The present invention relates to the treatment of hair, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to that of shampooing washes carried out in the sink, in salons.
Introduction
People have characteristics of hair and head of hair which differ from one person to the next. Thus, they need products to be adapted to the particular features of their hair.

In particular, they wish to have the best product(s) for the washing treatment. They generally carry out this treatment on a daily basis and feel discomfort when the product is not suited to their situation. Some require a strong washing strength due to greasy hair, for example, others require a strong disentangling care strength, especially due to wet hair, others require a strong shine strength, due to dry hair, especially.

Getting one's bearings amongst all the offerings is not easy, since adding together these different performance properties leads to quite a number of possibilities. Moreover, people would like to have a shampoo which suits them in terms of the sensory nature and in terms of use: fragrance, texture, speed of rinsing, etc.

The same problem exists for other treatments, especially post-washing treatments: care for the hair, provided by masks and conditioners, may be spread across various possibilities.

Numerous people, faced with this situation, count on the opinion of their hairdresser, a specialist in hair who is often well-acquainted with the range of products. He or she may then, knowing their clients well, propose this or that product for their clients. For this reason, ranges of products referred to as "professional" have been created which are sold within the shop and which the hairdresser can recommend on a case-by-case basis.

Nonetheless, this approach has some limitations.

Firstly, the hairdresser is generally found at the cutting station, and not at the washing sink. This means he or she does not touch the hair during the act of washing and care. Thus, he or she only has partial insight into the state of the hair. The person who carries out the shampooing, hereinafter referred to as "shampooer", who is at the washing sink, may make suggestions but as he or she is generally less experienced, his or her diagnosis and product knowledge makes the result less relevant. The consequence of this is that the client may be proposed, and buy, a product which is not completely suited to their situation, which is likely to make them regret their purchase once they test it at home. The risk is all the greater if he or she has been proposed a product with strong performance properties, for example a highly disentangling or highly detergent product.

Given the price of these "professional" products, one possibility is to propose products with less strong performance properties, to avoid problems in case of incorrect advice. However, in so doing, clients may be disappointed, finding performance properties in the product that they buy which they could find in more conventional and hence less expensive shampoos.

Further, the salon does not necessarily have all the products in stock. Thus, the hairdresser and the shampooer may be in a situation in which they are not able to propose an accessible product and so they direct the client towards other products. They may not however have knowledge of the entire extent of the products available and may struggle to make recommendations. The client may then leave the salon with the impression that he or she must find the most suitable products themselves, by going to another salon for example. Faced with this concern, the hairdresser may be tempted to propose a product from among those he or she has in stock, then running the risk of not proposing the optimum product.

It is also known that some clients, due to their head of hair, require particular application procedures involving a particular shampoo and at least one second particular treatment such as conditioner or pre- shampoo. The difficulty is then to find the best succession of products. In this case also, the client is counting on the know-how of the salon to direct them in the procedure. However, as explained above, constraints in terms of experience and availability of products in the salon may reduce the quality of the advice and re-sale of the correct product.

Thus, there is a difficulty for the employees of a hairdressing salon to advise clients on the product(s) best suited to them and on the best way in which to use them.

The risks run in the event of poor advice are significant, ranging from disappointing clients to incurring economic loss, which may lead salons not to propose strong products and members of the cosmetics industry to hesitate to produce highly specialized products. For this reason, this reduces the development of the marketing concept of "salon retail", that is to say retail selling by the hairdresser of products to their clients.

A device making it possible to introduce a cosmetic product such as a soap into the supply of a shower head is known from US 2006/0011746 Al . An adjustment means

makes it possible to vary the amount of product aspirated by Venturi effect to be mixed with the water.

US 2008/0301869 Al discloses a device comprising a pressure booster to raise the pressure of the water before conveying it to a dispensing device. In one embodiment example, a source of soap (or of another product) is provided to deliver soap which is mixed with the water downstream of the pressure booster and upstream of the dispensing device. No adjustments of the amount of soap being mixed with the water is provided, other than all or nothing. In one variant, a source of soap is carried by the dispensing device.

