L'Oreal has announced Matrix Class for Google Glass. It's a new service that allows beauty school students and clients to see what's going on in their head while it is being styled. The project is a three part program that includes Matrix Eye for Style, which is a salon experience, a video tutorial experience shot entirely with Google Glass by celebrity stylist George Papanikolas, and finally, a series of lessons for beauty professionals.
"Salon clients and women around the world have long lamented the fact that they're unable to have their talented hairstylists at their side to recreate their favorite salon hairstyles at home," says Matrix Celebrity Stylist, George Papanikolas. "Now, thanks to the technology of Google Glass and Matrix, the salon experience is forever changed," according to a press release from Matrix.
Hairstyling tutorials are not uncommon, for anyone can visit YouTube for a chance to learn how to do their own hair. However, L'Oreal's collaboration with Google Glass offers a different perspective for the would-be hair stylist.
It's difficult to create a salon hairstyle at home, and anyone who attempted this would likely wish they could see what their stylist was doing with their hair. Furthermore, hairstylist student would likely benefit a great deal by having the chance to see first-hand the perspective of a skilled hairstylist teacher.
This isn't the first time L'Oreal has tampered with wearable technologies. The company used Google Glass to cover Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Madrid, Spain last year. It appears the experiment was a success, and now the company is interested in taking it to the next level.
"Salon clients and women around the world have long lamented the fact that they're unable to have their talented hairstylists at their side to recreate their favorite salon hairstyles at home," said Matrix Celebrity Stylist, George Papanikolas. "Now, thanks to the technology of Google Glass and Matrix, the salon experience is forever changed."
Agrees Paul Schiraldi, vice president and Matrix general manager. "This new initiative will completely transform the hair styling experience. Wearable technology is the next frontier -poised to revolutionize the way we live and work, in the same way that smartphones and tablets have done. "We're extremely excited to be leading the way in professional and consumer hair education with this initiative," Schiraldi said.
L'Oreal plans to release a Google Glass app later in 2014, though the company did not detail what potential users should expect.
With the rise of the digital age and wearable computing, it is possible it could give birth to a new generation of students and teachers, who no longer do things the traditional way.
