WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 A new device can add more features. 00:00:02.420 --> 00:00:05.360 A useful AI tool can remove one difficult decision. 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:10.140 This week, I want to look at both and ask what actually helps the customer. 00:00:14.360 --> 00:00:19.180 I’m Mike, and this is Beauty Tech Weekly. We have new home devices from Therabody, 00:00:19.540 --> 00:00:23.060 AI makeup guidance from Arbelle, a practical update to virtual 00:00:23.060 --> 00:00:27.100 glasses try-on, and a new hair-care device from Rajani MD. 00:00:27.700 --> 00:00:30.920 Four stories, and what I think they mean for beauty businesses. 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:38.900 Therabody is opening this week with two new devices, announced on October 00:00:38.900 --> 00:00:44.460 twentieth: ThermFace Massage, for the face and jaw, and ThermNeck and Upper Back. 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:49.160 Both are positioned around targeted home use. That makes this a useful 00:00:49.160 --> 00:00:53.440 beauty-and-wellness story, even though the launch is about more than skincare. 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:58.160 According to Therabody, ThermFace combines percussion and heat, while the wearable 00:00:58.160 --> 00:01:02.680 neck device combines several approaches, including massage, heat and light. 00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:06.980 Those are product descriptions from the company. I have not tested these devices, 00:01:07.100 --> 00:01:10.440 so this is a look at the launch and its implications, not a review. 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:14.900 What interests me is the increasingly specific question behind the product. 00:01:15.160 --> 00:01:19.200 A customer is not necessarily shopping for an impressive piece of technology. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.820 They might be asking what fits into a short evening routine, 00:01:23.320 --> 00:01:27.040 or what they can realistically keep using between professional appointments. 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:32.220 For a salon, I would use that question to improve the conversation around home care. 00:01:32.660 --> 00:01:35.560 Which parts of the experience can a client manage independently? 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:39.840 Where do they still need professional judgement? And are we explaining 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.600 that distinction clearly enough before they leave the appointment? 00:01:43.160 --> 00:01:46.960 I would not respond by saying that a gadget replaces a professional service. 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:51.120 I would also avoid dismissing it simply because it is designed for home use. 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:55.100 Both reactions skip the useful work: understanding the client’s 00:01:55.100 --> 00:01:58.900 goal and being precise about what each option is intended to do. 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:03.160 A practical starting point is a short, service-specific home-care guide. 00:02:03.520 --> 00:02:07.540 Explain the routine, the boundaries of the advice, and when the client should speak 00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:12.460 to a qualified professional. Keep device claims tied to their sources. Do not 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:16.720 turn a manufacturer’s product description into your own promise of results. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:21.180 My takeaway is that more equipment in the home makes the quality of explanation 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:25.640 worth paying attention to. The opportunity for a beauty business is to make its 00:02:25.640 --> 00:02:30.800 expertise easier to understand. And that brings us to a different kind of guidance: 00:02:31.440 --> 00:02:33.820 software that helps people choose what to buy. 00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:41.120 Arbelle’s October twenty-second announcement puts Look Finder 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:46.740 in the spotlight. It is a recommendation tool for cosmetics brands: facial analysis 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:50.980 and a brand’s own catalogue are used to suggest coordinated makeup products. 00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:54.900 The useful distinction is that it starts with a look, rather than 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:59.000 leaving the shopper to assemble every item alone. On its product page, 00:02:59.220 --> 00:03:02.440 Arbelle describes a journey from a face scan to recommendations, 00:03:02.760 --> 00:03:06.800 then to trying supported products virtually and buying them. The company 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.240 also says brands can shape the product selection. These are the advertised 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:15.320 capabilities; we have not independently measured the effect on sales. 00:03:16.140 --> 00:03:20.480 I see a useful shift in the question being answered. A conventional catalogue says, 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:24.720 here are the products. A guided experience tries to answer, which of these 00:03:24.720 --> 00:03:28.880 belong together for me? For the customer, that could make the next step clearer. 00:03:29.220 --> 00:03:33.200 For the business, the quality of that guidance becomes something to evaluate. 00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:37.900 The commercial incentives still matter. If a brand chooses which products 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:41.680 the system can recommend, the answer is drawn from that selection. 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:45.760 I would want the experience to make that clear. A helpful recommendation 00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:50.540 should not quietly pretend to be a comparison of every product on the market. 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:53.700 This is close to the way I think about AI Beauty Bot. 00:03:54.100 --> 00:03:58.380 Our service can already communicate with your clients. What I find useful in this 00:03:58.380 --> 00:04:02.580 example is the different angle: helping someone choose a coordinated look. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:07.420 I am not suggesting that our product has this same visual recommendation feature. 00:04:07.700 --> 00:04:11.320 For a salon or beauty brand, I would start with the questions customers 00:04:11.320 --> 00:04:16.640 repeatedly ask before they decide. Which questions need a clear factual answer? 00:04:16.820 --> 00:04:20.600 Which require a specialist? Which could benefit from a visual example? 00:04:20.900 --> 00:04:24.340 That gives you a better brief for an AI tool than asking for a chatbot 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:28.320 simply because everyone else has one. Then measure whether people 00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:32.000 actually get the help they came for. Look at completed decisions, 00:04:32.440 --> 00:04:37.160 unresolved questions and the quality of handover to a person. A more elaborate 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:41.700 interface is not automatically a better experience. My test would be simple: 00:04:42.200 --> 00:04:45.960 did we make the choice clearer, without overstating what the system knows? 