Sometimes the best ideas can be found close to home. 
 
Professional hair brand Pravana and another business owned by its parent company Henkel, have revealed details on how they teamed up to develop Balayage Palette. Introduced last year, Pravana Balayage Palette features the a self-regulating temperature-controlled ink technology developed by Loctite, which is Henkel’s adhesive technologies business. 
 
Balayage Palette provides even heat distribution that speeds up the lightening process without over drying, according to Dolores Alker, head of new product innovations and contract manufacturing at Henkel Beauty Care Hair Professional, North America. 
 
“This is disruptive innovation at its best. As far as I know, there is nothing else like this in the professional beauty industry,” she said in press statement.
 
“New ideas don’t always spawn from staring at hair magazines. In our case, the tech industry is one we look to quite often,” said Lissette Cruz, senior product development manager, head of global innovations for Pravana International. “While I was doing personal research in the 3D circuit board arena, I came across a phrase that caught my eye: conductive ink. I quickly realized that these materials were abundant in Henkel’s Loctite brand portfolio.”
 
The Loctite technology used is ECI 8001 E&C warming element, which features silver ink with carbon conductors.
 
“Our line of PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) inks are designed to self-regulate and maintain a constant temperature,” said Cary Vocelka, director – Americas head for printed electronics, adhesives, North America. Vocelka said he was not surprised to see the versatile product — first used widely for car seat heaters — embraced by the beauty industry. “Our customers always come up with the best use of our materials. The possibilities are endless.”
 
Want to know more about ink and adhesives? Check out Happi’s sister publications, Coatings World and Ink World.