Nurd / 2023. 12 / Designed by Junwoo Lim
Nurd : Sound-Assisted Hair Straightener
Men face a high barrier to entry in the beauty industry. Historically, men have been viewed as feminine for using hairstyling tools such as straighteners, and while this is slowly decreasing, there is still a tendency to view this behavior as unmanly. Unlike women, who are often exposed to hairstyling tools from a young age, men often have no past experience with hairstyling tools such as straighteners. This can make it very difficult for men to get comfortable with hairstyling, especially straighteners, when they first encounter them.
Everyone has different hair textures - thin and thick, straight and curly - so even if you create the same curl, everyone has a different rhythm for creating that curl. So the biggest difference between an experienced straightener user and a beginner is whether or not they've found their own rhythm. Nurd helps beginners to find their own rhythm through the soundbar on the bottom of the device as they use the straightener. In addition, Nurd presents 'rhythm' as an objective unit to share styling information, whereas in the past, styling information was delivered by relying on unclear visual information from sources such as YouTube.
Nurd offers a very simple and intuitive PUI for beginner men. It doesn't have detailed temperature controls that can be confusing for beginners, just low and high temperatures based on whether you want a strong or soft curl. It also has a basic power button and sound bar on/off to make it easy for beginners to use.
Also, the front of the product is flattened to accommodate male users who tend to use the straightener for bangs.