Patent US 4 563 780 describes an automated bathroom making it possible to record different temperatures, water levels, and flow rates for various members of the family. A soap may be introduced into the water dispensed upstream of the faucets delivering water to the users.

Summary

There is consequently a need to remedy this situation, and the invention aims to respond thereto by virtue of a system for carrying out a treatment of the head of hair, especially a shampooing operation, to be connected to at least one water inlet, comprising:

- at least one source of product,

- an adjustment device making it possible to modify at least one usage characteristic of at least one product conveyed to the head of hair,

- a user interface enabling said user:

o to select a setting, the system being configured to act on the adjustment device as a function of the selected setting, and

o to input at least one item of information relating to a treatment result obtained with the selected setting.

By virtue of the invention, the user may more readily determine the treatment suited to the head of hair of the person whose hair is being treated, especially cleansed.

"Usage characteristic" should be understood to mean at least one condition of use of the product enabling it to exert its action: This may for example be the concentration of the product within a treatment solution distributed on the hair by the system, the amount of product used, the content thereof relative to another product used jointly, and/or a sequence of use of this product, especially if it is used before or after another product or with or without rinsing.

"Treatment result" should be understood to mean a result associated at least in part with the use of the product. This may be the degree of cleansing, the foaming strength, the speed of foaming, or a disentangling, smoothing, conditioning or care strength, etc.

The invention gives the shampooer the possibility to seek the best products for their client.

The invention enables the user to carry out adjustment tests, and once satisfied with the results, to record the products used and the conditions of use of these products, especially the amounts, concentrations and/or usage context, for example with or without rinsing or use of pre-shampoo or conditioner.

The information recorded is then of use to determine catalog products making it possible to reproduce the results or come close thereto, and/or to reproduce the treatment upon returning to the salon.

They may also make it possible to hone the treatment to come close to an optimal result, by noting, bit by bit, the change in the results as a function of the treatments. Thus, the system may be arranged to propose a new setting as a function on the one hand of recorded data relating to results previously observed and the corresponding treatment conditions, and on the other hand a request expressed by the client and/or the user and input into the system.

The system may be arranged to enable the user to input information thereon relating to the head of hair to be treated, for example length, consistency, colour, dyeing, relaxing or permanent-wave history, styling habits, regular use of heating systems, state of the hair, etc., and to take these indications into account in the proposals made of settings. The system may further use the information input to modify settings stored in memory for a given client, in order to take account of changes in their head of hair since the previous visit to the salon; for example, the system is arranged to modify the amounts of water and/or product(s) conveyed to the hair as a function of the change in the length thereof since the previous visit to the salon. For example, if the hair is shorter due to a haircut carried out after the last washing operation, the system may reduce the amounts of water and of products used. The system may be arranged to enable the shampooer to input an item of information regarding the length of the head of hair, for example the length in cm thereof. As a variant, the system is arranged to measure it automatically, by virtue, for example, of one or more sensors fitted in the sink.

The system may comprise a means to store at least one setting in memory. This may be an electronic or computer memory, for example a memory of SSD drive type, or hard drive or shared drive, commonly referred to as "cloud". The information may be stored in memory in the system itself, in a circuit board located close to the washing sink, or on a remote server, present in the salon or outside same. When the system is used to automatically or semi-automatically generate a setting based on data stored in memory, it is advantageous to give the system access to the salon's booking system so as to know the identity of the person treated from this booking system, which avoids having to input it into the system; in semiautomatic operation, the system may be arranged to display, on the user interface, the identity of the person as determined by accessing the booking system, in order to enable the shampooer to confirm this information before starting the treatment; it may also be preferable for the system to recall the treatment that it is preparing to carry out automatically, in order to enable the shampooer to input a confirmation.

