Beauty Diary: Dyson’s ‘surprise’ $885m plan to fix 20 common problems

British tech giant Dyson wants to fix a common problem in the beauty industry – and Sir James Dyson reveals the new product “will surprise you”.

Dyson has revealed it is spending $885 million developing 20 new beauty products that will launch over the next four years.

The British tech giant, once best known for its range of vacuum cleaners, ventured into the hair care space in 2016 with its launch of the Supersonic.

While a hair dryer may not sound revolutionary, the gadget underwent a “radical redesign” to make it lighter and far less damaging on hair, and consumers loved it (despite the jaw-dropping price tag).

The hair dryer cemented Dyson’s status as bona fide “beauty gurus”, which led to two more beauty creations: The AirWrap and the Corrale.

Just like the Supersonic, the AirWrap styler and the Corrale cordless straightener weren’t any ordinary hair tools – with both also addressing common complaints and issues found with competitor models.

This problem-solving ethos is being carried into the mystery new “beauty products” the firm is now working on, company founder Sir James Dyson told news.com.au’s The Beauty Diary.

Dyson founder Sir James Dyson with the company’s first beauty product, the Supersonic hair dryer. Picture: Supplied

“I can’t say too much about the new beauty products, but these machines will look and perform very differently to anything that is currently available, solving problems in entirely new ways,” he said.

“They will be more efficient too. Developing technology for all hair types remains a crucial focus for our development teams.

“We have already invested well over £100 million ($A176 million) into hair laboratories and our latest £500 million ($A885 million) investment will create new lab spaces to sharpen our understanding of all global hair types and damage, which helps to inform the beauty technology we are developing.”

The brand is spending $885 million developing 20 new beauty products that will launch in the next four years.

Despite our pleas, 75-year-old remained firm on keeping the new gadgets a secret, stating his “lips are sealed” – but said everything is being designed to “turn a problem on its head”.

“We want to maintain healthy hair by helping to protect against excessive heat damage,” he said.

“Using extreme heat to style hair, as some conventional technology does, can cause irreversible damage.”

In fact, the brand is so passionate about saving our stressed-out locks, it conducted a scientific survey into hair around the world which investigated hair health, hair perceptions, habits and attitudes towards hair styling across 23 markets and 23,000 people.

James Dyson said the top secret new products will ‘surprise you’. Picture: Supplied

“It showed that people are aware of hair damage but they don’t realise the microscopic long-term effects it has, which can’t be undone,” he said.

“Understanding your hair type can help you select the best styling approach and treatment for your perfect style.

“This research and understanding also informs our engineering decisions, to build machines that offer better styles backed by science, no matter the hair type.”

While the inventor wouldn’t budge when we pleaded for him to spill on his favourite tool from the existing Dyson beauty range, he did state he was “excited” by what we’re yet to experience.

“I can’t give the game away on what might come next, but I think it will surprise you.”