L’Oréal teams with tech start-up to develop low water use shampoo

It is a lesser known fact that in the full cycle of many personal care products – from manufacturing through to its use by consumers and eventual disposal -  it is the necessary use of warm water for a range of foaming or soap-based products that invariably has the highest impact on the environment.

This is why the project conceived between L’Oréal and Gjosa is so interesting and actually has the potential to significantly change the environmental impact of the industry in the future.

The joint project has resulted in the development of a rinse shampoo that only requires 1.5 litres of water, as opposed to the 8 liters that are required for a conventional shampoo. L’Oréal teams with tech start-up to develop low water use shampoo. To view video click here​.

The showerhead plays a key role​

For Gjosa part in the project, its team of developers have come up with a low-flow showerhead that emits 2 litres of water a minute, while accelerating the flow speed of droplets so that the flow is still as effective.

To marry up with the showerhead design, the development team at L’Oréal came up with an easier-to-rinse shampoo that can be applied directly through the showerhead.

To incorporate the shampoo, the water jet parameters were adjusted to obtain a more efficient rinse, reducing the water used and energy consumption by 70%.

Water as an increasingly precious commodity​

There is a growing awareness that water resources are becoming increasingly precious, as the world population continues to grow and climate change makes the supply of fresh water uncertain in many places.

Indeed, the pressure on water resources is underlined by statistics from the UN that show water that worldwide consumption of water is growing twice as fast as population growth.

In the instance of daily water use, for most consumers, showering and shampooing is often where most individual use the most water, making the search for more water frugal solutions all the more pressing.

“This is an exemplary exclusive partnership, as based on the expectations of consumers, it uses cutting-edge technology to bring them down the road of sustainable development, while offering a totally new consumer experience”, ​Amin Abdulla and Luc Amgwerd, co-founders of Gjosa, said in a joint statement to support the project.