China tops Kline’s chart for global beauty device innovation

According to the market researcher, there has been some interesting innovations around devices in the hair re-growth category in 2014.

Rather under-penetrated in many countries, this segment is reported to be particularly significant in the United States and is likely to establish a much stronger foothold in Europe and Asia in the near future.

Kline's analysts flag up the 'LaserBand 82 by Hairmax' by way of example, which claims to cradle the scalp with nourishing laser light to energize and revitalize the hair's follicles to achieve increased density and healthier hair.

Meanwhile, the impressive opportunities of the at-home beauty market sees global companies continue to look for ways to innovate and expand in this promising market.

'Fresh technological approaches'​

Cleansing devices in particular are undergoing revitalization, with new models from Clinique and Clarisonic now targeting male consumers and going beyond just cleansing to offer multi-functional benefits and fresh technological approaches to treat more than one skin concern.

Unilever’s joint venture with Syneron Medical, the launch of Estée Lauder’s Clinique device, and Johnson & Johnson’s financing in La Lumiere are all examples of global leading players embracing the concept of beauty devices and subsequently reaping the benefits of such a thriving industry.

Another includes Beurer’s Pureo Deep Clear Facial Cleansing Brush with blue LED light to treat acne. The device hits shelves in Europe, Australia, and the United States in November.

With Johnson & Johnson’s $20 million investment in the start-up company La Lumiere and the new and exciting launch promised on illumask.com —which is temporarily closed for business until 2016—it seems that the multinational giant might be preparing itself to jump in 100%.

Sony also recently launched its ‘Beauty Explorer’ first digital camera in image sensoring that measures the texture, blotches, pores and colour of the skin. 

The technology features a 'Skin View Camera' for checking the skin, a cloud server using Sony’s analysis algorithm, a 'Skin Analyzer' application software, which runs on a dedicated tablet computer and a 'Skin Viewer' smartphone application.

The application takes stock of the colour, pigmentation, degree of moistness, the condition of the pores etc.