2012 Beauty Breakthroughs

Photo by: David Cook

Coolway system

Even the most hard-core flatiron junkie knows full well that the very tool that makes her hair look fabulous in the short run is going to damage it over time. Flatirons can hit a scorching 450 degrees Fahrenheit before their work is done-and this tends to crack the cuticle, leaving hair dry, dull, and vulnerable to breakage. Coolway scientists created a heat-styling system that achieves the same silky, ... more 

Photo by: David Cook

Coolway system

Even the most hard-core flatiron junkie knows full well that the very tool that makes her hair look fabulous in the short run is going to damage it over time. Flatirons can hit a scorching 450 degrees Fahrenheit before their work is done-and this tends to crack the cuticle, leaving hair dry, dull, and vulnerable to breakage. Coolway scientists created a heat-styling system that achieves the same silky, smooth results as a regular flatiron, without going over 299 degrees-or causing nearly as much damage.

HOW IT WORKS: No matter how many protective ingredients you spray on hair before you style it, the heat from an iron still causes the water that's inside every strand to evaporate. Once that moisture disappears, the heat then melts the proteins responsible for hair strength and structure. One of Coolway's engineers guessed that if they could boost the amount of water inside hair, "we could then achieve the same styles at much lower temperatures," says James Humphreys, the company's chief technical officer. But how? Humphreys was inspired by golf courses, where a wetting agent-which lowers the surface tension of water, allowing it to spread more easily-is added to sprinkler systems so the water saturates the ground more evenly, rather than pooling in random spots. Coolway's prestyling spray follows the same principle, using an amino acid blend that allows water to penetrate the cortex of the hair more deeply less