# Curél

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Origin | Japan |
| Headquarters | Tokyo |
| Owner | Kao Corporation |
| Status | Active |
| Distribution | Multi-channel |
| Website | https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/ |

Curél is a Japanese skincare brand owned by Kao Corporation, the Tokyo-based personal-care company [8]. It was created for people with dry, sensitive skin, and the whole range rests on a single idea from Kao's skin research: that skin of this kind tends to lack ceramide, an essential component of the skin's outer layer that helps it hold in moisture and keep out irritants. Kao dates the launch of the Curél skincare series to 1999 [2]; a line in the English Wikipedia article on Kao gives an earlier year, 1986, for Curel [9].

The brand is active. Its range, which the company puts at more than 90 products, now covers the face, body, hands, scalp and lips, with some light base makeup alongside.

## Origin & founders

Curél has no individual founder. It was developed inside Kao Corporation, a company founded in 1882 by Tomiro Nagase and headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, and it grew out of the company's own laboratories rather than from an outside acquisition.

Kao traces the brand's roots to 1976, when a new research laboratory was set up at its Japanese institute to study the structure of skin [7]. According to the company, that work began before "sensitive skin" was even an everyday term, and over time it led Kao's researchers to the conclusion that dry, sensitive skin is linked to a shortage of ceramide.

Turning that finding into products proved difficult. In the 1980s, when the research started, natural ceramide was a very expensive substance, and Kao says it could not add enough of it to a product, reliably, to make a difference. The company's own account of this period is blunt: it decided that the only way forward was to make an ingredient of its own that would behave like ceramide. After what the brand describes as many setbacks, Kao succeeded in 1987 with what it calls its "ceramide functional ingredient" [2], an ingredient designed to do the moisture-holding work of the skin's own ceramide.

In 1993, according to Kao's Singapore Curél site, the company began using the ingredient in skincare meant for sensitive skin. The Curél series itself followed in 1999. The brand says it took twelve years to bring its ceramide-centred approach, from cleansing through to moisturising, to market.

## History & milestones

Kao's Singapore site presents the 1999 launch as "Japan's first skincare solution for sensitive skin" [7], a description that comes from the company itself. The first product, according to the brand, was a moisturising lotion for the face and body, and the same lotion was still sold a quarter of a century later as part of the core range.

The founding year is not recorded consistently. Kao dates Curél to 1999 on its Japanese brand site, on its Singapore site and in its 25th-anniversary material. The English Wikipedia article on Kao Corporation, by contrast, lists "Curel (1986)" in a single line on the company's product launches, alongside Bioré and Sofina, without further detail [9]. What the 1986 date refers to is not explained there. This article follows the company's own 1999 date.

Today the range reaches well beyond the face. It includes body washes and body moisturisers, hand cream, scalp shampoo and conditioner, lip care, sunscreens and tinted base products, as well as separate lines for oily-skin trouble, dark spots and signs of ageing. The Japanese site even lists fabric care, and among the skin concerns it addresses is discomfort from scratchy clothing.

Several products went through long development cycles that the company later described in some detail. The Deep Moisture Spray, a mist meant to be used quickly after a bath or over makeup, took seven years and more than 1,000 formulation trials, according to the Kao researcher who led it, and depended on breaking the ceramide functional ingredient into much finer particles. A milk-style makeup remover was inspired by the habit of Kao's own makeup researchers, who removed test makeup many times a day and used a moisturising milk to spare their skin.

In 2023 the brand's face toner, sold in three textures from light to rich, was reformulated around what Kao calls a "ceramide functional capsule", a tiny bubble-like structure that carries the ceramide-like ingredient into the upper layer of the skin.

In 2024 Curél marked 25 years since its launch [5]. The anniversary campaign gathered user comments through a survey in June 2024, held events in five cities across Japan, and set out the brand's growth to more than 90 products. Its slogan for the occasion, roughly "your voice becomes our technology", summed up how the brand likes to present itself: as a line built by answering customers' specific complaints one product at a time.

## Ownership

Curél has belonged to Kao Corporation throughout its history. Kao is a Japanese personal-care and cosmetics group, and Curél sits within its wider portfolio of beauty brands. Its sister brands at Kao include Bioré, Molton Brown, John Frieda, Oribe, KMS, GUHL, Elumen, KERASILK, VARIS and Bondi Sands.

