Whether your hair is curly, straight or something in between, it’s probably as unique as you are. So why don’t haircare products reflect that diversity? A team at L’Oréal is working to change that by digging into the science of what makes your hair special.
Scientific American Custom Media recently sat down with Sanford Browne, President of Research and Innovation at L’Oréal North America, and Janet Wangari-Olivero, Assistant Vice President of Advanced Research at L’Oréal North America, to learn more about their work.
Megan Hall: Sanford and Janet, I’m so excited to have you both here today. Thank you for joining me.
Sanford Browne: Great to be here.
Janet Wangari-Olivero: Thank you for having us.
Megan Hall: So before we talk about this particular research related to curly hair, Sanford, I’m wondering if you can just give me a sense of the role of research overall at L’Oréal. I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear a company like yours would be involved in science research. So give us a sense of what you’re doing over there.
Sanford Browne: Yeah, so L’Oréal was actually founded by a chemist 115 years ago. He created, amongst other things, the first safe hair color. And really since that moment in time, science and innovation has been at the very heart of what we do at L’Oréal. We’re always pushing to discover new areas, discover new frontiers, and to create really the most desirable solutions and aspirations for consumers worldwide.
Megan Hall: And how do you design that research to be culturally inclusive?
Sanford Browne: Well, beauty first and foremost is an essential need. It’s been there since the start of time. It’s a social need. It’s how we interact with others, but it also reflects society. And today, if you look in the US, we’re becoming a majority–minority nation, and that’s why it’s really important that we understand, very much so, what is the same and what is different when we’re talking about consumers, because they want beauty — not a one size fits all — they want beauty that’s really designed for each individual. They want to have their best self go forward. And that’s why we invest so much in terms of really understanding the fundamentals of skin, scalp, hair, what’s different, what’s the same, and be able to create solutions that go beyond what they’ve ever experienced before.
Megan Hall: Now Janet, you’re the researcher here. So let’s dig into the specific topic for today, which is curly hair. So just on a really basic level, can you explain how curly hair is different and similar to straight hair?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: So curly hair and straight hair have differences, and they also have similarities. Both curly and straight hair are made up of the same amino acids, which indicate that they have similar building blocks. However, they have some differences. Curly hair differs in the shape and the structure from the root to the appearance of the cuticle. When we think about the difference in the roots of the hair, we think about the bulb and there is a difference in the hair shape in that the curly hair has more of a C-like morphology, while straight hair is more like a rice grain. When we also think about the appearance of the hair shaft itself, there are differences between the curly hair and the straight hair. The keratin molecules are arranged differently. When we think about straight hair, the straight hair keratin molecules are arranged almost in a donut-like manner, where you have an inner core that is surrounded by the cellular material. However, when we think about curly hair, it has more of a sandwich-like structure of the cellular material, which leads to its unique shape and unique needs.
Megan Hall: Can you give me a sense of the range of all the different types of curly hair that are out there?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: Oh, yes. Curly hair exists on a spectrum, and it ranges from loose waves to tight curls, highlighting the broad diversity within the curly hair types.
Megan Hall: Let’s talk broadly about inclusivity. What happens when someone isn’t trained appropriately to take care of someone with curly hair?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: So one of the key things that we hear about from our consumers with curly hair is the concept of hair trauma. And these are the experiences that they face when they engage with stylists who lack sufficient skills and training on how to address the needs of textured hair. We find that incorrect styling or the incorrect products can lead to damage, breakage, the loss of hair integrity, underscoring the need for proper education and product usage. We hear this all the time, an estimated 65% of the US population has curly, coily or wavy hair, yet many consumers with textured hair report not having equitable access to professionally trained, licensed stylists with the skillsets and experience to provide service on their hair type. And this is why with our Texture of Change initiative, we are leading the change with our commitment to transform the professional beauty industry through equitable access to textured hair education, partnering with the professional beauty association to form the Texture Education Collective.
Megan Hall: So this happens whether you go to a salon where they don’t know how to treat curly hair or if you use the wrong product?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: Absolutely. And this is why it’s very important to ensure that the science not only translates to the products that are being made, but that also stylists have the right training to be able to treat the unique hairstyles of the consumers that come to them.
Megan Hall: So what is L’Oréal doing to get a more nuanced understanding of all of the hair types that exist out there?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: In 2021, we launched a global typology study to reach all people in their infinite diversity and connect deeply with each individual in real life. We conducted this study in seven countries that represent almost 50% of the world’s population, whether it’s among all genders, skin types, hair types or origins, to truly characterize their hair and skin worldwide, performed on over 15,000 consumers. This unique data set will help us to be more precise in meeting our consumers’ expectations worldwide. And until recently, ethnic origin was used to classify the world’s different hair types. We classified the hair as Asian, African or Caucasian. Today, we are more inclusive than ever because we’re moving away from this ethnic characterization to a more typological scale, using a I-VIII scale that’s classifying hair according to precise measurements of their morphological attributes of the hair fiber. And this allows us to address the different hair tensions and needs in specific beauty routines for different consumers.
Megan Hall: And I understand you’re investing a lot of research into two particular curly hair types. Tell me more about those types and what you’re learning.
Janet Wangari-Olivero: Indeed. We are innovating for the curly type IV hair and the very curly type V hair with solutions that manage the needs related to entanglement and the frizz effect, to stop hair shrinkage and to also invent new generations of technologies that are dedicated to protecting the curls and the scalp.
