Your hairdresser will be able to give you a scientific diagnosis on just what bad condition your hair’s in with this new gadget, making its debut at CES 2018.
Hair care company Schwarzkopf’s SalonLab Analyzer, which already nabbed two CES 2018 Innovation Awards, ostensibly analyzes hair at the molecular level using near-infrared and visible light sensors.
It looks a bit like a futuristic stapler and, when run over hair, it purportedly measures inner hair condition and moisture level. It can also detect your current hair colour with greater specificity than just an eyeballed guess.
The little gadget weighs about 159 grams and connects to devices via Bluetooth LE. Schwarzkopf says it’s powered by an ARM Cortex/BLE system-on-a-chip and backed by a lithium polymer battery. It comes with a recharging station.
The Analyzer isn’t the only device Schwarzkopf is unveiling, either. The SalonLab Customizer is a machine that formulates custom product mixtures based on the biometric ahir quality data gathered from the Analyzer. To top it all off, the hair care company’s made a Consultant App that supports both devices and shows clients what a new hair color will look like on them.
Schwarzkopf has yet to release specifics on just how much this system will cost hairdressers, but it’s set to hit salons in the U.S. and Europe this year. No word on Canadian availability as of yet — but keep an eye out for your hairdresser scanning your hair into the cloud sometime in the foreseeable future.
Verdict: Not sticky.
There are many aspects of human biology that I think are worth exploring and studying more. Hair isn’t one of them. It isn’t difficult to figure out when my hair’s dry, and I find myself feeling skeptical that the device can actually provide insights much more valuable than what touch and sight already provide.
I suspect, however, that these superfluous-seeming gadgets are going to sell for a pretty penny, meaning unless you go to a fancy salon, you won’t be likely to spot on — if they end up catching on at all, that is.
As for me, I’ll stick to Supercuts and the occasional alert from my boyfriend that my hair looks frizzy, I’d warrant that’ll be just as effective.
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