No sale, merger or change of ownership involving Curél is documented.

## Philosophy & positioning

Curél's positioning is narrow and deliberate. Its stated aim is to answer the concerns of people with dry, sensitive skin "without leaving a single one unanswered", and its Japanese tagline describes it as a brand made with dry, sensitive skin in mind.

At the centre of this is what the brand calls "ceramide care". In Kao's description, this means two things: cleansing in a way that does not wash the skin's own ceramide away, and then moisturising with ingredients that make up for what is missing. The Singapore site adds a third step, helping the skin produce more ceramide of its own. Together, the company says, these steps support the skin's barrier, its natural defence against dryness, dust and other irritants.

The brand also stresses gentleness. Kao describes its formulas as low-irritation and designed around the needs of dry, sensitive skin, and it presents the range as suitable for everyone from babies to older people, and for the face, body and scalp alike. The Japanese brand site says this work now rests on more than 40 years of Kao skin research; an English-language page on the Singapore site speaks of 30 years.

Curél also addresses doctors directly. The Japanese site has a separate section for medical professionals, such as physicians, pharmacists and nurses, which carries research papers on skin and is intended only for medical professionals rather than the general public.

## Products & innovation

The brand's core technology is the ceramide functional ingredient Kao developed in 1987. On ingredient lists it appears as Cetyl-PG Hydroxyethyl Palmitamide. Kao's Singapore site names a second ceramide-like ingredient, Bis-Methoxypropylamido Isodocosane, and says the company's ceramide care reaches deep into the stratum corneum, the skin's outermost layer, where dryness begins.

A third ingredient, eucalyptus leaf extract, is used for a different purpose. According to Kao, it screened 154 natural ingredients and found that eucalyptus leaves markedly increased the skin's ability to make its own ceramide [6]. The extract is included in Curél skincare for that reason.

The best-known products belong to the "Junshin Hoshitsu" (intensive moisture) line:

- **Intensive Moisture Face Cream**, which the company calls a long seller. The Kao researcher behind it says the goal was a light, soft texture that still left skin feeling moisturised the next morning.
- **Moisture Lotion**, a body and face moisturiser that the brand identifies as its very first product.
- **Moisture Milk**, an emulsion the brand calls one of its classic products.
- **Moisture Lotion toner**, offered in three versions (I, II and III) from lighter to richer, and reformulated in 2023.
- **Foaming Wash**, a pump foam cleanser. Kao says it is mildly acidic and uses amino-acid-based cleansing agents so that ceramide is not stripped away during washing.

In Japan, many of these products are sold as quasi-drugs, a regulated category between cosmetics and medicines. Their labels state that they help prevent rough skin and contain an anti-inflammatory ingredient.

Kao backs its approach with its own testing. The company reports that in an efficacy test run by Kao and dermatologists between November and December 2008, 40 people used the foaming wash, a toner and the face cream twice a day, and showed marked improvement in moisture retention and barrier function after four weeks [6]. Smaller company tests from 2005 to 2008 covered a body wash, a moisture cream and a shampoo and conditioner. On its Singapore site, Kao goes further, stating that its research shows Curél's ceramide care improves dryness "far more effectively than other products" [7]. These are the company's own findings; no independent evaluation of them is documented.

## Recognition

According to Kao, the Intensive Moisture Face Cream has entered the "Best Cosme Hall of Fame" [5]. The company does not name the awarding body or the year of the award. Kao's Singapore site also says that its ceramide care is widely recognised by leading Japanese dermatologists, again as a statement from the company rather than from an outside body.

## Current status

Curél is an active brand. Its Japanese website features a new oil serum marked as a new product, and it runs a membership programme and official accounts on Instagram, X and LINE. Kao also operates a Curél website for Singapore, so the brand is sold in more than one country.

The Japanese site also carries two consumer notices. One announces a voluntary recall of some units of the 410 ml pump bottle of Curél Lotion [1]. The other, dated 8 December 2023, warns customers about counterfeit versions of the Intensive Moisture Face Cream. Both were published by the company itself.

