"I once came down with seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp while using a scalp massager. At that time, I felt it was hard to find hair care products on the market that matched my scalp condition. I wanted to make gentle, clean hair care products for people like me."
Layers Cosmetic is a startup that runs the hair care brand "Nesh." CEO Kim Yu-na founded the company in Jun. 2021. Kim handled the Ohui brand at LG H&H and launched new brands at Beiersdorf, building seven years of hands-on experience in the field. Based on that experience, Kim jumped into entrepreneurship with the dream of "creating my own K-beauty brand."
Kim saw an opportunity in the "female hair loss" market. In 2021, while various brands such as TS and Dr. Groot had established themselves in men's hair loss products, there were no clear competitors in the women's market despite rising interest.
In particular, men's hair loss often stems from congenital factors, so cosmetics have limited effect, whereas women's hair loss is acquired, making the effects of cosmetics more direct and therefore appealing.
Nesh introduced hair loss care products based on biome ingredients. It launched shampoos using soy, pomegranate, and mint as ingredients tailored to sensitive, combination, and oily scalp types.
Kim said, "For hair care products, what matters most is not whether they are functional but whether they match your scalp type," and added, "We are researching products based on raw ingredients that help each scalp type." To that end, Kim co-founded the company with Min Chang-uk, who holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Harvard University.
The company is also making a full-fledged push overseas. Layers Cosmetic signed a supply contract in Jun. this year with SILICON2, the No. 1 domestic vendor known for Beauty of Joseon. Targeting 160 countries, it received seven purchase orders within a month. It is also in the final stages of a supply contract with TJX, the largest U.S. offline distributor, which has more than 6,500 stores.
Kim estimates the size of the global hair care market at 146 trillion won as of 2025. Of that, the markets in the United States, Korea, and Japan, where Layers Cosmetic is focusing, are estimated at about 23 trillion won. In particular, Kim noted that the functional hair care market is growing 10% annually. Layers Cosmetic aims to capture 0.5% of that, or 1 billion won, by 2030.
Layers Cosmetic secured seed investment in 2023 from Newkids Investment and One Billion Partners. In 2024, it won the Minister's Award for K-beauty new product ideas from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and in 2025 it was selected for the ministry's Global Startup School program. Layers Cosmetic plans to raise a post-seed or pre-A round this year.
Kim plans to expand Nesh into a K-hair wellness brand. Kim said, "There are still no widely recognized K-hair care brands," and expressed the ambition to be known "as an indie brand that meets diverse consumer needs in hair care." Nesh is expanding its lineup into hair care such as treatments and serums, and styling such as hair wax.