The user interface may be arranged to make it possible to input at least two items of information, relating respectively to at least two different criteria for evaluating the result of the treatment, into the system. This may be a result during the treatment itself, for example the foaming strength and the speed of foaming, or a result obtained after rinsing but while the hair is still wet, for example the softness of the hair and the ability to disentangle it, or a result estimated when the hair is dry. The result may be estimated by the user visually and/or by touching with the fingers; the user may optionally have available one or more accessories or apparatus making instrument-based evaluation possible; in this case the apparatus used may be linked to the system to enable it to analyze the corresponding data. In this case, it is considered that the use of the apparatus by the shampooer equates to input by said shampooer of an item of information relating to a treatment result, even if this information input is carried out automatically.

The system preferably comprises a means for generating a product recommendation and/or a treatment recommendation at least based on the knowledge of the setting selected and of said at least one item of information input by the user relating to the treatment result. This means comprises, for example, a computer program which accesses product data containing information regarding results that different products make it possible to obtain on the hair, and also regarding the link between these products and the formulation tested on the person who is being treated.

The system is preferably arranged to enable the user to input a preference of the person treated regarding a result to be obtained. The system may then favor, in its recommendation, a product which makes it possible to obtain the desired result, compared to other criteria to be met.

The system is advantageously arranged to generate an indication regarding the conditions of use of a product, as a function of data previously input into the system, enabling it to anticipate the effect of a condition of use of a product on the result obtained; this is for example the system's knowledge of a variation in the treatment strength, for example disentangling strength, of a product as a function of the amount of water used for rinsing.

Preferably, the system according to the invention uses a dispensing device which is supplied by a high-pressure water source by virtue of a pressure booster present upstream; the pressure booster device may comprise at least two nozzles which generate jets, preferably convergent jets, which collide in order to reduce the speed thereof and to transfer this kinetic energy into a reduction in the size of the droplets; this makes it possible to have a resultant jet which wets while having low water consumption; it is particularly advantageous to have low water consumption since this facilitates the dosing of the products used to treat the head of hair.

It is also particularly advantageous to have low water consumption for salons which are not connected to mains water supplies, or which are connected to sporadic mains water supplies.

It is also particularly advantageous to have low water consumption to reduce the effect of the water on the hair when the latter has been treated beforehand by treatments which have deposited an active compound such as a dye compound, disentangling compound, or shine-improving compound. These compounds are often sensitive to water and the use of a weak stream of water may limit the removal of these compounds.

The system is advantageously arranged in order to control not only the amount of each product which is sent to the head of hair, but also the amount of water which is dispensed; knowledge of the amount of water dispensed may be useful especially when the water and the product(s) are dispensed on the head of hair while the outlet of the sink is closed, since this makes it possible to more readily determine the concentration of each product in the solution present in the sink.

The user interface is preferably produced so as to enable the user to modify numerous treatment parameters, in order to carry out a multitude of tests, and thereby to determine the best treatment conditions.

The adjustment device may thus be arranged to enable the proportion of a product in the dispensed solution to controlled continuously or in steps, for example of 25% or less.

The adjustment device is preferably arranged so that the content of a product injected into the water may vary for example between 0.3 and 10% by weight.

The system may be arranged to dispense an amount of a product and/or a product with a given concentration, selected by the user prior to the dispensing of the product, in order to test or to use a predefined formulation. For example, the user selects, on the user interface, the concentration of the product and the latter is dispensed with said concentration.

As a variant, the system is arranged to dispense at least one product with a concentration which is variable over time, especially during a session at the sink or from one appointment to another, so as to enable the user to carry out tests at different concentrations, or with different amounts, of product. When the concentration and/or the amount varies during the session at the sink during the same appointment, the user may make use of this to test the solution dispensed on several distinct parts of the head of hair, and determine, in light of a result on each of these parts of the head of hair, the concentration and/or the amount of product most suited to obtaining the desired result.

The system may be arranged to propose at least one program referred to as "wash test".

