Pursuits
One Strand at a Time: L’Oreal Designs Hair Care for a New Market
- World’s biggest cosmetics maker opens laboratory in S. Africa
- Products for African hair will compete against local brands
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L’Oreal SA is trying to find out what African women want, and then make money from it.
In a sparsely lit room inside a laboratory near Johannesburg, a young woman pores over single strands of hair, the ends of each fiber held, jewelry-like, in delicate copper tubes. A laser machine nearby draws a horizontal red line over the face of a motionless volunteer in a black T-shirt.