Megan Hall: And how does that information affect the way you design hair products?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: So the key things that we are trying to understand is the impact of external factors on hair. And every day, our hair is impacted and made fragile by our external factors. And these include sun exposure, where we get UV — UVA, UVB — exposure, climate, when we talk about temperature and humidity, pollution, the water qualities, meaning that you have metals and minerals in the water, chemicals that cause oxidation of the hair, physical, from the heat that is used to treat the hair as well as various devices, and mechanical, from brushing and the hair extensions that are commonly applied to hair. And for us to be able to understand all of these impacts, we’ve engaged with Verily, which is a precision-tech company, to understand the impact of the exposome on skin and hair health. We are collecting information from lifestyle data from thousands of self-identifying women and what we will learn will enable us to shift from more generalized skin and hair products towards more precise and personalized offerings to support the skin, hair and beauty needs of all our consumers.
In addition to this, we are also working to understand the internal and the clinical impacts of these factors. We know that our hair is equally impacted by internal factors. This can be age, sex, heredity, location, medical treatments that people may be taking, the scalp ecosystem, which is quite important because it’s composed of the flora, which includes the fungi, the microbiome, that’s on the scalp, and lifestyle, physical activity, smoking, things such as sleep, nutrition, the diet and the mental stress. And we know from these internal and clinical impacts that they can have impact on hair ranging from dryness, dull hair, breakage, sensitivity, chemical treatments that cause the hair to be more fragile, lack of vascularization on the scalp, which can delay hair growth. It can also cause pigmentary disorders or cause dry and sensitive or oily scalp. But also more common, we see a lot of dandruff.
Megan Hall: You’re also on the verge of publishing some research about growing hair in the lab. Can you tell me more about that?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: Oh, yes. This is a collaboration with Professor Karl Koehler at Harvard’s Medical School. And with him and his lab, we’ve been able to successfully grow hair on skin derived from cells of highly pigmented individuals for the first time, and this process is going to allow us to replicate the pigmented characteristics of the skin. And this breakthrough will pave the way for us to be able to create off-the-shelf hair regeneration products that are designed with inclusivity at their core, enabling customization to various hair types. In the future, we hope that we will conduct a clinical study to further validate our findings.
Megan Hall: Great. How interesting. Sanford, can you give us a sense of the bigger picture here? How does all this research help L’Oréal embrace the diversity of hair types worldwide?
Sanford Browne: It’s important that we’re always looking to the future. For example, by 2030, 40% of the population around the world will have curly hair. In fact, we’re already living that here today in the US. So Gen Z I and II have curly hair. So it’s important that we really understand and we take all of the learnings that Janet described, and we combine that with really breakthrough science and technology to create products. And we have a range of different brands. This allows us to really bring this to the consumers, and this array of brands re-allows us to bring the best ingredients, the best technology to meet that specific consumer’s needs because it’s more for beauty for each that we want to really create here. It’s so that they can have their true beauty, the beauty that they want to express, come through.
Megan Hall: And if your work is successful, in 10 years, what will the haircare industry look like?
Sanford Browne: Well, to a degree, we’re already successful. We have fantastic brands, great products that consumers across all different hair types love and use every day. But of course we want to go further. We always want to push the boundaries of science and see what’s possible. This is why we’re investing in creating a center of excellence on inclusivity. We want to really be the experts about hair and what’s different and being able to create the best science. And we think we can do that by being the leaders here, investing in terms and leading with science and opening it up to the broader community. And with that, we believe that inclusivity should be an integral part of our industry’s foundation, shaping a future where beauty is accessible and celebrated in all of its forms.
Megan Hall: And if these projects to make more inclusive haircare products available succeeds, how will people with curly hair feel about their options?
Sanford Browne: Well, they should feel a sense of pride and confidence that they can find the best solutions. My wife has curly hair, and when we move to a new place like what we did two and a half years ago, she has a difficult time finding the right solution. That’s why we have the program that we put in place to really help educate stylists for that, why we’re having better solutions in terms of the products that really design for that consumer. It’s why we’re creating a center of excellence on inclusivity here in North America because we want to invest in that future, because we know it will make a real difference. And we want people to embrace confidently their natural beauty.
Megan Hall: Janet, is there anything you would like to add?
Janet Wangari-Olivero: So at L’Oréal, we are more than just the leaders in beauty, we are changemakers, and we are driving positive change by providing beauty solutions that are inclusive for everyone. We are turning the ideals of inclusivity and diversity into everyday realities because, as Sanford said, beauty is about expression, it’s about individuality, and it’s about beauty for each and all the aspirations that they want to have for themselves.
Megan Hall: Sanford?
Sanford Browne: Yes, 115 years ago, we were founded by a chemist and an entrepreneur, and that spirit lives with us each and every day. We want to be pioneers in this field. We want to be able to create the breakthrough science and to marry that with consumers’ aspirations. And we see that there is a shifting narrative that’s happening today, that people want to really celebrate and ensure that their curly hair is a source of pride, and it’s our role to be able to do that. And through deep science, through an entrepreneurial spirit and finding the best solutions, we’re able to do that and really create that confidence and that beauty for each that everybody deserves.
Megan Hall: Well, Sanford and Janet, it’s been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me to talk about this research.
Sanford Browne: Thanks. Been our pleasure.
Janet Wangari-Olivero: Thank you so much.
Megan Hall: Sanford Browne is the President of Research and Innovation for L’Oréal North America. Janet Wangari-Olivero is the Assistant Vice President of Advanced Research at L’Oréal North America. For over 110 years, L’Oréal has devoted itself to fulfilling the beauty aspirations of consumers around the world.
This podcast was produced by Scientific American Custom Media and made possible through the support of L’Oréal.
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