L'Oreal Unveils Stretchable Skin Sensor To Help Monitor Sun Exposure

L'Oreal and PCH will make about 10 products together in the following years.

Sun protection could be about to get a whole lot easier thanks to L'Oréal, which has unveiled the first-ever stretchable skin sensor created to monitor UV exposure. It can be worn for several days, and according to Tech Crunch, it's free.

Sunburns are quite frequent especially for people with very light and sensitive skin, who can't stay in the sun too much. Still, it's a step in the right direction and could be quite enlightening.

With skin cancer ranking as the most common form of cancer in the US, the device could be a helpful tool for educating consumers about their personal exposure to harmful UV rays.

The product presented on Wednesday by the cosmetics company is a wearable tech similar to a plaster or with a temporary tattoo which informs the wearer about their UV exposure.

"Why would L'Oreal be interested in this?"

You could also theoretically wear a few of the patches on different parts of your body to find out where you are most at risk to exposure, but that might look a little weird.

It's rather impressive what the company has developed: a transparent adhesive the size of one square inch and measuring half the thickness of a strand of hair.

Upon applying the patch to the skin, users can take a photo of the device as it changes color. "Today all the wearables you see are jewellery or wrist bands - but not wearable in the sense that you wear them anywhere on your body", said Guive Balooch, global vice president of the Technology Incubator department L'Oréal, in an interview with the BBC.

"Previous technologies could only tell users the amount of potential sun exposure they were receiving per hour while wearing a rigid, non-stretchable device". Carolina Milanesi, the chief of research at the KWP Comtech, said that while the whole concept of UV-detecting technology is "pretty awesome", there might be some concerns over the convenience of use with some consumers.

The patch will soon be available in the market after its CES debut. With the new My UV Patch, for the first time, we are leveraging technology to help incite a true behavioral change through real-time knowledge.