for more on this G evolution.
Global Vice president of Loreal Technology incubator.
Thank you so much for joining us. Walk us exactly how these two products work.
What sort of larger problems within the hair coloring space do they solve?
They sound really futuristic and things that I've always wanted.
Thanks a lot asia for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
No, you're absolutely right.
I think you know,
this is our 10th year anniversary now running uh the beauty and technology team at
Loreal and this year is one of our biggest years were coming to see us.
We came with two big innovations and the fact that hair color
is such an important category for us because our company was invented,
basically invented the first hair color over 100 years ago for the salon.
And if you look at it,
there's been so much innovation when it comes to formulas and dyes and colorants.
But if you were to look at the kind of box color at the at the retail 30 years ago,
40 years ago, the process hasn't really evolved when it comes to how to apply.
And I think that that was really at the heart of why
we tried to bring technology and the hair color process together.
Because we wanted to see if we could find a way
that we could create innovations that could really solve those needs
that people have had forever when it comes to hair coloration
and the first need is really about how to apply evenly,
how to be, you know confident about being able to not have to mix it.
The mess that sometimes can really come with your bathroom when it comes
to making the color in itself is you have to mix everything fresh.
That's part of the, the coloration process.
And we try to kind of bring that together as something simple.
You just put in the cartridge,
the cartridge mixes on the top of the device with
a mixer that we invented everything right before the bristles.
All you do is the consumers,
you put the towel behind your neck and you just flow through one time Um evenly and you
just bring the color there in a way that you don't have to anymore worry about mixing.
You don't have to worry about applying perfectly evenly. The device does it for you.
Um and we spent seven years and have over 15 patents on it.
So we knew it was a big consumer attention and we thought
that the best way to solve it was by kind of bringing together
this device with the ability of bringing our
great formulation inside in a way where all those
difficulties around the hair coloration process at home
could be eliminated and make people's lives easier.
Wow!
As I'm taking a look at the product,
it seems so straightforward and it is surprising that we don't already have this
in existence for users um at home,
I especially think of what so many consumers have gone
through during the pandemic with salon Salons shut down.
So I'm wondering,
you mentioned that this has kind of been in the works for seven years,
why was now the best time for Loreal to
really double down on technology and make the investment?
And how much of that push do you think came from the pandemic?
Yeah, it's a it's a really good point.
I think you're right that, you know, the past two years,
we've been all in this situation where we've needed more technology,
easier ways to do um, all of our services at home.
And
uh, and that's gonna be, you know,
an area of innovation for a lot of categories around the world, but that being said,
um, asia to be um really candid in the end.
You know,
we've been around now for 10 years and what we try to do
no matter what is the societal shift in um in the world,
is to try to solve those tensions and problems that have been around forever.
And when you look at the hair coloration process at home,
it's been something challenging in terms of how to apply since
the day that people started coloring their hair at home.
And so that's why when we started the project seven years ago, it was relevant now,
but even more relevant because now we see that not only is there a need for that,
but there are lots of people that are trying to color their home hair at home
today that were not a few years ago and I think that it's you know,
a good moment obviously to bring it to market At the same time.
It took us seven years because it was a big challenge to make it happen.
It has chemicals that have to mix inside the device, it has to apply evenly.
It has to work on long hair and short hair and curly hair and wavy hair.
So we did tests for three years on over
400 people spent three years designing the cartridge.
The cartridge itself is
Um, fully sustainable.
So it's really interesting about the cartridge,
we spent three years on it and actually it's made of recycled materials.
So if you compared to a normal hair box color,
you're saving over 54% of plastic every time you use it,
all those things took us a real, you know, symphony of work to bring together.
I didn't even get to touch on color right.
Which I think is fantastic,
especially for those who are kind of uneasy about trying on new colors or new styles.
Um, but I do want to ask you because you've got your pulse on all of this stuff.
What do you think the future is when it comes to tech in the beauty industry?
Do you foresee a market where the majority of the beauty items that we're
using are kind of tech enabled or powered by tech in some capacity.
I mean obviously I'm biased to say yes because I'm
in this in this field now for over 10 years,
but I've been in the beauty industry 15 years and I have
to say that I truly believe in Loreal 15 years obviously and
I truly believe that technology is going to help people have all
the areas of beauty that have been challenges in their life.
Things like inclusive beauty to get the right products,
things like getting a level of performance,
they weren't able to get before being able to have ease of application to have,
you know,
all kinds of areas of sustainable tech and I think you know when you look
and I know we don't probably have the time to talk about color right?
But just to say the whole digitalization of the salon with color right,
will allow us to also have a level of tailor made solutions
where I can go to a salon in shanghai and then go,
you know,
six weeks later to new york and have a data
driven relationship with how to get the perfect product.
So I think you know what tech will do is
break the barriers and the mysteries that have been around,
how to get the right product for me and hopefully for everyone around the world,
keep pollution global Vice president of Loreal Technology incubator,
Thanks so much for joining us.
Such an interesting conversation