Pioneering sun protection

My UV Patch, L’Oréal sun protection revolution, has hit the market. Discover how they’ve been a suncare game-changer for 70 years.

If a few years ago someone had told you that some day a blue and white heart-shaped sticker 2.5 cm across would one day help protect you from UV rays, you’d probably have told them they’d been sitting in the sun too long.

Yet that day has arrived: this January the My UV Patch from La Roche-Posay, one of L’Oréal Group’s skin-care brands, was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Just half the thickness of a strand of hair , about 50 microns , this ultra-thin stretchable sensor contains photosensitive dyes that change colour depending on how much UV radiation it’s exposed to. Snap a picture of it using the accompanying app and it will tell you if you’ve been sitting in the sun too long (without implying that you’re crazy).

But back when the closest thing to a wearable device that could help limit your UV exposure was a pair of sunglasses, L’Oréal was already forging a path towards a bright and sunny future. In 1935, observing that sunkissed skin was now à la mode among French consumers, the group’s founder Eugène Schueller developed and launched Ambre Solaire: the world’ s first sun protection oil, the only tanning oil to contain a sun filter. It was soon a must-have product for French beach-goers enjoying their very first paid vacation in the summer of 1936.

From a protection oil to a wearable electronic patch… Could anyone have imagined that this would be the story of suncare? 80 years of innovation spearheaded by L’Oréal

L’Oréal unveils My UV Patch skin sensor — which measures sun exposure

L’Oréal is breaking into the wearable electronics game with a stretchable skin sensor that tells wearers exactly how much UV exposure they’re getting.

The My UV Patch from La Roche-Posay, one of L’Oréal Group’s skin-care brands, was unveiled Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas by Guive Balooch, global vice president of L’Oréal Technology Incubator.

I won’t tell you there’s nothing on the market that measures UV. A number of bracelets and wristbands have come out, but I think the challenge is that they’re only on your wrist, and you can’t apply product on them.

Guive Balooch

It’s basically a very thin sticker, half the thickness of a strand of hair, so that ‘when you apply it, it becomes like a second skin. L’Oréal’s patch can be put anywhere on exposed skin and you can apply sunscreen over it. A heart on the sticker is made up of 16 different boxes that change color when exposed to UV rays. It works with a mobile app; when wearers are ready for a UV reading, they take a photo of the heart and upload it.

Of course, you could argue that a user could skip the app and simply look at the heart’s changing colors to get a sense of how much sun they’re getting, but Balooch says plugging the photo into the app gives readers an exact reading, plus it tells you when you’re getting the most UV exposure — maybe on your walk to work, or a mid-morning coffee run, for example. That way, you know when you need to be more vigilant about sun protection.

We give you information about your behavior and the idea is that this information will help you take preventative measures in the future

Guive Balooch

So he doesn’t expect people to wear the patch forever, just until they learn about their own UV exposure. The patch is disposable and can be worn for up to five days.

L’Oréal teamed up with PCH, a design engineering firm, to create the sensor, which is stretchable thanks to five super-thin layers.

The La Roche-Posay My UV Patch and the corresponding app are still in their beta phase, but L’Oréal plans to provide them for free to customers later this year.