By David Gill
CHICAGO–Innovative technology continues to drive new product development in the personal-care category, as can be seen from the product launches planned for the International Home & Housewares Show this week. Manufacturers are targeting consumers who want to do more of their grooming and health care at home with these innovations. The grooming products offer technologies and accessories that provide a more professional look, while health-care product vendors have aimed to give consumers more accurate results in body monitors.
Andis Co.
Among the company’s new hair-styling products is the ACM-1 Nano-Silver Tourmaline Ceramic Hair Dryer, available in a metallic silver finish with blue accents. It’s designed with tourmaline crystals, which help preserve moisture and eliminate frizz during the drying process, and a nano-ceramic feature that minimizes friction and delivers infrared heat that penetrates the hair and provides long-lasting styles. It offers 1,875 watts of power and four heat settings and air speeds.
The RCC Dual Voltage Cord/Cordless Clipper is an 18-piece hair-clipper kit with a dual-voltage rotary motor clipper that operates corded or cordless. The clipper has a powerful rotary motor and charge indicators to show when it’s fully charged. The kit includes eight attachment combs, a styling comb, stainless-steel shears, a barber cape and a how-to DVD. Also in the kit are a blade cleaning brush and lubricating blade oil.
The LS-2 Headliner is a trimmer that provides close cutting for hair designing. It trims beards, mustaches, hair from ears and nose, and even acts as a dry shaver. It’s equipped with a T-blade with extremely fine teeth. The kit contains 12 pieces.
The CI-4P Pressing Comb is a hair styler that heats to 400 degrees Fahrenheit in 30 seconds. It has gold-plated teeth that glide through hair for quicker and easier straightening. It’s also equipped with a swivel cord, which eliminates twisted cords, and features an automatic shutoff as a safety feature.
Conair
The Infiniti Hair Designer Pro, the next generation of the Infiniti Hair Designer launched two years ago, will be a major focus for Conair during this week’s show. Among the features in this new version are two angled rows of nano silver tourmaline ceramic-coated straightening plates—the longer rows allow the user to get closer to the hair roots, according to a Conair statement. Other new features include a flocked detailing comb, which provides glossy shine, and three heat settings and two speed settings that provide customized styling. Like the original Infiniti Hair Designer, the new model allows the user to straighten and dry hair without the use of a hairbrush, and uses tourmaline ceramic technology to generate ions that smooth hair, and infrared technology to dry the hair from the inside out so that hair dries faster.
Emjoi
Emjoi will be pursuing its drive to be a top-level resource for grooming for both women and men. In its long-standing epilator product line, the company is adding the Emagine, which uses 72 tweezer discs and the company’s patented Easy Glide technology with nano anti-microbial material. Emjoi is also introducing the Sel Total Concept as an all-in-one product—that includes an 18-tweezer epilator and a built-in light for hard-to-see hair and a removable manual tweezer that allows women to manually epilate hair. Also new is the Ladies Power 9 manual wet razor, which offers a vibrating feature with three cartridges of three blades each; replenishment cartridges are also available. For men, Emjoi is debuting the Rolleshave, which also has three cartridges of three blades each in a manually operated shaver, as well as replacement cartridges. The company will also put added emphasis on the Rotoshave, a rechargeable razor featuring patented multi-angle blades for wet shaving that it launched at last year’s show.
Epilady
With its increased presence at retail, in the words of a company statement, Epilady has set out to “reward” its customers with, first of all, an updated version of the Legend rechargeable epilator, the Legend Ultra. The new model features a modernized electrical system that includes a shift from the traditional adapter to a more energy-efficient, low-emission electronic-switch adapter; and a spotlight to assist in seeing hard-to-get hairs better, along with LED charge indicators. The Duet 3 is the company’s latest version of the Duet line, designed with an epilator on one end and an electric shaver on the other; the new model offers a standard exfoliating micropeeler that mounts on the shaver end of the machine—although it will also offer the shaver for those who want it. The company is also in the process of finalizing a line of products aimed at men, and another line of products targeted for medical use.
Omron
Noted for its home blood-pressure monitors, Omron has ventured into a new category with the launch of the Full Body Sensor, a body-composition monitor and scale. This product measures seven key fitness indicators to help individuals manage their weight and fitness goals. It displays body age, a number calculated based on the person’s chronological age; weight; body fat percentage; resting metabolism and skeletal muscle percentage; body fat percentage; visceral fat, or the levels of fat around internal organs; skeletal muscle mass; resting metabolism; and body mass index, the ration between an individual’s height and weight.
New to Omron’s line of blood-pressure monitors is the Elite Women’s Blood Pressure Monitor, an ultrathin and portable model that uses one-touch operation, a large digital screen, and a zipper case that allows women to monitor their blood pressure away from home. The Elite comes with two cuff sizes, advanced averaging of three digital readings in a row, a hypertension indicator that lights with high readings, a memory that automatically stores 84 readings, a guest mode and a medication reminder alarm.
Panasonic
The consumer-products giant has updated two of its core health-care product lines. New to the Arm-In blood-pressure-monitor line is a model with a controller that is detachable and wireless; has a digital readout; data storage of up to 90 readings each for two users; and a.m.-p.m. averaging, which helps the user detect early-morning hypertension. The numbers on the digital readout measure one inch high for easy reading.
Panasonic has also extended its Swede-Atsu line of massage chairs with the Swede-Atsu Urban. This is a more stylish model of the original Swede-Atsu, which more seamlessly fits into a home’s decor. It also incorporates elements of the Real Pro Ultra massage chair and redesigned back-massage heads, which replicate the feel of a human professional masseur. New massage techniques in this model include a chiropractic massage that increases flexibility and decreases spine stiffness.
Pretika
The company has a notable introduction to its lineup of personal-care products. The SoftSpa Massaging Bath Pillow is a pillow featuring a handheld remote control that allows the user to change the settings without the need to change his/her position on the pillow.
Wahl Home Products
A company that has always pursued consumers looking to take care of their hair at home, Wahl is introducing the Deluxe Self-Cut “Do-it-Yourself” Haircut Kit. The 18-piece kit includes an ergonomically designed Self-Cut clipper, which is curved to ensure comfortable use even when cutting hair in hard-to-reach areas such as the back of the head and has a four-position rotating head for accurate self-cutting on both sides of the head. Also in the kit are 10 guide combs in a wide range of sizes, along with a soft storage case, a blade guard, a styling comb, scissors, a mirror, blade oil, a cleaning brush and a style guide.
The Groomsman Rechargeable Hair Grooming Kit can be used for both clipping and trimming. This three-in-one tool features a trimmer blade, a T-blade, and a detail blade, which provides a solution for daily grooming needs. The detail head trims sideburns, shapes facial hair and creates straight hair lines at the back of the neck and behind the ears.