L’Oréal and Withings receive the CES International Prize in Las Vegas

On 3 Jan 2017, Guive Balooch, Global Vice President of L’Oréal’s Research and Innovation Technology Incubator, was awarded the International Innovation Prize at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings, the first smart hairbrush developed in partnership with Withings.

The international CES prize awards excellence in the design and engineering of technological consumer products and innovation provided by L’Oréal, to improve hair quality by helping users choose the right hair care, based on an assessment and personalised recommendations.

With its built-in sensors, including a microphone, strength sensors, an accelerometer and a conductivity sensor, the smart hairbrush gathers detailed information on the user’s hair care routine. The data is sent to a mobile app which takes the various factors influencing the user’s hair style and quality into account. The analysis of the user’s habits and environment provide a full diagnosis of the state of their hair as well as individualised recommendations.

By using connected technologies to upgrade the hairbrush — something the average consumer uses every day — Withings and Kérastase have reinvented what an individual’s relationship with their hair can look like and are showing how connected devices can revolutionize the beauty industry

explains Guive Balooch, Global Vice President of L’Oréal’s Research and Innovation Technology Incubator.

The CES has showcased the latest technological innovations for nearly fifty years, with 3,800 companies present in 2016. It boasts more than 165,000 attendees from more than 150 countries in 3,000 conferences held by technological leaders and thinkers.

All fields of technology are represented at the CES, from computing to telecommunications, the automotive industry, healthcare and beauty, and some of the inventions presented at the event have become part of our everyday lives: the video cassette recorder in 1970, the video camera and CD player in 1981, the DVD and Plasma screen in 1996, the Xbox in 2001, the tablet in 2010, and 3D printers and virtual reality systems in 2015.

Since the award was given, the hairbrush has been acclaimed by French and international media, not only in the beauty sector but also in the technology and innovation sector.

The Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings will be available mid-2017 in hair salons, on the Kérastase website, and through Withings’ sales and distributions channels.