The Future of Skin Care Is Smarter and More Sustainable Than I Imagined | Global News Avenue

On a gloomy day in November, I drove from Boston to a large corporate development in Beverly, Massachusetts. I walked down a long, narrow hallway and entered a medium-sized white room with a clinical feel, filled with robotic kiosks. I’m here to visit Smart SKN Laboratorythese robots will create me a hyper-personalized skin care line created entirely by artificial intelligence, called K-AI.

I’m always looking for the best, most effective products. I want powerful ingredients and an effective delivery system. I want science and everyone else wants science because the amount of innovation-based skin care is saturated $182 billion global market. Demand exceeded expectations. Not surprisingly, this is where artificial intelligence comes into chat.

The role of artificial intelligence in personalized beauty is not new. Skin care brands like Proven and hair care brands like Prose are already using AI algorithms to help consumers optimize their daily lives. SmartSKN is doing something I haven’t seen yet – using artificial intelligence to produce itself, on demand – and if it gains traction it could revolutionize the beauty industry while also improving our skin health and reducing our carbon footprint .

In his lab in Beverly, SmartSKN Labs co-founder Val Neicu shared his big dreams for the future of robotics. First, I wanted to see what they could do.

everything starts from Muilli AI Dermoscope. This smart device uses 60x magnification to examine skin at a microscopic level and captures high-resolution images of its surface for later analysis using artificial intelligence. Honestly, no one deserves to suffer ego death from seeing their flaws so magnified, but alas, beauty is pain. Dermoscopy photography brings a technology called bioimpedance measurement, which measures moisture and oil levels in the skin and plays a key role in the overall analysis.

Then, in the SmartSKN app, I completed a short questionnaire about my skin type, concerns, and lifestyle. This helps the smart SKN AI better understand my habits to effectively create my personalized skin care range. Its range is also broad; the system has been trained on more than 150,000 different skin characteristics (all skin types, skin tones and genders) worldwide, and is growing every day.

Finally, through the triple action of dermoscopic photography, bioimpedance measurements, and a skin health questionnaire, I obtained the results of my skin analysis. It measures sensitivity, pigmentation, wrinkles, redness, pore size, oil content and dryness.

The range consists of serums, ampoules and lotions. As each product was finalized at the robotic kiosk, I had the option to add additional ingredients that might enhance benefits like whitening or firming. Then, the robot, which looks like a bionic arm, goes to work.

It selects the bottle, mixes and pours my unique formula into the bottle, then twists on the top. This all takes about five minutes. The robot then places my unique product into a container for me to pick up, like I just won a toy from a claw machine. The robot also printed my label, which contained a QR code with my unique profile, as well as instructions inside the package.

Where do robots come from and where are they going?

SmartSKN’s artificial intelligence robot, to which it has exclusive rights, is made in Korea, and each personalized formula uses active ingredients popular among Korean skin care brands. For those who don’t know, the Korean beauty industry Valued at 91.9 billion in 2022the compound annual growth rate from 2023 to 2030 is expected to be 9.3%. Korean skin care products have a reputation for using effective, high-quality ingredients. You can explore SmartSKN’s Rolodex ingredients here.

The SmartSKN team is very focused on its formula, and Neicu knows its place in the industry. “We’re not a skin care company, we’re a technology company,” she said. Robots can also make other products. While they haven’t branched out into hair care yet, it’s not out of the question. SmartSKN’s current offering, Neicu explained to me, is “to show people what we can do.” In the next phase, they hope to license the technology so that companies can use the Muilli analytics capabilities and artificial intelligence components for their own ingredients.

“Just like we developed a catalog of 150 ingredients in this machine to create our skin care line, (other brands) can use their own proprietary ingredients,” she said. “If they have their own adaptable base and can formulate it for specific skin types, they can take their product lines to the next level.”

Neicu believes that if skin care brands could better customize each formula, they would experience less churn and greater loyalty. “The product may be great, but not great for me. The active ingredients may be effective, but the base may be too oily or drying. The base determines 90% of the experience with the product.” Her speech was full of passion, and as I listened At the time, I couldn’t help but see the potential for not only smarter skin care, but also solutions for a more sustainable future.

“We don’t need more products. We need better products”

Don’t get me wrong: I like Buy skin care products. I collect serums like kids collect Funko Pop toys. But I also recognize that over-collecting products—a culture of product nerds, so to speak—is not good for our skin or the planet.

Think back to the last time you walked into a beauty retailer and you were surrounded by wall after wall of products. What happens to unpurchased products? Next, consider what a brand needs to do to keep up with the market: produce more products, not necessarily because there’s a hole in the market, but to survive. Novelty is a powerful drug.

Neicu sees a more sustainable future. “Imagine you walk into a (beauty retailer) and there are no shelves left. Every company has a robot. There is no waste, they have streamlined inventory, they have better management of the manufacturing process, they are able to better Serve people.”

It also made me think about my time and money. With every new product, I have a waiting period. Will this work for me? Sometimes I break out, sometimes not. If it doesn’t work, have I wasted my money again? What if I can’t return the product? When I say the quiet part out loud, I feel like in 2024, we’re just hypothesis A certain product may be suitable for our extremely unique skin type. We can customize our coffee and cars, but when it comes to the health of our skin, we can only… keep guessing.

“We spend money on the product because, what? The bottle looks beautiful?” Necu said. “Because an influencer told me to buy it? Because this company gave up on a new product? It needs to be better.”

She also pointed to the possibility of an epidemic of sensitive skin. “Obviously, we know there are a lot more products on the market than there were 20 years ago. Directly proportional to the increase in products is people’s skin health. 70 percent of Americans say they have skin sensitivities.” Neicu believes that over the years she has used I tried too many different products and gave myself acne and sensitivity issues.

“People are chasing products, especially social media influencers like crazy. There is a huge lack of education, especially the younger generation. Also, it seems like every celebrity has their own skincare line. We don’t need more products. We need better products.”

SmartSKN wants to simplify skin care for everyone. Personally, I want a routine that takes at least 5-10 minutes to complete. (This is “me time,” okay?) Smart SKN simplifies the skin care experience for those who don’t want a 6-12 step nightly routine. Neicu says their consumers span a variety of sectors, but he emphasizes that men, in particular, are interested in the innovation and simplicity of AI-generated regimens.

Visit the lab or try it at home

SmartSKN is fairly new, which means they’re still figuring out how to get their technology in front of people. Currently, the only way to experience the robots in person is to drive to Beverly. The company is working on setting up pop-up stores in major cities. “People need to see how this is done,” Necu said.

Your other option is to purchase the Muilli AI dermascope and download the SmartSKN app. It’s not cheap, but one benefit of owning Muilli is that it can track changes in your skin over time, adapting to seasonal changes, lifestyle changes, etc. With each scan, your personalized skincare range adapts to your current skin condition.

Robots know best

The biggest thing I’ve noticed since using my personalized skincare is that my skin feels perfectly balanced, whereas before some days it felt a little oily and other days a little dry. Of note, I use a gentle, hydrating cleanser; exfoliate regularly with chemical and physical exfoliants; use vitamin C daily, and often use a light oil at night to lock in moisture. I did all of this before heading to the SmartSKN lab.

Today, my skin looks and feels healthy, clear, and hydrated, and I guess I have some robots to thank.

The opinions expressed by CNET Voices contributors are their own.