Can you take hair growth tonic on a plane?

Hair tonic on flights in and from Japan

On a domestic flight only the quantity limits apply. On an international flight the liquid rule comes on top.

Domestic flights in Japan

The 100ml liquid limit does not apply.

International flights from Japan

Each container 100ml or less, all of them inside one transparent re-sealable bag of 1 litre or less, one bag per person.

Hair restorer is listed as a toiletry, not as a medicine

Hair growth products sit between cosmetics and medicines: Japan's flight lists treat them as toiletries, while its health ministry sets separate limits on arrival.

The names the lists use

Japan's main list names both hair tonic and hair growth products in liquid or spray form in its hair care row. The English liquids list calls the same thing Hair restorer (liquids, sprays) and gives it a row with no examples.

Filed with toiletries, apart from medications

On the liquids list Hair restorer sits in the block headed Toiletry articles. The separate block of medications, which are exempt from the container limit when declared to the screener, gives cough syrup, contact lens solution and decongestants as its examples. Hair restorer is not among them, and the main list also keeps it under cosmetics instead of its medicines table.

Cosmetic or medicine, the quantity is the same

On the main list the classification does not change the quantity. Japan's list gives its cosmetics table and its medicines table the same per-container and per-person figures, and the per-person figure is one total counted across both. Hong Kong's CAD and Taiwan's CAA go further and put medicinal articles and toiletry articles in a single row.

Arriving in Japan with a hair growth medicine

Japan's health ministry lets travellers bring medicines for personal use without an Import Confirmation up to set amounts: 24 per item for a drug for external use other than a poison or prescription drug, 1 month supply for a prescription drug, and 2 month supply for other drugs and quasi drugs. The product explanation form used for that confirmation lists Minoxidil among the ingredient names.

Hair tonic: the rule country by country

The carry-on answer for hair tonic is the same in all 7 other places we checked. The limits themselves are not identical, so read the row for the country you fly from.

Each row comes from that authority's own page. Airlines can be stricter, and the screening officer has the final say.

If security in Japan will not let hair tonic through

What to do

Move hair tonic to the bag you check in before you reach security, within the checked-baggage limits above. Narita Airport states that anything given up at the checkpoint is discarded and cannot be returned.

Related items

• Shampoo and conditioner
• Hairspray
• Hair wax and styling products
• Hair dye and colouring
• Hair straighteners and curlers
• Hair dryer