00:04:49.700 --> 00:04:51.800 Perfect Corp.’s October twentieth release describes 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.300 a generative AI update to virtual eyewear try-on. 00:04:55.900 --> 00:04:59.460 There is an important timing detail: the company had already described 00:04:59.460 --> 00:05:03.880 Glasses Removal in September. So the news this week is the company’s 00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:07.560 announcement about the update, not the first-ever appearance of the idea. 00:05:08.280 --> 00:05:11.840 The problem is immediately understandable. If you need prescription glasses 00:05:11.840 --> 00:05:15.940 to see your screen, taking them off for a virtual try-on is awkward. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:21.040 Keep them on, and a second virtual frame may appear over the pair you are already 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:26.020 wearing. The interface can get in the way of the very person it is supposed to help. 00:05:26.440 --> 00:05:30.260 Perfect’s demonstration shows the original glasses being removed from the image, 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:36.100 followed by different virtual frames. The company says generative AI reconstructs 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:40.980 the area hidden by the original pair. This is the brand’s demonstration, not our 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:44.920 own test of how reliably it works across different faces and lighting conditions. 00:05:45.180 --> 00:05:48.960 That distinction is worth keeping. A convincing visual demonstration tells us 00:05:48.960 --> 00:05:53.480 what the product is trying to do. It does not, on its own, tell us how well 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:57.640 it performs for every customer. I would still want to try difficult cases, 00:05:57.640 --> 00:06:02.200 including reflections, unusual frames and less-than-perfect lighting. 00:06:02.540 --> 00:06:05.380 But as a product-design idea, I like the specificity. 00:06:05.980 --> 00:06:08.840 This is not an abstract promise to transform shopping. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:13.020 It addresses a small obstacle that can interrupt an ordinary task. 00:06:13.380 --> 00:06:16.960 You do not need to run an eyewear business to recognise the value of looking 00:06:16.960 --> 00:06:20.840 for those obstacles in your own customer journey. For a beauty business, 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:24.920 I would watch someone use the booking or product-selection experience without 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.720 explaining it to them. Where do they hesitate? What do they misunderstand? 00:06:29.260 --> 00:06:33.200 What information do they have to go and find somewhere else? Write down 00:06:33.200 --> 00:06:37.060 the actual moments of friction before choosing the technology to address them. 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:41.620 The broader lesson is that useful AI can be almost invisible. If it lets 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:46.060 the customer continue naturally, it has done something valuable. I would judge 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:50.600 this kind of feature by successful task completion and fewer confusing moments, 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:54.840 rather than by how prominently the letters A and I appear on the screen. 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:03.660 Our final story is another home device, but with a different question attached. 00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:08.720 On October twenty-second, Rajani MD announced the PlasmaGLO Hair Plus Cap, 00:07:08.900 --> 00:07:13.260 a cordless device combining laser and LED technology for at-home hair care. 00:07:13.760 --> 00:07:17.680 The announcement gives us a product to examine, not a result we can promise. 00:07:18.440 --> 00:07:22.400 The company describes a rechargeable format with automated twelve-minute 00:07:22.400 --> 00:07:26.200 sessions. It also promotes the number and types of light sources. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:31.480 Those details help describe the hardware. They do not, by themselves, 00:07:32.260 --> 00:07:35.960 establish how well this particular device will work for a particular person. 00:07:36.500 --> 00:07:40.100 That is the part of the story I want beauty professionals to take seriously. 00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:44.220 A specification can sound precise and still leave the most important question 00:07:44.220 --> 00:07:48.880 unanswered. More lights, more modes or a more expensive design are not 00:07:48.880 --> 00:07:52.520 substitutes for evidence about the outcome being discussed. When a client 00:07:52.520 --> 00:07:56.260 brings in a device announcement, I would separate three conversations. 00:07:56.840 --> 00:07:59.300 First, what is the product designed to do? 00:07:59.340 --> 00:08:03.540 Second, what evidence is available for that exact product and use? 00:08:04.200 --> 00:08:07.540 Third, is this something the client should discuss with an appropriately 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:11.860 qualified clinician rather than treating it as a routine beauty purchase? 00:08:12.180 --> 00:08:15.320 That does not mean being dismissive of every new launch. 00:08:15.640 --> 00:08:20.540 It means being able to explain what is known, what is being claimed, and what has 00:08:20.540 --> 00:08:24.860 not been established in the material you have seen. I would rather give a client 00:08:24.860 --> 00:08:30.320 a precise, limited answer than a confident recommendation built on a press release. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:34.960 For this episode, we are reporting the announcement. We are not presenting 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.740 an independent clinical assessment, recommending a treatment schedule, 00:08:38.820 --> 00:08:43.780 or promising hair regrowth. The useful business lesson is how to handle that 00:08:43.780 --> 00:08:48.540 distinction when a client asks about a new device after seeing it online. 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:54.020 My practical suggestion is to keep a simple evidence note for any device you 00:08:54.020 --> 00:08:59.380 discuss professionally: the exact model, the source of the claim, and the questions 00:08:59.380 --> 00:09:04.200 still open. That makes it easier to update your advice when better information 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:08.540 appears, instead of repeating the most memorable line from the launch campaign. 00:09:09.420 --> 00:09:13.300 Across these stories, my question is the same: are we helping people 00:09:13.300 --> 00:09:17.120 understand their options, or simply giving them more things to process? 00:09:17.500 --> 00:09:20.560 Pick one point of confusion in your own customer journey this week 00:09:20.560 --> 00:09:24.420 and work on that. You have been watching Beauty Tech Weekly. The sources 00:09:24.420 --> 00:09:28.980 and further reading are in the episode notes. I’m Mike. See you next week.