Walk into any Olive Young store in Seoul, and you’ll find gondolas filled with cooling beauty products, spanning scalp sprays, body wipes, sheet masks, neck gels, and sunscreens. In a country where temperatures exceed 95°F, and humidity often climbs to over 90%, it’s a functional category for those seeking a welcome relief from the heat.
Western markets, by contrast, have typically been slower to adopt the cosmetic cooling category. Face mists were arguably the earliest mainstream expression, though in the West, they’re yet to graduate from a summer novelty to a skincare essential. But as heatwaves become increasingly common, especially in countries like the UK, which lack widespread air conditioning, mists and handheld fans alone are no longer enough.
Opportunity in the cooling space is ripe, especially among Gen Zs and millennials already fluent in the rest of what K-beauty has to offer. The global cosmetic “cooling agents” market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% to $7.1 billion by 2032, per research by Dataintelo, with a total market value sitting at $3.8 million in 2025. In the UK alone, searches for “cooling sunscreen” increased 30% in May 2026, according to Google Trends data, while 17% of British adults now actively seek skin-cooling products in warmer weather, per Mintel.
The category’s origins were primarily a vacation purchase, associated with coastal trips and after-sun treatments that are reactive rather than combative to yearly or year-round heat. Now, this product cohort has developed into a commuter essential for everyday use, instead of a luxury response to sunny weather — increasingly positioned as a preventive personal care and wellness offering.
The strategic opportunity in the West is not to sell cooling products as a gimmicky indulgence or a nice-to-have, but to help cope in heat that’s becoming disruptive to everyday life, says Amy Gilmore, strategic partner at research and strategy studio Untangld. “The old summer beauty language is very aspirational: glow, bronze, radiance. But the lived reality of extreme heat is sweating on public transport, poor sleep, irritated skin, scalp oiliness, chafing, and melted makeup,” she says. “In that context, cooling beauty starts to look less like a treat and more like a climate-era comfort system.”
The science of cool
Overheated skin can present as redness, increased sensitivity, and barrier stress, and may be triggered by sweat, humidity, or deeper inflammation. For Dr. Christine Hall, aesthetic physician and Korean beauty expert, cooling products can have a two-pronged approach: “The immediate cooling sensation improves comfort, whereas formulas that calm inflammation and support the skin barrier are what genuinely overheated skin needs. The best products tend to do both.”
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