On 24 May 2025, Ons Co., Ltd. received both the Gold Prize and the Special Prize of the Minister of Gender Equality and Family at the 18th Korea International Women's Invention Exposition (KIWIE 2025).
The exposition is hosted by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and organised by the Korea Women Inventors Association (KWIA). The award was presented to Ms. Cha Mikyung, Chief Executive Officer of Ons.
What was recognised is a technology rather than a brand. It is now registered as Korean Patent No. 10-2836178, “Natural hair-dye kit based on henna and indigo, method for its manufacture, and hair-dyeing method using the same.” Henna had previously been available only as a powder, which had to be measured out and mixed with water before every application. The invention keeps the natural composition unchanged and reformulates the preparation step as a ready-to-use liquid kit.
The Gold Prize was issued as a separate special award under certificate No. 2025-005, and the Special Prize of the Minister of Gender Equality and Family was awarded in the government-institution category.
The technology is applied in our Water Henna products, which completed the functional-cosmetics review of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (No. 20230026680) and recorded a mean primary irritation index of 0.00 in a human application test.