## Timeline {#belagg-timeline}

| Year | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | A new research lab studying skin structure was established in Kao Japan's institute; the brand cites this as the start of its sensitive-skin research. | https://web.kao.com/sg/curel/philosophy/ |
| 1987 | Kao developed its 'ceramide functional ingredient' (セラミド機能成分), a ceramide-like ingredient, after research begun in the 1980s. | https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/concept/ |
| 1993 | Kao introduced the ceramide functional ingredient into skincare for sensitive skin (per Kao's Singapore Curél site). | https://web.kao.com/sg/curel/philosophy/ |
| 1999 | The Curél skincare series was launched in Japan (キュレル スキンケアシリーズが誕生). | https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/concept/ |
| 2023 | 潤浸保湿 化粧水 was reformulated around a 'セラミド機能カプセル' (ceramide functional capsule, a vesicle structure). | https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/ |
| 2024 | 25th anniversary: special site, '#推しキュレル' user survey (June 2024) and events held in five cities in Japan (全国5都市); the range is described as more than 90 products (90を超えるラインナップ). | https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/ |

## Awards {#belagg-awards}

| Year | Awards | Category | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | ベスコス殿堂入り (Best Cosme 'Hall of Fame'; awarding body and year not stated on the page; brand-stated, not third-party-validated) | 潤浸保湿 フェイスクリーム (face cream) | https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/ |

## Signature products {#belagg-products}

- **潤浸保湿 フェイスクリーム (Intensive Moisture Face Cream)** — ベスコス殿堂入りのロングセラー — https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/
- **潤浸保湿 ローション (face & body moisturizing lotion; the brand's first product)** — キュレル第1号！25年間愛され続ける全身用保湿ケア — https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/
- **潤浸保湿 乳液 (Moisture Milk / emulsion)** — 発売以来、乾燥性敏感肌を整え続けるキュレルの「名品」 — https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/
- **潤浸保湿 化粧水 (Moisture Lotion / toner, variants I–III)** — 2023年にリニューアル！進化し続ける！ — https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/
- **潤浸保湿泡洗顔料 (Foaming Wash)** — ファン増加中！やさしい泡で洗いあがりすっきり！ — https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/

## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients}

Ceramide functional ingredient (セラミド機能成分): Cetyl-PG Hydroxyethyl Palmitamide (Japanese label names: ヘキサデシロキシPGヒドロキシエチルヘキサデカナミド / セチルPGヒドロキシエチルパルミタミド) · Bis-Methoxypropylamido Isodocosane (second ceramide-functioning ingredient named on Kao's Singapore Curél site) · Eucalyptus leaf extract (named on Kao's Singapore Curél site as boosting the skin's own ceramide production)

Source: https://web.kao.com/sg/curel/ceramide_care/

## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech}

- セラミドケア (Ceramide Care): the brand's defined approach of protecting ceramide during cleansing and supplementing ceramide function while moisturizing · セラミド機能成分 (ceramide functional ingredient): ceramide-mimicking ingredient Kao developed in 1987 — https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/concept/

## Availability in the Nordics

Where the brand is sold according to Glowjakt's price data, per market.

| Market | products | in stock | stores | Price range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 9 | 6 | 1 | 225 SEK – 350 SEK |
| Norway | 9 | 6 | 1 | 240 NOK – 370 NOK |
| Finland | 9 | 7 | 1 | 19.86 € – 30.89 € |

## Ingredients across the range

Key ingredients across Curél's range, from the ingredient lists of 8 of 9 products in Sweden.

- Most common key ingredients: Glycerin (8) · Vitamin E (4) · Squalane (1)
- May affect sensitive skin: Parabens (6) · Silicones (5) · Phenoxyethanol (3) · Propylene glycol (1)
- Shares: 100 % fragrance-free · 100 % with no animal-derived ingredient identified · 0 % with no hit in the “may affect sensitive skin” group. Share of products with a known ingredient list. “None identified” means nothing matched our ingredient groups, not that the product is free of them.

## Sources

1. (T1) https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/
2. (T1) https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/concept/
5. (T2) https://www.kao-kirei.com/ja/official/curel/special/25thcp/
6. (T2) https://web.kao.com/sg/curel/ceramide_care/
7. (T2) https://web.kao.com/sg/curel/philosophy/
8. (T3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curel
9. (T3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kao_Corporation

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Glowpedia · <https://glowpedia.org/m/curel/> · Published 2026-09-30

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