Scores and monitors hair routines.
Leader in professional luxury hair care, Kérastase, in partnership with leader in connected health, Withings, announced the Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings — the world’s first smart hair brush.
Developed in collaboration with L’Oréal’s research and innovation technology incubator, the brush features Withings’ advanced sensors and seamless product design along with L’Oréal’s patent-pending signal analysis algorithms to score the quality of hair and monitor the effects of different hair care routines. An accompanying mobile app provides additional insights and customised product recommendations to help users better care for their hair.
The Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings minimises the risks of breakage and split ends, taking advantage of multiple sensors that provide information on the quality of hair and brushing patterns. These include:
- A microphonethat listens to the sound of hair brushing to identify patterns, providing insights into manageability, frizziness, dryness, split ends and breakage.
- Three-axis loadcells that measure the force applied to the hair and the scalp when brushing.
- An accelerometerand gyroscope which help further analyse brushing patterns and count brush strokes, with haptic feedback signalling if brushing is too vigorous.
- Conductivity sensorsto determine if the brush is being used on dry or wet hair in order to provide an accurate hair measurement. The brush itself is splash proof.
These sensors feed data automatically via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to a dedicated mobile app, which then takes into account weather factors like humidity, temperature, UV and wind, which also impact hair’s manageability and quality.
By tracking the way a person brushes and factoring in aspects of daily life, the smart brush app provides valuable information including a hair quality score, data on the effectiveness of brushing habits, personalized tips and Kérastase product recommendations.
L’Oreal research and innovation technology incubator global VP, Guive Balooch said, “Technology is transforming consumers’ daily beauty routines, and smart devices have huge potential to impact how we care for our hair and skin. By using connected technologies, Withings and Kérastase have reinvented what a person’s relationship with their hair can look like and are showing how connected devices can revolutionise the beauty industry.”
The hair brush will retail for under $200 and will be available from mid-2017 at select Kérastase hair salons and website, as well as through Withings online store and distribution channels.