Hair analysis tool takes colourists into digital age

A new digital tool has been created by Henkel Beauty Care to enable hair colourists to create personalised on-demand hair care products as well as encourage more daring colour transformations.

The Schwarzkopf Professional SalonLab™ is a digital ecosystem designed to quantify and customise clients' experience, enabling near-infrared hair diagnostics and augmented colour consultations.

The SalonLab™ analyses hair at the molecular level, measuring hair condition as well as hair colour, taking the guess work out of prescribing the best products and services for clients, and taking salons well into the digital age.

Marie-Eve Schroeder, Chief Marketing Officer at Henkel Beauty Care, says:

“At Henkel, innovation is in our DNA and leveraging the opportunities of digital technology in our business activities is an integral part of our strategy. With SalonLab, we are reinventing hair care with a hyper-personalised solution empowered by a holistic application of connected devices.”

SalonLab™ technology features a selection of devices including the hand-held SalonLab Analyzer equipped with near-infrared and visible light sensors that measure inner hair quality, moisture level and true hair colour from roots to tips. These readings are analysed and processed by a proprietary algorithm developed by Henkel Beauty Care scientists, using a complete digitalised hair model based on thousands of reference measurements. The hair analysis data is then combined with the hairdresser's assessment to enable a truly complete personalised colour and care consultation.

An integral element of the system is the SalonLab Consultant App, an easy-to-use application that supports the hairdresser throughout the analysis, displaying the client's individual hair diagnostic results and enabling a personal colour and hair care consultation. Clients can see what a colour will look like on his or her hair before it is applied, encouraging more daring transformations.

Finally, the SalonLab Customizer produces hair care products on-site which are customised for each client based on the gathered data. At the touch of a button, hundreds of different combinations of ingredients and fragrances can be mixed on the spot and dispensed in salon-sized portions or small bottles with a personalised label printed directly from the SalonLab Customizer.

Kim Vo, International Schwarzkopf Professional Ambassador and celebrity hairdresser, comments:

“We can now gain so many more data-driven insights about the client's hair, thanks to Henkel's SalonLab technology and the concrete scientific data it gives us. Combining it with our own expertise, we can now assess the hair on a whole new level – the perfect basis for a truly individual consultation."

The Schwarzkopf Professional SalonLab™ is debuting at the consumer technology fair CES in Las Vegas this week (9th – 12th January 2018).