The system is then arranged such that, during the execution of such a program, the system conveys a variable proportion, for example an increasing proportion, of a product into the dispensing device. In this way, if the shampooer sees that the product is foaming correctly on the head of hair and/or washing correctly, he or she may stop the dispensing and/or identify the optimal point during this test program. The system may be arranged to store in memory the total amount of product conveyed, for example after carrying out an integration. The system may be arranged to subsequently propose several implementations with the same amount of product, but distributed according to different programming and/or over a different period of time. For example, the shampooer will have varied the injection of the product into the stream of water according to an increasing mode, starting from a

proportion of product of 0% and regularly increasing the percentage by 0.25% every second. If the shampooer identifies that, after 16 seconds, the foam obtained is satisfactory, he or she may then stop the system. By integration, the system calculates that the amount of product injected during the test corresponds to a regular supply at 2% over 16 seconds. Starting from this information, the system will be able to propose several implementations:

• An equivalent implementation (from 0% to 4% in 16 seconds according to a mode increasing by 0.25% per second),

• another implementation such as a regular injection mode (for example, 2% for 16 seconds, 4% for 8 seconds),

· another implementation such as an increasing or decreasing injection mode but which is different from the mode used during the test.

The system may be arranged to propose, to the user, a program referred to as "wash test", consisting in conveying a variable proportion, for example an increasing or decreasing proportion, automatically or at the shampooer's request, of a product relative to another into pipes of the system with a view to dispensing it by the dispensing device. It is then possible for the shampooer to sense the proportion most satisfactory to him or her, for example by touching the hair during the conveying. In this way, if the shampooer sees that the product is foaming correctly on the head of hair and/or washing correctly, he or she may stop the test program and/or identify the optimal point. The system then retains the total amount of product conveyed, for example after carrying out an integration, and will then be able to propose several implementations with the same amount of product, but distributed according to different programming and/or over a different period of time, as mentioned above.

A program variant which may be proposed to the user by the system, consists in conveying two or more than two products in a given relative proportion into the pipes, and in increasing the proportion conveyed of a product relative to the other or the proportion of this mixture in the water, automatically or at the shampooer's request. It is then possible for the shampooer to sense the proportion most satisfactory to him or her, for example by touching the hair during the conveying. In this way, if the shampooer sees that the product is foaming correctly on the head of hair and/or washing correctly, he or she stops the program and/or identifies the optimal point. The system will then retain the satisfactory parameters, for example the total amount of the mixture of products conveyed, for example after carrying out an integration, and will then be able to propose several implementations with the same amount of product, distributed according to different programming and/or over a different period of time. For example, the shampooer will have varied the injection of two products into the stream of water according to an increasing mode for one and a regular mode for the other, starting from a proportion of product of 0% and regularly increasing the percentage by 0.25% every second for the first and by 4% for the second. If the shampooer identifies that, after 16 seconds, the foam obtained is satisfactory, he or she may then stop the system. By integration, the system calculates that the amount of product injected during the test corresponds to a regular supply at 2% over 16 seconds for the first and 4% over 16 seconds for the second. Starting from this information, the system will be able to propose conveying the two products in a 2/4 ratio under different implementations:

• an equivalent implementation (for the first product: from 0% to 4% in 16 seconds according to a mode increasing by 0.25% per second and for the second 4% over 16 seconds),

· other implementations such as, for example, a mode of regular injection of the two products in a 2/4 ratio.

The system preferably makes it possible to input information relating to the result obtained after the washing. In particular, the system may have information input relating to rinsing parameters, in order to be able to reuse them subsequently. The shampooer may then find the optimal rinsing depending on whether he or she wishes for the hair to be perfectly clear or to still carry some traces of product and thereby obtain an effect.

During rinsing, he or she may thus input information into the system relating to the quality of the hair and the speed of rinsing. The system may be arranged to take account thereof in order to modify settings or suggest testing new settings. The same applies during combing and the application of an optional application of another shampoo, conditioner, mask, or other products, and other hair treatment steps such as haircutting, hair setting, blow drying, straightening, etc.

