Congratulations Kérastase and Withings on the Hair Coach winning our award for Most Novel Product of CES 2017.
This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas really delivered, well, as it does every year. We’ve seen a ton of new devices, some devices that we’re used to seeing, like smartphones, fitness-oriented gadgets, etc., to some, not that common products, like the Hair Coach, for example. Now, some of you might wonder what is the ‘Hair Coach’, well, it’s world’s first smart hairbrush which was introduced by Kérastase and Withings during CES 2017. There are tons of ‘smart’ gadgets available out there at the moment, from smartwatches to smart t-shirts, but we’ve never seen a smart hairbrush, well, not until Kérastase and Withings introduced it. Now, as this is the first such product in its category, we’ve decided to make it our pick for the Most Novel product that was unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
So, some of you are probably wondering what is so special about this hairbrush and why should you be interested in buying it. Well, the ultimate goal of this hairbrush is to help you take better care of your hair, as it can provide you with a ton of data as you’re using it, and by doing so, help you treat your hair better. It might sound odd, the concept of a smart hairbrush, but let’s dive in deeper, shall we. This hairbrush was developed in collaboration with L’Oréal’s Research and Innovation Technology Incubator, while it features Withings’ sensors and design. L’Oréal’s patent-pending signal analysis algorithms are also a part of the whole experience, and are the key to monitoring the usage of the smart hairbrush. Interestingly enough, the Hair Coach also received this year’s International CES Innovation Award.
According to L’Oréal scientists, improper and forceful hair brushing can significantly damage your hair, cause split ends, breakage, and so on. Well, the Hair Coach is meant to help you brush your hair properly in order to avoid such incidents, and this product is mainly made for women, which is understandable, but men can use it as well, of course. Now, as already mentioned, Withings included a number of sensors in this hairbrush, including a microphone which listens to the sound of hair brushing in order to identify patterns which are supposed to provide insights into dryness, frizziness, manageability, breakage and split ends. In addition to that, an accelerometer and a gyroscope are also included here, which also help with analyzing your brushing patterns, and also count brush strokes. If your brushing becomes too vigorous, Hair Coach will send you haptic feedback in order to warn you, with the help from the aforementioned sensors, of course. The 3-axis load cells measure the force applied to your hair and the scalp, and the Hair Coach also includes conductivity sensors which are supposed to determine if the brush is being used on dry or wet hair. Needless to say, such info helps Hair Coach provide accurate hair measurements for you.
The Hair Coach is splash proof, which was to be expected, and all of the sensors mentioned in the last paragraph are being synced to a dedicated app via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The app itself calculates all the data and takes into account various weather factors (temperature, humidity, UV and wind). After the app calculates all the collected data, it will give you a ton of useful info, including a hair quality score. The app will also provide you with the effectiveness of brushing habits, personalized tips and Kérastase product recommendations. This hairbrush is definitely not made for everyone, but it is innovative, there’s no doubt about that, which is why we’ve decided to make it our pick for the Most Novel product at CES 2017. The Hair Coach smart hairbrush will become available in mid-2017 at select Kérastase hair salons and the company’s website, while you’ll also be able to get it through Withings’ online sales and the company’s distribution channels. The Hair Coach will cost less than $200 once it launches, but we still don’t have the final price for it, we’ll just have to wait a couple of more months for it to become available.