How Mihwa Kim Turned Hydrogel Skincare Into Biodance’s Global Signature

Mihwa Kim’s route from television beauty host to Biodance founder began with a personal search for skincare materials she could understand and trust. After a serious car accident left her with 60 stitches on her face, a burn and scars, she started examining products through a more technical lens. Her curiosity about hydrogel became the basis for Biodance, launched in 2021 and now known for its transforming hydrogel masks.

The brand has sold 360 million masks and expanded into creams, serums and a hydrogel neck patch. Kim’s account offers a clear view of what shaped that growth: hands-on product knowledge, confidence in a material other people doubted, and customers who shared their experiences online.

From presenting beauty to studying ingredients

Kim’s first career was as a TV shopping host introducing beauty products. She enjoyed testing cosmetics and explaining how products differed and what they offered. The work felt more like a hobby than a job, she says, because it brought together her interest in trying products and her desire to describe them to viewers.

That instinct to investigate also shaped how she approached other jobs. Kim says roles that left little room for curiosity weren’t a good fit. Asking questions and looking closely at how things work were central to her interests; without room to explore or make changes, she found it hard to go deep.

The accident brought that curiosity into sharper focus. Kim lost confidence in appearing on camera and wondered whether she could face people in person while her skin looked different. As she sought advice from dermatologists and tried the products they recommended for her recovery, she began paying close attention to what she put on her face.

She read research papers about cosmetics and the efficacy of their ingredients, building her knowledge through the process of trying to understand the products around her. Kim describes that period as dark, though she says she can now speak about it with a smile. The experience, she reflects, eventually led to her work as a cosmetics founder.

Why hydrogel became the foundation

After receiving stitches and laser treatments, Kim relied heavily on medical-grade scar patches. She describes them as having a three-dimensional gel matrix: a structure shared across different types of hydrogel scar patches. In her experience, the patches protected the skin while allowing it to breathe within the gel layer. She believes using them extensively helped shape how her face looks now, after the injuries.

That firsthand familiarity gave Kim an idea for a consumer skincare product. Hydrogel was already used in wound-care patches, but she saw potential to bring the material to a wider beauty audience. Biodance developed what Kim calls a transforming hydrogel category, with its collagen mask as a signature product.

Her material knowledge mattered because launching the mask was difficult. Kim says people around her warned that it would be hard, and the early experience bore that out. She continued because she understood hydrogel deeply and believed in the product. That conviction became part of her approach to building the brand: she points to product performance, rather than marketing, as the driver of Biodance’s growth.

Customers carried the story online

Biodance launched as TikTok was rising as a social platform. Kim credits platforms such as Amazon with helping people discover the mask, while customers helped extend its reach. Users posted reviews and recommended the product to friends on social media after trying it.

That pattern suggests why the mask could travel beyond its initial audience: the product gave users something concrete to talk about, and social posts made those reactions visible. Kim’s view of K-beauty fits this emphasis on product experience. She says Korean skincare brands benefit from strong technology and that U.S. consumers have faith in their products because they trust the efficacy of that technology.

Biodance has since moved beyond masks into creams and serums, as well as a hydrogel neck patch. The range keeps the material at the center while applying it to more product formats. For shoppers, the practical point is straightforward: Kim’s story begins with a specific material and a founder’s experience using it, then follows how a customer response helped turn that idea into a broader brand.

Building with complementary strengths

Kim’s career advice is grounded in knowing where your abilities end. She recommends asking for help in areas where you’re less skilled and finding people who can contribute what you can’t. Combining those strengths, she says, is how a team can build something greater together.

For an entrepreneur whose work grew from close study of one material, that advice also speaks to the next stage of Biodance. A founder’s expertise can provide direction, while other people bring skills that help develop and expand the idea. Kim’s path points to a useful takeaway for beauty professionals: curiosity can lead to a product concept, but building a brand takes a clear sense of both personal strengths and where collaboration matters.

Featured Biodance products

Biodance Collagen Peptide Hydrogel Neck Patches are listed at $15 at Amazon, reduced from $18.

Biodance Rejuvenating Caviar PDRN Real Deep Mask is listed at $19 at Amazon and $22 at Walmart.

Biodance Collagen Peptide Jelly Mist is listed at $17 at Amazon, reduced from $19, and $19 at Sephora.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.