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Many personal care products—the treatments and gadgets that fill our medicine cabinets, home gyms, and vanities—promise innovation. Yet few actually deliver. Companies that make cosmetics, supplements, fitness aids, and other wellness aids tend to latch on to buzzwords without doing the research to create something truly new. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t valuable, forward-thinking personal care products available, and this year brought some notable offerings. From high-tech sleep and activity trackers that enable peak performance to advanced hairdryers that give your scalp a break from burns, these five beauty and wellness products deliver on their big promises.
(Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from Popular Science’s 37th annual Best of What’s New awards. Be sure to read the full list of the 50 Biggest Innovations of 2024.)
Grand Prize Winner
Oura Ring 4 from Oura: a wellness tracker with a slimmer profile and more powerful features
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It takes a lot for an activity tracker to win a Best of What’s New Award, and even more for the same brand to win twice. In 2021, we gave the Oura 3 fitness tracker a nod for its progressive approach to including menstrual tracking in the smart ring app. The Oura Ring 4which was launched on October 3, is more than just an innovation. This model is considerably more comfortable thanks to flatter sensors in the tire. But Oura is new Smart Sensing algorithm makes the slimmer band more capable than ever.
The ring’s sensors (red and infrared LEDs for measuring blood oxygen levels, green and infrared LEDs to track heart rate and breathing, a digital thermometer and an accelerometer) turn on and off based on your activity and your unique physiology. The result is a ring that can run for up to eight days on a single charge, while improving accuracy over Oura 3. The Oura app redesign is nothing to sneeze at either. It offers a uniquely customizable platform that allows you to turn the Oura Ring 4’s ample data into useful insights about sleep quality, recovery, stress, fitness and fertility. With a full range of ring sizes and luxurious-looking finishes, the Oura 4 ring is perhaps the best portable portable we have ever tried.
Custom-Jet Oral Health System from Proclaim: Finally a real alternative to flossing
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that flossing is a pain in the ass. But while using a water flosser may be better than simply brushing and calling it a day, some dentists won’t take kindly to you replacing your floss with a device. The Proclaim Custom-Jet Oral Care System could be the only exception to this. After all, At first glance, Proclaim may seem like just another water flosserbut it is in a class of its own. The device features a custom-molded mouthpiece – 3D scanned at a dentist’s office and then manufactured by Proclaim – that places up to 60 jets of water in exactly the right spots to clean between your teeth and below your gum line. The 360 degree power wash takes just a few seconds. You can even swap multiple mouthpieces on one device, so one device can clean the teeth of an entire household.
Bond Shaper Curl Rebuilding Treatment from Olaplex: A quick solution for damaged curls
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In recent years, Olaplex has become synonymous with bond repair treatments; products that promise to reform the broken bonds between keratin proteins that make hair frizzy, dry and brittle. The brand is new Bond Shaper Curl Rebuilding Treatment uses a proprietary peptide to give curls a targeted boost. The same damage that can make straight hair look rough can actually change the shape of a curl and even make it less curly. The Bond Shaper penetrates the hair to rebuild the curl-forming disulfide bonds. This quick and painless salon treatment leaves curls looking bouncier and healthier, making it the first salon-strength recovery treatment we’ve seen that doesn’t focus on making hair as sleek and smooth as possible.
Pod 4 by Eight Sleep: Personalized bed temperatures that feel just right
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The sleep aid market is booming, but this smart mattress topper stands out. With a form factor not much thicker than a fitted sheet, the Pod 4 water silently circulates while you sleep to cool or warm you by up to 10 degrees. It’s more efficient than blasting the heat or air conditioning, but that’s not all it has to offer. The topper is split into two independent zones, allowing co-sleepers to set a precise microclimate for each side. The Autopilot algorithm uses data from the topper’s 36 biometric sensors to recalibrate temperatures throughout the night to maximize sleep quality. Users can also tap inconspicuous buttons on either side of the topper to adjust the temperature without opening the Eight Sleep app.
Supersonic Nural from Dyson: An incredibly smart hairdryer that protects your scalp
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These days, Dyson is perhaps even better known for its groundbreaking hair care tools than its vacuum cleaners. Now the company has turned its attention to an often neglected aspect of hair styling: the scalp. The Dyson Supersonic Nural offers all the power people have come to expect from the brand’s flagship hair dryer, but with one high-tech upgrade. The device is packed with sensors to prevent your hair and scalp from overheating. It measures the distance between the dryer and your head with a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor – a piece of technology more commonly found in autonomous cars and robots that reflects light off objects and clocks how quickly the wave returns. As the dryer gets closer to the hair and skin, it automatically lowers the temperature to optimize hair and scalp health without compromising drying speed.
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