Tag Archives: hair care

Nano hair care from Panasonic

In the world of nanotechnology, hair care products don’t get the same attention as do sunscreens. Thankfully, Azonano and Panasonic have addressed this issue with a June 10, 2013 news item featuring an interview with Yoshiyuki Namba, Leader for the Panasonic Beauty Product Planning team, on the AZoNano website (Note: A link has been removed),

Earlier this year [2013?], Panasonic – one of the world’s biggest electronic product companies – expanded their product range to beauty products and skincare beauty devices.

A novel entry into the world of cosmetic consumer goods, Panasonic have used the nanotechnology angle to create products that are set to offer a high standard model for the end-user.

“In 2005, Panasonic started sales of the world’s first nanoeTM equipped dryer technology by re-developing the nanoeTM device with an aim to concurrently add on moisture and electrical charges on human hairs. However, we found that the customers required help to refill the water in the tank for creating a nanoeTM generation device. Therefore, Panasonic developed a peltier device system to condense moisture and started selling the newly developed product ‘without a water tank’ in year 2006. Since then, Panasonic has been advancing its technical features in creating the devices more and more compact in size.”

Panasonic has two ‘nano’ hair dryers. There is the Nano Care Hair Dryer on the Pansonic.asia website,

Every girl deserves the best. Pamper your hair with this top of the range Nanocare Hair Dryer equipped with nanoe* technology to help remove sebum more easily from your scalp. The dryer is also compact in size, making it easy for storage or travel.

*nanoe is a nano-sized ion particle coated with water particles. *nanoe is a trademark of Panasonic Corporation

They offer instructions, step 3 is my favourite,

STEP 3: To create silky smooth and straight hair, take a round brush and gently comb downwards, with the hair dryer following the brush. Part hair to smaller portions for easier management. [downloaded from http://www.panasonic.asia/beauty/products/eh_na30.html]

STEP 3:
To create silky smooth and straight hair, take a round brush and gently comb downwards, with the hair dryer following the brush. Part hair to smaller portions for easier management. [downloaded from http://www.panasonic.asia/beauty/products/eh_na30.html]

There is what appears to be another ‘nano’ hair dryer featuring a nozzle with a different shape and a technical marketing campaign, which can be found on the company’s ‘home’ website, Panasonic.net. From the Hair Dryer: nanoe™ for healthy and beautiful hair webpage,

[downloaded from http://panasonic.net/beauty/products/dryer.html]

[downloaded from http://panasonic.net/beauty/products/dryer.html]

For the very curious, there’s a webspace dedicated to nanoe™  technology on the Panasonic.net website where you can find out more and source published research.

The Azozano news item provides more information about the reasoning behind Panasonic’s claim that this is a ‘nanotechnology’  product in the Azonano. I’m not sure I follow the logic all the way through but it seems to have something to do with creating a negative ion hair dryer that emits an ultrafine mist by applying an electrode to condensation. The earlier version of the product had a water tank but the company found that caused problems so they redesigned the dryer. Unfortunately I can’t find an explanation for how they compensated for the loss of the water tank.

From a marketing communications perspective, this makes a very interesting case study. I haven’t seen any consumer-oriented products in Canada or from the US where nanotechnology is mentioned in a marketing campaign in quite some time. Any nanotechnology references in cosmetics advertizing, e.g. one company used to advertize ‘nanosomes’ in its skin creams, are long gone.

I’m glad to see this item as it provides some insight into how ‘nanotechnology’ products are marketed elsewhere.