L’Oreal reveals HAPTA, a makeup applicator for people with limited mobility
L’Oréal is bringing inclusivity to the makeup chair in 2023.
The beauty giant announced on Jan. 3 that the brand will be releasing the world’s first handheld lipstick applicator designed for people with limited hand and arm mobility.
L’Oréal-owned Lancome will pilot the ultra-precise computerized applicator, called HAPTA.
The tool was displayed recently at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas.
“For L’Oréal, the future of beauty is inclusive,” L’Oréal Groupe CEO Nicholas Hieronimus wrote in a statement.
“And this future will be made more accessible by technology.”
A L’Oréal press release indicated that approximately 50 million people around the world live with fine motor skill disabilities, which can make everyday gestures such as applying makeup “challenging.”
A Baltimore-area woman whose mother struggled with Parkinson’s disease said that a tool like the L’Oréal one would have “given my mother her dignity.”
She said, “My mother sold Avon cosmetics and was always dressed to the nines and had her make-up beautifully applied every morning. When her Parkinson’s got too bad, she stopped trying to apply make-up, and I know it affected her mental health — and her sense of herself.”
L’Oréal explained that HAPTA’s technology and design will offer users the ability to apply lipstick steadily on their own.
“HAPTA is inspired by Haptic Tech — it’s technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations or motions to the user,” the company told Fox News Digital.
“HAPTA will incorporate technology originally created by Verily to stabilize and level utensils to give people with limited hand and arm mobility the ability to eat with confidence and independence,” L’Oréal also said.
The company said the key to HAPTA’s technology is built-in smart motion controls and customizable attachments.
L’Oréal added that these attachments provide precision application and “improved range of motion” to “help individuals feel confident, independent and empowered to enjoy the self-expressive power of beauty.”
The company said the projected price for HAPTA will be between $149 and $199.
Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO in charge of research, Innovation and technology at L’Oréal, shared in a statement that “inclusivity is at the heart of our innovation and beauty tech strategy.”
She also said in the same statement, “We are dedicated and passionate to bring new technologies powering beauty services that augment and reach every individual’s ultimate desires, expectations and unmet needs.”
L’Oréal detailed that the applicator’s magnetic attachment enables “360 degrees of rotation and 180 degrees of flexion.”
The applicator also has a clicking feature that indicates to users where to lock the tool into the perfect position.
It also comes equipped with a built-in rechargeable battery.
“For years, Lancome has sought to provide every woman with beauty solutions adapted to their needs,” Lancome global brand president Françoise Lehmann wrote in a statement.
“Beauty tech has enabled us to fulfill this mission in an even more powerful way, revolutionizing the way we develop beauty products and services and enabling greater personalization.”
Lehmann also said, “With HAPTA we are going one step further by making beauty more accessible to use, because everyone should have equal access to it.”
L’Oréal confirmed with Fox News Digital that HAPTA will be available to consumers at the end of 2023.
L’Oréal will also develop a HAPTA version for people with hand tremors, too, Engadget reported.
“We hope that maybe this will be the beginning of many precision applicators,” L’Oréal told Fox News Digital by email.
“Our position is always solving problems. And this is a problem that no one has solved today. To give these people the access to beauty that they could not have before.”
In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) national committee co-chair Valerie Pieraccini expressed how much she “loves the empowerment” that HAPTA will provide to individuals with disabilities.
Pieraccini, also an occupational therapist and a “woman who loves her makeup,” explained that cerebral palsy is a “lifelong disability that slowly compromises the body’s ability to move and function making life’s simplest of tasks difficult.”
But L’Oréal’s new technology has recognized that struggle and provided a “powerful” solution.
“L’Oréal’s use of technology in smart make-up applicators gives any person with physical limitations the opportunity to care for themselves,” she said.
“What a beautiful thing for a woman to be in control of not only her own beauty but how she chooses to face the world,” she said.
“It’s inclusive and it’s powerful,” she added.
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