Thus, if the shampooer or the client or the hairdresser notices that the hair is too coarse, difficult to disentangle, too weighed-down, etc., it is possible to input information into the system afterwards or later. The system is advantageously arranged to deduce therefrom modifications to be carried out or to propose for the setting; in addition, the choice by the system of the catalog product(s) proposed to the client will advantageously be made by taking this information feedback into account.

The system is preferably suited to hair products other than shampoo. It is thus possible to dispense, by means of the dispensing device, products such as other surfactant-based or non-surfactant-based compositions, intended to provide a care effect, with or without washing effect, for example formulations referred to as "no-poo" or "low-poo", conditioners and masks, or formulations based on diluted surfactants, among other products.

The system may also be arranged to propose a program referred to as "care test". The system may then be arranged such that, during the execution of such a program, the system conveys a variable proportion, especially an increasing proportion, of a product into the pipes with a view to dispensing it via the dispensing device. In this way, if the shampooer sees that the product is caring well for the head of hair, he or she may stop the running of the program and/or identify the optimal point during the test program. The system then retains the total amount of product conveyed, for example after carrying out an integration, and is then able to propose several implementations with the same amount of product, but distributed according to different programming and/or over a different period of time, as mentioned above.

The system may further be arranged to propose another program consisting in conveying a variable proportion, for example an increasing or decreasing proportion, automatically or at the shampooer' s request, of a product relative to another in the pipes. It is then possible for the shampooer to sense the proportion most satisfactory to him or her, for example by touching the hair during the conveying. In this way, if the shampooer sees that the distributed solution is caring well for the head of hair, he or she stops the test program and/or identifies the optimal point. The system will then retain the total amount of product conveyed, for example after carrying out an integration, and will then be able to propose several implementations with the same amount of product, but distributed according to different programming and/or over a different period of time, as mentioned above.

Another program consists in conveying two or more than two products in a given relative proportion into the pipes, and in increasing the proportion conveyed of this mixture in the water, automatically or at the shampooer' s request. It is then possible for the shampooer to sense the proportion most satisfactory to him or her, for example by touching the hair during the conveying. In this way, if the shampooer sees that the product is caring

well for the head of hair, he or she may stop the test program and/or identify the optimal point. The system will then retain the total amount of the mixture of products conveyed, for example after carrying out an integration, and will then be able to propose several implementations with the same amount of product, but distributed according to different programming and/or over a different period of time, as mentioned above.

The system preferably makes it possible to integrate information after applying a treatment solution.

In particular, the system may, automatically or non-automatically, have information input relating to rinsing parameters, in order to be able to reuse them subsequently. In particular, the system may be arranged to determine the amount of rinsing water used, and store this parameter in memory. The shampooer may then find the optimal rinsing depending on whether he or she wishes for the hair to be perfectly clear of product or to still carry some traces of product and thereby obtain an effect such as care, shine, etc.

In particular, during rinsing, he or she may thus input information into the system relating to the quality of the hair and the speed of rinsing. The system may then take account thereof in order to modify the settings, for example of water flow rate, or suggest testing new settings, for example carrying out the rinsing at a different flow rate. The same applies during combing and the application of a conditioner, mask, or other products, and other hair treatment steps such as haircutting, hair setting, blow drying, straightening, etc.

Thus, if the shampooer, the client or the hairdresser notices that the hair is too coarse, difficult to disentangle, too weighed-down, etc., it is possible to input information into the system immediately afterwards or later. The system may be arranged to deduce therefrom modifications to be carried out or to be proposed, by virtue of its knowledge of the effects of the products on the parameter that it is sought to correct.

