Over the last few years, L’Oreal has brought a taste of beauty technology to the masses at CES 2026. This time, it has three devices: the “Light Straight + Multi-Styler” as well as the helpfully named LED Face Mask and LED Eye Mask.
Don’t let the humble names fool you. These three products actually harbor some unique features. The Light Straight (and the Multi-Styler, which I’m going to call Light Straight from here on out), for example, uses infrared light to help generate the heat needed to style your hair. Meanwhile, LED face mask Dr. Different from masks made by companies like Dennis Gross, Omnilux, Therabody and Shark. Instead of super hard spheres that sit tightly on your face, L’Oréal’s version looks flexible and thin.
I haven’t seen it in person yet, although I want to as soon as possible, but the pictures of the LED eye mask look, and I mean that in the best way, funny They look soft, but they also look transparent, with bulbs and wires you can see inside. In some photos provided by the company, the masks are completely drenched in red as the lights are on. In others, only parts of it are red. One of them shows the masks sitting in a little carrying case and they almost look like wireless earbuds. I haven’t seen any pictures of the LED face masks but I can imagine they will be very similar to these.
L’Oreal LED Eye Mask in a carrying case (L’Oreal)
According to the press release, this “ultra-thin, flexible silicon mask” is currently “in prototype form” and was developed in collaboration with LED solutions company iSmart. The company says the mask “delivers light directly to the face” in a 10-minute self-timed session. It’s not much different from existing red light masks, but L’Oreal says “the key to the mask’s effectiveness is its advanced, transparent support, which integrates a skin-safe microcircuit to precisely control the emission of two selected wavelengths of light – red light (630 nm) and near light (830 nm).
Since the Mask won’t launch until 2027, there are no details yet on pricing and availability, although the company’s global vice president of technology and open innovation Guev Baluch told Engadget that it will be a premium product that will sit somewhere below the current highest-priced offerings.
One problem I have with full-face LED masks is that my skin always feels too dry underneath them, because you have to use them on clean, dry skin for 10 minutes at a time. Baluch told me that L’Oréal will develop a serum to use with its mask to help improve the effectiveness of the light treatment.
That’s certainly interesting, and Baluch hinted that creating formulas designed to work with devices like LED masks is a future direction for the company.
A pair of hands using L’Oreal Light Straight and multi-styler on a person’s hair. (L’Oreal)
I’m also interested in Light Straight, the company’s Airlight Pro that uses infrared light to help dry or style hair. According to the company’s press release, “Hair straighteners with normal heating surfaces can reach temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit and above — above the threshold for keratin denaturation, causing cuticles to weaken, break and lose shine.” For reference, I used to turn my flatiron up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit to tame my tresses (although 330 degrees is good enough for me these days).
L’Oréal says Light Straight and its “patented infrared light technology” can “help deliver exceptional styling results at low temperatures to better protect hair health.” The device’s glass plates never exceed 320 degrees, and the company says its tests found the light straightens three times faster and leaves hair twice as smooth as “leading premium hair stylers.” I’m not sure how you measure smoothness, but I’m hopeful that the results will pan out in the real world.
Light Straight uses near-infrared light that L’Oréal says “penetrates deep into the hair fiber” to “reshape internal hydrogen bonds”. It also has sensors with “built-in proprietary algorithms and machine learning” to adapt to your gestures to “maximize the personal experience”. I’m not sure what that means, but I expect to find out more at CES this week. With the Lite Straight not launching until 2027, it’s not surprising that pricing and other details aren’t available yet. But for now, I look forward to seeing companies continue to research novel, hopefully healthier ways for us to look and feel beautiful.
