Beauty of the ages

The skincare industry is enjoying great success online. [Photo by Wang Jingsheng/For China Daily]

However, it remains to be seen whether TCM beauty products can be as popular as Japanese and South Korean brands.

Zhao Wei, founder of Conature, an organic hair product brand, says that one of the biggest challenges for emerging TCM-based brands is that Chinese consumers lack the trust and confidence for indigenous brands in the same way that Japanese or South Korean consumers have confidence in their countries' products.

A former fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar China, Zhao says she has always wanted to have her own brand. She founded the brand as her mother could not find a hair salon offering authentic organic hair products, she says.

Zhao imports ingredients from southern France and Italy and works with scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to develop her company's own products. The brand promotes the products through its hair salons and now has two branches in Beijing and one in Jinan, Shandong province.

"The South Korean cosmetics brands are big because their people are very supportive of their own brands," Zhao says. "In China it still takes time for people to build awareness of local brands."

However, she says she expects the situation to improve in about five years.