New L’Oreal Hair Coach uses digital technology for hair grooming

Brushing the hair will never be the same. L’Oreal-owned Kérastase announced a new brush: Hair Coach, that collects and analyzes brushing force and speed, counts strikes, and recommends brushing techniques and products for the user’s hair. The package includes a hair brush and a mobile app. The brush, created with the aid of Withings, captures the hair’s soundwaves to detect if the hair is dry, frizzy or prone to breaking. It also has sensors that can say if the user is brushing when their hair is dry or wet while a gyroscope and accelerometer count the average number of brush strokes and measure the force used to brush hair. All this information is send -using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology- to an app that users download to track their grooming patterns. “Withings and Kérastase have reinvented what a person’s relationship with their hair can look like and are showing how connected devices can revolutionize the beauty industry” said Guive Balooch, Global VP at L’Oréal’s Research and Innovation Technology Incubator. The app uses algorithms developed by L’Oreal to show the Hair Coach users a chart of their routines, the quality of their hair, and give recommendations on how to improve the health of their hair. It also pulls in local weather information to recommend Kérastase products. The Hair Coach will be available later this year through Kérastase salons, the brand’s website and Withings’ e-commerce site for less than $200. L’Oreal has not named a more specific price yet.