Seoul City Criminally Charges 10 People Including Unlicensed Hair Loss Treatment Shops... Exposed Through 3-Month Planned Investigation

Six Unreported and Unlicensed Scalp Care Franchise Stores Caught Amid Increasing Hair Loss Patients with 6 Individuals
Three Unlicensed Medical Practice Shops Including Semi-Permanent Makeup Overlooking Side Effects of Local Anesthetic Creams Caught with 4 Individuals

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Life Judicial Police Unit announced on the 28th that it has criminally charged 10 individuals from a total of 9 locations, including unreported and unlicensed franchise-type specialized scalp and hair loss care shops and illegal semi-permanent makeup procedure shops, following a three-month planned investigation into civil life infringement offenders starting from June this year.

Seoul investigated a total of 49 franchise-type specialized scalp and hair loss care shops and uncovered 6 shops under 3 franchise brands operating without licenses or business registration. Despite scalp care and other hair and skin treatment services requiring a beautician license and business registration with the competent administrative office, it was confirmed that these franchise-type unreported and unlicensed specialized scalp and hair loss care shops were established and operated by exploiting the recent rapid increase in hair loss patients.

Those wishing to operate a beauty business must comply with the Public Hygiene Management Act by equipping facilities and equipment prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and registering with the head of the relevant district office. Only licensed beauticians may open or engage in beauty business operations. The detected shops will face imprisonment of up to one year or fines up to 10 million KRW under the Public Hygiene Management Act.

The uncovered specialized scalp and hair loss care shops installed scalp care consultation rooms and, after checking the condition of the scalp and hair through scalp magnification photography, charged customers between 50,000 and 100,000 KRW per session for scalp and hair loss management programs. These shops also advertised long-term management programs lasting over six months as effective for customers worried about hair loss, demanding package fees ranging from as low as 1 million KRW to over 4 million KRW.

Furthermore, 3 shops were caught performing semi-permanent makeup procedures without a medical license, disregarding the side effects of local anesthetic creams, resulting in 4 individuals being criminally charged. Semi-permanent makeup involves applying anesthetic cream and using needles to inject pigment into the epidermal layer on eyebrows, eyeliner, lips, etc., and under the Medical Service Act, only licensed medical professionals at medical institutions may perform such procedures. The shops caught in this investigation will face imprisonment of up to 5 years or fines up to 50 million KRW under the Medical Service Act.

Meanwhile, most of the illegal semi-permanent makeup procedure shops uncovered by the Civil Life Judicial Police Unit were found to have introduced their services via SNS and operated discreetly in officetels without signboards by accepting advance reservations. Among the 3 detected shops, one operated as a shop-in-shop within a location registered as a beauty business in an officetel before being caught, while the other two showed meticulousness by only accepting reservations through ‘KakaoTalk’ without leaving contact information and revealing the location only after receiving a deposit.

Park Byung-hyun, head of the Safety Investigation Division of the Seoul Civil Life Judicial Police Unit, stated, "We will continue to investigate civil life sectors closely related to citizens' daily lives to protect the health and safety of the public."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.