WE CLAIMS

1. A system (1) for carrying out a treatment of the head of hair, especially a shampooing operation, to be connected to at least one water inlet, comprising:

- at least one source of cosmetic product (PI; P2),

- an adjustment device (30) making it possible to modify at least one usage characteristic of at least one product conveyed to the head of hair,

- a user interface (40), enabling said user:

o to select a setting, the system (1) being configured to act on the adjustment device (30) as a function of the selected setting, and

o to input at least one item of information relating to a treatment result obtained with the selected setting.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, comprising a means to store at least one setting in memory.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, the setting being stored in memory at the user's request.

4. The system as claimed in claim 2, the setting being automatically stored in memory when a treatment result is input into the system.

5. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the user interface (40) making it possible to input into the system (1) at least two items of information relating respectively to at least two different criteria for evaluating the treatment result.

6. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a means for generating a product recommendation and/or a treatment recommendation on the basis at least of the knowledge of the selected setting and of said at least one item of information input by the user relating to the treatment result.

7. The system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, being configured to access a database (BD2) giving information relating to an expected treatment result as a function of a selected setting.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, being arranged to compare a treatment result observed by the user and input into the system (1) and the expected result determined by means of the database (BD1) and to generate an item of information relating to a modification of the setting and/or of the treatment as a function of this comparison.

9. The system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, being configured to access a database (BD1) giving information on the formulation of catalog products and to identify one or more catalog products as a function at least of the knowledge of at least one selected setting and of said at least one item of information input by the user relating to the observed treatment result, such that the product(s) identified procure a result which comes close to that obtained.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9, the database (BD1) giving information relating to one or more characteristics of the listed products, especially chosen from the speed of foaming, the speed of rinsing, the detergent strength or the disentangling strength.

11. The system as claimed in either of claims 9 and 10, being configured to access a database (BD1) giving information relating to an available stock of catalog products and to generate the product recommendation as a function of the products available in stock.

12. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a device (11) for dispensing a treatment solution onto the hair, especially rinsing water and/or water loaded with product(s) (P 1 , P2) with a maximum flow rate of less than 4 1/min.

13. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising at least two sources of different products (PI, P2) and preferably a means (30) making it possible to select one, the other, or both the sources of products.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, the adjustment device (30) making it possible to adjust the content of each of the products (PI, P2) in the treatment solution, especially to adjust the ratio between the two products from 0/100 to 100/0, preferably by steps of 25% or less.

15. The system as claimed in either of claims 13 and 14, being configured to make it possible to store at least one setting relating to the two products in memory.

16. The system as claimed in one of claims 13 to 15, being configured to generate at least one recommendation of a plurality of catalog products, especially of a pair of products, on the basis at least of at least one observed treatment result relating to the use of the two products.

17. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a means (30) making it possible to automatically reproduce the formulation of a treatment solution from data stored in memory relating to a past treatment which used the same

formulation of the treatment solution, especially from data stored in memory on a removable memory medium or received from a remote server.

18. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the product(s) (PI, P2) comprising at least one from an anionic surfactant, an amphoteric surfactant, a cationic polymer and a silicone.

19. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the user interface (40) making it possible to input at least one item of information relating to the speed of foaming, the volume of foam, the speed of rinsing, the ease of disentangling.

20. A process of treating hair by means of a system (1) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which at least one setting is selected on the user interface (40) and at least one item of information relating to a result obtained on the hair with this setting is input to the interface.

21. The process as claimed in the preceding claim, in which a result observed for a given setting is compared with an expected setting by interrogating a database (BD2), and at least one product recommendation and/or treatment recommendation is generated as a function of the result of this comparison.

22. The process as claimed in claim 21, in which the product recommendation is made by comparison with characteristics of catalog products featured in a database (BD1).

23. The process as claimed in either of claims 21 and 22, the recommendation being made after interrogating a database (BD1) giving information on available stock in the salon.

24. The process as claimed in any one of claims 20 to 22, in which the setting is stored in memory with a view to a subsequent treatment, and the result observed on the hair and/or a recommendation of a modification of the setting and/or of the product for the subsequent treatment is preferably also stored in memory, as well as preferably an ID for the person treated, the storage in memory taking place especially on a remote server and/or on a removable memory medium.