Electric face brushes launch in French supermarkets
An electric face-cleansing brush is coming to large supermarkets in France for the first time at the end of October, despite the technology being slow to take off in the country.
The Pure Skin brush, by Nivea, costing €69,90, has been described as one of the beauty industry’s “biggest launches of 2017”, and will be the first to appear in the beauty section of a big supermarket near you, next to face cleaning products and makeup removers, reports French news source 20 Minutes.
France has been specially chosen by parent company the Beiersdorf Group to “exclusively premiere and present” the machine, according to Morgane Jouot, France-Belgium-Holland marketing director for the group.
Nivea hopes the product will “markedly change people’s behaviour [when it comes to] skin care”.
The machines, which work with “micro-oscillating vibrations”, are said to clean the skin, cleanse the pores, slough off dead layers, and stimulate new skin production up to seven times’ more effectively than manual washing alone, promoting cleaner, brighter, and healthier skin.
And yet, the electric skincare brush market in France remains very niche, and has been slow to grow compared to the United States and Asia, where the technology is already well-known and popular.
Less than half of French women are aware of the technology today, with only 5% actually owning one of the brushes, according to Jouot.
This is despite cosmetic brands and pharmacies (as opposed to supermarkets) having stocked the machines in France since at least 2013.
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This started with the “Luna”, which cost between €49 and €199 at Sephora when it launched, continuing to the “Clinique Sonic System” (€119) launched in 2014, the “Braun FaceSpa 853V” (€99) from 2015, and the “Le Soin Visage” from L’Institut de Darphin, which came on sale in 2016 (€149).
Nivea says its aim in bringing the technology to large supermarkets is to “democratise” the technique, and show its usefulness as part of a woman’s daily skincare routine.
“Women do not use face cleaning brushes because they are scared that it could damage their skin,” explained Jouot, speaking to 20 Minutes. “But it is actually a smart move.”
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Dr Anny Cohen-Letissier, also quoted by 20 Minutes, said “using these brushes is absolutely not dangerous”, with the hairs on the brush said to be as fine as those of normal human hair.
Despite this, those with skin conditions such as eczema or acne - of which there are said to be millions in France - should be careful to regulate use of an electric brush, taking care not to irritate the skin or unwittingly provoke a backlash effect, where the skin actually starts producing more oil - not less - to combat the intense drying of a new cleaning regime.
