GENOSYS
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HR³ MATRIX Scalp Peeling α · 100 ml
A third of this bottle is alcohol. That is the point.
This is not an exfoliating treatment, it is a prep step — and a genuinely good one. Denatured alcohol at 33.600% with propylene glycol at 11.994% cuts through scalp oil, sweat and product build-up in seconds, so that whatever you do next lands on clean skin. In this range, what you do next is needle the Hair Solution ampoule in. Then 1.7% of combined cooling agents, which is more than any other GENOSYS product carries.
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Free delivery over AED 1,000 · Dispatched from Dubai
33.6%
denatured alcohol
1.7%
combined cooling agents, the most in the range
99 ppm
salicylic acid — not a peeling dose
4.31
batch pH
Read this first
Three times over, the old copy on this page described a gentle scalp peel. A solution that is a third denatured alcohol, carries 1.7% cooling agents and is rubbed into the scalp with a cotton swab is not gentle, and saying so before you buy is more use to you than saying it afterwards. It is effective. That is a different word.
None of that is a fault in the formula. Stripping the scalp fast and drying without residue is exactly what a prep step before microneedling should do. But it is a tool for a job, not a comfort product, and it belongs in a routine rather than on its own.
The working formula
Almost half the bottle is a solvent system, and that is the honest description of this product. Here is what is in it, in the order the quantities matter.
Alcohol denat.
33.600%
A third of the bottle. It dissolves sebum and product residue on contact and flashes off in seconds, leaving nothing behind for the next step to push through. It also carries denatonium benzoate, a bittering agent, so the denatured alcohol cannot be drunk.
Propylene glycol
11.994%
Nearly an eighth of the bottle. It lifts oil-soluble build-up alongside the alcohol, and it slows evaporation just enough that the solution stays wet long enough to work across a section rather than drying on the swab.
Menthol, with menthyl lactate
0.900% + 0.800%
1.7% of cooling agents between them, the highest total in any GENOSYS product. Menthol gives the immediate cold, menthyl lactate carries it on for several minutes afterwards.
PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil
2.000%
The solubiliser, and what stops a formula that is a third alcohol and half water from separating in the bottle.
Phenoxyethanol, with chlorphenesin
0.200% + 0.150%
The preservative system, backed by the alcohol itself. Worth noting that an older version of this formula used methylparaben and iodopropynyl butylcarbamate; the current one contains neither.
Betaine
0.100%
The only humectant in the formula, and a small counterweight to the alcohol. It is present and it is not enough to make this a hydrating step — nothing at 0.1% could be, against 33.6%.
How cold, exactly
Every product in this range cools, and they are not remotely equivalent. If the cold is what you like about the line — or what you cannot tolerate — the totals are worth seeing side by side.
| Scalp Peeling α — this one | 1.700% | menthol 0.900 + menthyl lactate 0.800 |
|---|---|---|
| Medi Scalp Shampoo α | 1.200% | menthol 1.120 + menthyl lactate 0.080 |
| Hair Tonic α | 0.380% | menthol 0.300 + two agents at 0.040 |
| Hair Solution α | 0.200% | menthol only |
One honest distinction: the shampoo carries more menthol specifically, at 1.120% against 0.900% here, but this formula has more cooling agent in total and it goes onto skin that has just been stripped of its oil, with no water to dilute it. In practice this is the coldest thing in the range to actually use. The ampoule at the bottom of that table is the mildest, which is deliberate — it goes on after needling.
Proportion
Salicylic acid and copper tripeptide-1 both appear high on the ingredient list, and our own copy used to build the product around them. Here is what is actually there.
99 ppm
Salicylic acid
the Hair Tonic runs 0.250% — twenty-five times more
0.5 ppm
Green tea leaf extract
named on the label
0.1 ppm each
Sixteen botanicals
including the nine Black Complex extracts
0.005 ppm
Copper tripeptide-1
five parts per billion — the lowest in the range
Salicylic acid is a real keratolytic at working concentrations, and 99 parts per million is not one. So the flaking and build-up this product removes are removed by the alcohol and the glycol, not by the acid — which is fine, because they are very good at it. And if copper peptide is what you want from this line, the Hair Solution ampoule carries it at a thousand times this concentration.
