Beauty Tech

Perhaps, like me, you've seen ads for red light therapy and wondered exactly what that was all about. There are ads for masks and mats and a variety of at-home devices popping up everywhere, along with any number of salons and therapy centers that offer a range of treatments based on the technology. Most of it is aimed at enhancing our youthful good looks, or even restoring them.

Basically, red light therapy, or photobiomodulation, uses low-level red and near-infrared light to stimulate cell repair. It is widely used to boost collagen for anti-aging, and it also will help reduce inflammation, accelerate wound healing, and promote hair growth. The results take a while, but the technology has fans. Given that it's not exactly cheap, and it does take time and patience, I have to give the testimonials a certain amount of credence.

But technology is poised to take us much further when it comes beauty.

For a while now, as we've discussed before in this column, users have been able to "glow up" or "looks max" artificially by simply adding a filter to a shot or video of themselves, trying out new eyebrows or eye color. You could put an item of clothing on a photo of yourself for a digital "dressing room" experience, or again using a photo, take a look at how a new haircut would work. There are even games available through social platforms where you can use a selfie to see how you might have looked as a flapper or in the 1800s.

As AI technology learns more about human bodies, preferences, and even about us as individuals, data and personalization will offer ways to recommend the very best cosmetics, home devices, routines and even professional treatments just for you, the individual.

Biometrics isn't new - your Apple Watch will track your pulse, activity, sleep cycles, even blood oxygen levels. Now apply that smart technology to your skin quality, tone, hydration and texture - or even someday soon expect those analyses from a photo you submit for evaluation. Don't waste your time or money on a skin care routine that isn't getting to the heart of your challenges or goals, but be guided by a system devoted to knowing what works, when, why and how.

As long as we can try on haircuts and clothes, we might has well be able to digitally try on make up. Don't waste time or money - check out how the product is going to look, and learn how it's going to perform on you, specifically. 

The Internet of Things (IoT) that once promised to make life easy by turning on your dishwasher when you let it know you were on your way to the office, or checking to see if the clothes in the dryer were done. Now innovations include things like infrared hair dryers that prevent heat damage, microcurrent wands that stimulate muscle tone, and wearable LED light therapy patches that boost collagen synthesis directly on the skin.

Behind the scenes, and eventually no doubt right at home, 3D printing and "advanced manufacturing" will provide applicators and other functional components that not only suit a wider variety of users and their preferences and needs, but allow users to select materials, shapes, even sizes for convenience that suit that person to a T.

Skin patches and delivery mechanisms will enable controlled release of active ingredients and technological advances continue to open up new substances and formulas that provide better results, more specifically suited to individual needs and styles.

Once upon a time, customers waited to see what Vogue and Elle and Esquire would tell us were the colors, fashions, tools and tricks to look our best for the coming season. Technology promises that to some degree now, and certainly in the not-too-distant future, those same customers will now be able to mix colors, find remedies and enhancement, try on a variety of styles, and find - and produce - the image each one wants to project. Brave and beautiful new world?