alcohol, which is why it dries in seconds and leaves nothing behind. A leave-on scalp toner, not a hair-loss treatment.
Login to see price
Free delivery over AED 1,000 · Dispatched from Dubai
3
Actives measured on the batch
9.5%
Denatured alcohol
0.3%
Menthol, assayed at 99.37%
3M
Use within three months of opening
Read this before you buy
At 0.25%, the salicylic acid in this tonic is doing genuine work — and it comes with genuine restrictions. The manufacturer’s Korean panel says to avoid the product entirely if any of the following applies to you, because it may worsen an existing condition. None of this was on our site before, and it should have been.
It is also not for children under three years of age, which is printed on the English panel. If you are on any scalp medication or under dermatological care, take the ingredient list to whoever is treating you before you start. We would rather lose the sale than have you find this out afterwards.
The best certificate in the range
Most cosmetic certificates confirm appearance, pH and that nothing is growing in the bottle. This one assays every functional active in the formula against its declared concentration, which no other GENOSYS product manages. Here is what the batch returned.
Dexpanthenol
103.40%
of 0.2%
L-menthol
99.37%
of 0.3%
Salicylic acid
101.28%
of 0.25%
Read those as percentages of the declared amount, against a specification of at least 90% in each case. So the panthenol came back slightly over, the menthol a shade under, the salicylic acid slightly over — all three verified rather than assumed. It is a small thing that tells you something real about how the product is released, and it is the honest reason to buy this tonic over one that simply lists the same ingredients.
The working formula
A scalp tonic has to deliver something and then get out of the way. This one is mostly water and alcohol carrying five ingredients at doses that do something, and a long tail of botanicals that do not.
Alcohol denat.
9.500%
Nearly a tenth of the bottle. It carries the actives, dries in seconds and leaves no film, which is what makes a twice-daily leave-on tonic wearable at all. It is also the ingredient most likely to sting a scalp that is already sore, and the reason the specific gravity comes in below water at 0.9711.
Menthol, with two more cooling agents
0.300% + 0.080%
Menthol at 0.300%, then menthyl lactate and methyl diisopropyl propionamide at 0.040% each. Three cooling agents rather than one: menthol gives the immediate hit, the other two carry it on. This is the sensation the product is genuinely selling, and the menthol is assayed.
Salicylic acid
0.250%
A keratolytic at a working dose, which is what actually keeps the scalp feeling clear over weeks rather than hours. It is also the source of the avoid list above, and it is assayed on the batch.
Panthenol
0.200%
Vitamin B5, conditioning, and the third of the three assayed actives. The certificate calls it dexpanthenol and measured it at 103.40% of declaration.
Allantoin
0.100%
A working dose for comfort, which matters on a formula carrying both alcohol and a keratolytic.
Acorus calamus root and centella asiatica
250 ppm + 50 ppm
Modest but not trivial, and the only two botanicals in the formula present in amounts worth naming.
Proportion
Our own description used to open its ingredient list with copper tripeptide-1, then Sophora japonica, then caffeine. Those are at 1, 10 and 10 parts per million respectively. Worth knowing if caffeine is what you came for: the MEDI Scalp Shampoo in this same line carries caffeine at a full 1% — a hundred times more than this tonic — so if that is the ingredient you want, the shampoo is where it actually is. What this tonic does well is cool, clear and condition, with all three of those actives measured.
How to use
Morning and evening · leave 3–4 hours minimum · do not rinse
Part the hair and spray directly onto the scalp. The point is contact with skin — spraying it over the top of dry hair mostly wastes it.
The carton specifies circular massage, and it is worth the thirty seconds. It spreads the tonic across the scalp rather than leaving it in the few spots you sprayed.
This is the instruction most people miss. It is a leave-on: do not wash it off, and give it hours rather than minutes. That is also why the alcohol matters — nothing else would be tolerable sitting on the scalp that long.
Twice daily is the stated routine. Practically, most people find the evening application easiest to leave in overnight and the morning one fits after a shower, once the scalp is dry.
