innovation

Waku Tech Innovation for Beautiful life

"Exciting technology" created by our R&D center

3 policies to make customer’s heart pound and feel excitement using latest technologies

Studio Studio

1.Pursuing experiences of beauty with flexible ideas and intellectual curiosity

To provide customers with the experience of beauty through our products, we are not bound by common sense, and we create flexible ideas from all kinds of information and knowledge.

"Heart-pounding and exciting" product development story

Styling brand "Loretta"

Studio

"I only want to use products that are good for hair." That's what hair stylists told us, and that's why we started developing a hair butter with 100% natural ingredients that can give hair a natural makeover while caring for it.
Shea butter, the main ingredient in hair butter, is a refined vegetable oil made from the fruit of the shea tree, which is native to West Africa, and has been used for centuries to protect the skin of African women from the sun and dryness. At the time, shea butter was used for skin care because of its moisturizing properties, so we came up with the idea of applying it to hair wax. We thought that hair stylists who suffer from rough hands would be happy to use the shea butter left on their hands after applying it to hair as a hand cream.
Even if we say "shea butter" in one phrase, the performance and texture can vary greatly depending on which raw ingredients are used. In order to understand each raw material, we not only conducted sensory evaluations, but also analyzed and sorted the data obtained using instrumental measurements. Also, because shea butter is a naturally occurring raw material, a subtle difference in temperature during the manufacturing process can result in a completely different finish, we went through a process of trial and error, referring to chocolate temperature control technology to ensure that there would be no inconvenience when the product was delivered to the customer. By examining many ingredients and adjusting the mixing ratio and process, we were able to create a shea butter with an exquisite texture.
This was an unprecedented product development for our company, and we had to start from scratch. However, we do not give up on development just because it has never been done before. By gathering information from various fields and continuing to challenge ourselves by combining various technologies, we were able to create a new "heart-pounding and exciting" product.

2.In order to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers, we're continually innovating our technology.

What kind of products are our customers looking for? How do we differentiate our products from our competitors' products? With these thoughts in our minds we develop new technologies daily in order to meet the ever changing needs of our customers and create "heart-pounding excitement".

"Heart-pounding and exciting" product development story

Hair care brand "Deep Layer"

Studio

Deep Layer is a product that has been loved for many years because of its pursuit of "ultimate moistness".We provide consistent care, from system treatments performed in salons to home treatments. In June of 2020, the product was fully renewed to meet the needs of the times while leveraging the strengths of the previous version. The key to the renewal was "overwhelming manageability". The goal was to raise the level of manageability even higher than before, while maintaining the "ultimate moistness". We tested dozens of ingredients with moisturizing effects, selected ingredients with smoother finishes from among them, and optimized the balance of ingredients. Since home care products are used every day, it was especially important not to leave excessive moisturizers on the hair, which would make it feel sticky and uncomfortable. During the development period, we conducted joint tests with hair stylists and monitor tests, and repeatedly examined prototypes with more than 100 samples, and finally achieved the ideal "overwhelming manageability".
The products are designed to meet the changing needs of customers and provide them with enhanced treatments that they can enjoy not only in the salon but also at home.

3.We perform regular, thorough testing to consistently deliver high-quality products to our customers.

We are fully dedicated to all of the processes involved in bringing the product to the customer, including evaluation of the user experience, safety testing, prototyping at the factory, and legal verification. In order to deliver safe, secure, and superior products and services, we allow absolutely no compromises on quality.

"Heart-pounding and exciting" product development story

Salon hair color brand "THROW"

Studio

Because Japanese hair has a strong reddish tint and is not easily colored with ash, hair stylists have been troubled by customers' requests for foreigner-like hair color. In order to overturn this problem, we determined that " the core of hair color product is its color", and together with our co-developer salons air and Belle, we started with the development of the brand's core color, A/08 (Ash). It took us about four months to create this one color. This was the first time we spent this much time on a single color, but since it was the starting point for realizing the "special ash," we tested it on all hair types and repeated improvements and fine adjustments. It was also difficult to develop the color while suppressing clouding and sinking, but we continued to pursue a well-balanced ash without compromising on all the color numbers. By layering multiple layers of dyes that do not easily produce redness, we were able to achieve "clear, cloudless, and reddish-free coloration" in a single product. In the same way, for the Comfort Line, we made a series of adjustments to suppress even the redness during the color fading in order to pursue the ideal of "enjoying hair color while maintaining the contrast between gray and black hair". We also paid close attention to the texture and the odor peculiar to colorants, to create a colorant that is comfortable for hair stylists to use and for customers to spend their coloring time in comfort.
After a year and a half of repeated color tests on monitors and hair bundles, and a total of nearly 1,000 verifications, the nuanced hair color brand "THROW" was born, which expresses the desired color with just one product. Our uncompromising product development in all aspects, including color, fragrance, texture, and safety, has led to the birth of a product that both the hair stylists and the customers will be "heart-pounded and excited" about.