Withings has unveiled the world's first-ever smart hairbrush, developed in partnership with L'Oréal's Research and Innovation Technology Incubator. The Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings features 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 to help people better care for their hair.
The smart hairbrush includes a microphone that listens to the sound of hair brushing to identify patterns, providing insights into manageability, frizziness, dryness, split ends and breakage. An accelerometer and a gyroscope help further analyze brushing patterns and count brush strokes, with haptic feedback signaling if brushing is too vigorous. Conductivity sensors on the brush determine if the brush is being used on dry or wet hair in order to provide an accurate hair measurement.
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.
"Technology is transforming consumers' daily beauty routines, and smart devices have huge potential to impact how we care for our hair and skin," commented Guive Balooch, Global Vice President of L'Oréal's Research and Innovation Technology Incubator. "By using connected technologies to upgrade the hairbrush - something the average consumer uses every day - 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."
