I know what you’re thinking: “Why is a bald man writing about a new hair dryer?” In my defense, L’Oréal’s new AirLight Pro isn’t just any hair styling device. This blower packs enough tech and app-connected smarts to interest even the most hairless tech reporters, including myself.
Unveiled at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, the AirLight Pro may look a little familiar with that long stem and tubular head, but it’s no copy of Dyson’s popular Supersonic. It might also bear more than a passing resemblance to Zuvi’s two-year-old and prized Halo hair dryer. That turns out to make more sense: L’Oréal worked with Zuvi to further develop the Halo hairdryer’s infrared hair drying technology and create something new. For L’Oréal, however, building AirLight Pro wasn’t about the technology; at least not initially.
Guive Balooch, Global Vice President of L’Oreal’s Technology Incubator, told me ahead of the launch that L’Oreal starts with consumer needs and complements them with technology. The company has been making its way into beauty technology for more than a decade, although Balooch recalled that when it first arrived at CES 13 years ago, there were no beauty companies, and 10 years ago there were only a handful. In recent years, L’Oreal has unveiled a UV sensor, a shade-measuring tool, and augmented reality apps that guide consumers to the right makeup choices for their faces.
This year, L’Oréal steps to the forefront of a growing parade of CES beauty attendees with its first keynote for the event, unveiling the AirLight Pro.
The AirLight Pro still uses air and heating elements, but at a much lower temperature than traditional dryers, and combines that warm wind with infrared light that, when combined, Balooch told me, works a bit like the sun and the wind that rain dries from the sidewalk. He added that it is a more efficient and gentler way of dyeing than traditional hairdryers, and eliminates the need to hold the dryer too close to your head (when I did have hair, I remember thinking that it was dry if I could smell the odor). heat from my hair dryer while cooking). While a typical hair dryer may use more energy than a microwave, Blooch claims the AirLight Pro is 30% more efficient than a traditional hair dryer.
The Zuvi Halo made similar claims about efficiency and how this combination of warm wind and infrared light treats your hair, so how is AirLight Pro different?
Some changes are subtle or difficult to notice, such as reorganizing the airflow to speed up drying and make the process even easier on the hair. However, two technological developments caught my attention. One is that this is the first hair dryer in my memory that can recognize attachments and then adjust settings based on which attachment is attached (the AirLight Pro also has buttons to manually control heat and air speed). Moreover, this is an app-linked (iOS and Android) hair dryer that allows you to create and save custom settings. Ultimately, you may be able to share these customizations with other AirLight Pro users.
People should not suffer the consequences of environmental friendliness. We wanted to build the best hair dryer and then make it environmentally friendly.
Give Balooch
Ultimately, L’Oreal collected 15 patents on the device – and an early award from CES 2024.
One thing that was important to L’Oréal when developing the AirLight Pro was that it would not only be an efficient beauty device, but also an excellent hair dryer.
“People should not suffer the consequences of being environmentally friendly. We wanted to build the best hair dryer and then make it eco-friendly,” Balooch told me.
The L’Oréal AirLight Po will be available to hair salons from March and will go on sale in Europe in June, and in the US before the end of 2024. In all cases, L’Oréal expects the dryer to be priced at around $400 (about £315). There’s no word yet on what attachments will be available, or what they will cost.
As for how it works… well, I certainly couldn’t try it, but Ny Breaking hopes to see even more hirsute correspondents caressing their locks with it before the end of CES 2024.
We cover all the latest CES news of the show as it happens. We cover everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets and the latest in AI, so stick with us for the big stories.
And do not forget that follow us on TikTok for the latest news from the CES show floor!