How to use
Before a microneedling treatment · not rinsed off
Into a small glass or cylinder rather than working from the bottle. It keeps the rest of the bottle clean and lets you soak the swab properly.
Dip it until it is genuinely wet, not damp. A dry swab drags on the scalp and does not carry enough solution to cut through oil.
Grip the swab just below the head so you can apply real pressure, and work the parting rather than dabbing at it. The manufacturer’s instruction is to rub "rather powerfully", and that is not a translation artefact — this step is mechanical as well as chemical.
Part, swab, move on. Do not rinse it off and do not follow it with water: the whole point is that the scalp is left clean and dry for the next step.
In the HR³ MATRIX system this is followed by the Hair Solution α, needled in with a 0.25 to 0.5 mm roller or stamp. Both products are supplied together in the Mesopecia Kit.
Keep it well away from the eyes — this is a third alcohol with 0.9% menthol and it will hurt considerably more than a shampoo would. Let the scalp dry before any heat: at this alcohol concentration the liquid is flammable. And if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, ask your doctor first: the Hair Solution ampoule in this same range carries a pregnancy caution attributed to its menthol, and this formula has four and a half times as much of it.
Quality
Made in Korea and released against a written specification, and unusually for this range the batch was tested for stability as well as purity. Registered under hair care rather than as a treatment.
The test on file is a cutaneous irritancy patch test by an independent laboratory, and it came back non-irritant — which, given a third of the bottle is alcohol, is worth knowing. The assessor adds the same caveat as elsewhere in this range: the number of volunteers was not statistically significant. A use test on a panel of 20 subjects was also carried out, but no results for it appear in the documents we hold, so we are not claiming any. There is no efficacy study.
| Appearance | Transparent liquid |
|---|---|
| pH | 4.31 at 25 °C, inside a 4.00–5.00 specification |
| Stability | Passes at 50 °C |
| Bacteria | Under 10 cfu/ml, against a permitted 100 |
| Moulds and yeasts | Under 10 cfu/ml, against a permitted 100 |
| Fill | 100.33 ml against a 100 ml declaration |
| Shelf life | Three years unopened |
| Registered category | Hair care |
| Not rinsed off | Assessed as a leave-on product |
Before you use it
Drawn from the safety assessment and the formula. The registered artwork we hold has no readable panel text, so nothing above is quoted from the carton — check the box you receive for its own wording.
The formula
The details
Questions
Not in the sense you are probably thinking. There is no AHA in it and the salicylic acid is at 99 parts per million, which does not exfoliate anything. What removes flaking and build-up here is 33.6% alcohol with 12% propylene glycol dissolving it and a swab rubbing it off. That works, and it works fast — it is just cleaning rather than chemical exfoliation, and "peeling" is the manufacturer’s name for the product rather than a description of the mechanism.
Only if you are microneedling. The shampoo cleans your scalp perfectly well for daily purposes. This exists to leave the scalp completely stripped and dry immediately before a needling treatment, which a rinse-and-towel-dry cannot do as reliably. If you are not needling, buy the shampoo and skip this.
Used as intended — before a treatment, not daily — no, because you are not leaving 33.6% alcohol on your scalp every day. Used as a daily toner it absolutely would, and it is not meant for that. There is one humectant in the formula, betaine at 0.1%, and it is not there to make the product moisturising.
No, and this matters if you are needling at home. The manufacturer’s literature does say it disinfects the treatment area, but alcohol generally needs 60 to 70% to work as an antiseptic and this is 33.6%. It degreases and it cleans. For anything that needs to be sterile, use a product actually intended for that — the homecare kits include a separate disinfecting jar for the applicator for exactly this reason.
Colder in use. The shampoo has more menthol on paper, 1.120% against 0.900%, but this has more cooling agent in total at 1.7%, and it goes onto scalp that has just had its oil stripped off with no water to dilute it. Most people find this the sharpest sensation in the range.
Because carton ingredient lists follow the manufacturer’s own sequence, not the quantity in the bottle. Copper tripeptide-1 is here at five parts per billion, which is the lowest concentration of anything in the whole HR³ MATRIX range. It is on the label; it is not a reason to buy this. The Hair Solution ampoule carries it at a thousand times this dose.
A third of this bottle is alcohol. That is the point.
HR³ MATRIX SCALP PEELING α
Free delivery over AED 1,000 · Dispatched from Dubai