Keep it away from the eyes — it is a spray with 9.5% alcohol and 0.3% menthol in it, and it will hurt. If you use the MEDI Scalp Shampoo from the same line, wash first, dry the scalp, then apply this. And use the bottle within three months of opening, which is the shortest period in our whole range.
Quality
Made in Korea and released against a written specification that includes an assay for every functional active. The safety assessment is also unusual: the sensitisation test is a full Human Repeat Insult Patch Test rather than a single-application patch test.
The sensitisation test on file is a Human Repeat Insult Patch Test, carried out by an independent laboratory, and it concluded "no identifiable signs or symptoms of primary irritation or sensitization". That is a more demanding test than the single-application patch tests behind most "dermatologically tested" claims, because it looks for allergy developing over repeated exposure rather than irritation on first contact. A separate application test by a named laboratory is also referenced in the assessment, but no results for it are recorded in the documents we hold, so we are not claiming any.
| Appearance | Colourless transparent, non-viscous liquid |
|---|---|
| pH | 4.38 at 25 °C, inside a 3.0–5.0 specification |
| Specific gravity | 0.9711 — below water, from the alcohol |
| Fill | 71.31 ml against a 70 ml declaration |
| Dexpanthenol | Assayed at 103.40% of the declared 0.2% |
| L-menthol | Assayed at 99.37% of the declared 0.3% |
| Salicylic acid | Assayed at 101.28% of the declared 0.25% |
| Purity | Under 10 cfu/ml bacteria, against a permitted 100 |
| Pathogens | S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans — all not detected |
| After opening | Three months |
The formula
The named ingredients with their concentrations, then the complete list.
Aqua (Water), Alcohol Denat., Dipropylene Glycol, Ethoxydiglycol, Copper Tripeptide-1, Sophora Japonica Extract, Acorus Calamus Root Extract, Panthenol, Centella Asiatica Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Menthol, Salicylic Acid, Caffeine, Ascorbic Acid, Tocopherol, Allantoin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Sodium Citrate, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Citric Acid, Butylene Glycol, Methyl Diisopropyl Propionamide, Menthyl Lactate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Glycerin, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract
Every ingredient, in the same order as the carton in your hand.
Before you use it
Precautions as printed on the GENOSYS carton, including the fuller Korean panel.
The formula
The details
Questions
We are not going to tell you that. Outside Korea this product is registered as a scalp toner — the carton’s function line reads "scalp nourishing, hair conditioning" — and that is the claim we will stand behind. What it demonstrably does is cool the scalp, keep it feeling clear with salicylic acid at a measured 0.25%, and condition with panthenol at a measured 0.2%. If you are losing hair, that is a conversation for a doctor, not a tonic.
It means the laboratory measured how much of each active is in the batch, rather than the manufacturer simply declaring what went in. Dexpanthenol came back at 103.40% of its declared 0.2%, L-menthol at 99.37% of 0.3%, salicylic acid at 101.28% of 0.25%, all against a minimum of 90%. No other product we sell has all of its actives measured this way.
It depends on your scalp. It is what makes the tonic dry in seconds, leave no residue and stay tolerable sitting on the skin for three or four hours, which is what the instructions ask for. On a sensitive, flaking or already-irritated scalp, twice daily may be too much — start once a day in the evening and see. On a scalp that runs oily, the alcohol is the point.
The salicylic acid. At 0.25% it is a real keratolytic dose, and salicylates carry established cautions — the manufacturer’s own Korean panel lists diabetes, circulatory disorders, renal impairment, active infection, pregnancy and menstruation. That list was on the Korean panel and on no other, including the English one, and it was missing from our site until now.
Ten parts per million, which is not a dose anyone should buy the product for. If caffeine is what you are after, the MEDI Scalp Shampoo in this same line has it at a full 1% — a hundred times more. We would rather point you at the right product than let the ingredient list do the selling.
That is what the carton specifies, and it is the shortest period of any product we sell. At 70 ml used twice daily you will finish the bottle inside that window comfortably, so in practice it rarely bites — but it is worth knowing before you buy two.
Three actives, all three measured on the batch.
HR³ MATRIX HAIR TONIC α
Free delivery over AED 1,000 · Dispatched from Dubai
