How do product engineers design tools for Filipino hair?

MANILA, Philippines – Frizzy, limp, oily, or dry — Filipino hair can be a force to be reckoned with.

Rebonding treatments, hair straighteners, serums, hair masks, and even hair curlers are part of many Filipinos’ haircare arsenal, and sometimes, they’re still not enough.

What are the main problems and concerns the modern Filipina struggles with today when it comes to their hair?

Problems of the hair and now

First, there’s the weather.

Yvonne Piamonte, product integration lead of Dyson Beauty, shared with Rappler that aside from our tropical climate’s humidity — which makes style retention difficult — even simple brushing can cause frizz or static almost instantly.

Filipinos have diverse hair types, from T1 to T4, in technical terms. T1 is straight, T2 is wavy, T3 is curly, and T4 is coily. This diversity makes it difficult to find an all-in-one solution for behaved hair.

“That’s why it’s a must for haircare and product engineers to be ‘inclusive’ with the way we design, with the way we test, and we ensure that we take all of those hair types into account,” Piamonte said.

Roy Fuwa, senior design engineer for Dyson Beauty who specializes in human-machine interface, echoed the challenges of circumstances we cannot control.

“Weather is one of the greatest challenges. We always get exposed to the sun. And then in the morning, it’s raining. In the afternoon, it’s sunny. So any curls that you create in the morning disappear in the afternoon. And we also have a special challenge of also taking care of your hair, right?”

That’s why hair health should be paramount, Fuwa said. How do we help Filipinos achieve styles without damaging their hair with too much heat? The Philippine climate makes for “a really interesting challenge,” Fuwa shared.

Locked in: Non-negotiables in product design

Piamonte and Fuwa both worked on the new Dyson Airwrap Coanda 2x, an upgraded version of the first model. The supercharged motor delivers twice the air pressure to wrap hair more easily, dries hair as fast as a full-performance hair dryer, and creates different looks. The 6-in-1 tool comes with attachments to dry, curl, wave, straighten, smooth, and volumize, with no heat damage.

Piamonte described her job as “basically everything that goes inside the machine — your motor, your heater, your electronics.” Her role is to make sure everything works well with each other, which involves strict technical requirements, safety checks, and rigorous testing in line with global regulations.

On the other hand, Fuwa’s work is about the human-machine interface and how users interact with the tool. “Whether it be the buttons, whether it’s the lights, how you’re going to use it is designed by us. So when you put in a barrel, when you put in an attachment, the machine thinks differently,” he explained.

The focus on user experience is crucial for any appliance, especially given the uniqueness of Filipino hair. Piamonte noted that one common mistake is believing there’s only one correct way to achieve a hairstyle. “When in reality, it has to be like a tailor-fit type of preparation, type of hairstyling,” she said.

“Maybe high heat and high flow isn’t exactly what’s for them,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of exploration, but that’s why a tool must be manual or adjustable. So that it can cater to every hair type — and even in terms of expertise — it’s very beginner-friendly,” she added.

Tresses in stress: Different kinds of hair damage

Many seemingly innocent styling techniques today damage hair severely, Fuwa stressed.

“They say niluluto yung buhok, right? Today it’s going to look good, but tomorrow it’s going to be frizzy. Because you already cooked your hair with the heat,” he said.

Heat damage is the most familiar type, but it’s not the only one.

Piamonte shared that one is mechanical damage, which happens when you repeatedly tug on your hair through brushing or using tools incorrectly. There’s also thermal damage, characterized by dryness, split ends, rough texture, and breakage caused by frequent heat styling.

There’s chemical damage from perms, bleach, or dye. And lastly, UV damage from the sun, often unavoidable in the Philippines.

“A lot of those things are really hard to avoid,” Piamonte said, especially by Metro Manila commuters, and especially with how hot it is here in the Philippines.

“But again, for thermal damage — now that you have the option not to expose the hair in extreme temperatures — then that’s something that we can definitely recommend. Avoid thermal damage because that’s one of the main non-reversible reasons why our hair gets damaged,” she advised.

Fuwa said he designed the tool’s attachments so users don’t have to make too many passes.

“I see a lot of people — they brush so many times, they don’t know that there are so many hairs falling off,” Fuwa said.

“My advice is just really focus more on your hair health and then just focus on getting the style that you need without doing too much brushing or heat.”

‘Mane’ trends for the future

In 2026, Piamonte foresees more Filipinos investing in hairstyling and haircare. According to hers and Fuwa’s observations, 2026 will see more layered hairstyles: voluminous, fresh, but tricky to shape because of the varying hair lengths.

“Round brushes and curling barrels are going to come in handy next year. They are versatile enough to achieve those layers with a lot of bounce, a lot of volume,” she said.

Celebrity stylist and Dyson Philippines ambassador Paul Nebres agreed that volume is in. “Modern Filipinas now are really more adventurous. They’re not afraid of doing different looks. And I think that the famous blowout is in; it really boosts your confidence,” Nebres said.

For Fuwa, product design should never be short-term. “We try to design products to last not just next year. Like five years along the line, you can still use it to try any new trends,” he said.

Trends, however, shift fast, so he is still unsure about what to expect.

“It’s a little dynamic. We don’t know what’s going to be the trend in like two years, three years,” he said. But one interesting observation he shared was that more men are growing out their hair. “They’re trying to have like that long Korean perm!” he shared.

As long as tools are designed with hair health in mind, and not just aesthetics. According to Piamonte and Fuwa, designers should spend time studying individual hair strands of all textures and types inside and out, so that machines are designed with hair health at the forefront. – Rappler.com