Water is essential to the design and use of our company’s products, and sits at the heart of L’Oréal’s activity. Its capacity to function effectively and respond to consumers’ needs depends on sustainable access to water, and sustainable water management and conservation. In this respect, L’Oréal has worked for many years to preserve high quality water, consumed in responsible quantities, across our value chain, as well as in all the water basins and communities where the brand is present. The innovative nature and evaluation of our products therefore plays a vital role in our efforts to conserve this precious resource.

Elsewhere, through a life cycle analysis of a shampoo, the use phase has the greatest impact, both in terms of water footprint and GHG emissions arising from heating water. In fact, it represents up to 80% of these water and GHG impacts. In addition, reducing water consumption in the use phase in hairdressing salons will also therefore lead to a reduction in the energy needed to heat water and a significant reduction of GHG emissions for a salon shampoo.

In 2020, the Group updated the calculation of the carbon footprint related to its 2019 activities. The study shows that the stage with the greatest impact in terms of GHG emissions is the product use phase, in the consumer’s home, when he/she uses hot water. These emissions represent 49% of the entire emissions linked to the Group’s activities.

To achieve this, L’Oréal joined forces with Swiss start-up Gjosa to develop a technology that enables consumers to rinse off shampoo with just 1.5 litres of water, instead of the usual 8 litres. The start-up Gjosa developed a low flow shower head (two litres of water per minute), which reduces the water flow while accelerating the speed of water droplets, so that rinsing is just as effective as rinsing with a conventional shower head.

To optimise the process, scientists at L’Oréal developed shampoos that are easier to rinse, applied directly through the shower head. Certain parameters were adjusted according to real conditions of use, in order to ensure a good level of rinsing and contribute to reducing energy consumption (for hot water) and water by around 70%.

The two companies have launched a low flow shower head linked to an easy-to-rise shampoo, which enables consumers to reduce by up to five times the volume of water needed for hair-washing and go from 8 litres (per wash) to an average of only 1.5 litres.

This innovative shower head reduces the flow of water but compensates for this reduction by accelerating the speed of the droplets, so that the easy-to-rinse shampoo is applied directly via the shower head, rather than being applied by hand to the scalp. By infusing the water and the shampoo simultaneously, the shower head helps to reduce the volume of water consumed in professional hair salons.

First tested in L’Oréal’s laboratories, the prototypes of this new shower head are now available in many hairdressing salons in France and the USA. A global roll-out is planned by 2023, with the aim of equipping around 10,000 salons in the next few years.