L’Oréal has announced the closure of Clarisonic, the iconic cleansing brush brand that it purchased from Pacific Bioscience Labs in 2011.

A L’Oréal spokesperson comments: “Effective September 30, the Clarisonic brand will be closing. Clarisonic has played an instrumental role in upskilling and ultimately expanding L’Oréal’s knowledge and expertise beyond cosmetics and personal care products to the benefit of all L’Oréal brands. L’Oréal will continue to leverage the know-how acquired through Clarisonic to continue to develop our own brands’ devices.”

Clarisonic was the brainchild of Dr Robb Akridge and David Giuliani in 2001. They had previously invented the Sonicare Electric Toothbrush based on technology created at the University of Washington. Over 10 million sales and one very memorable appearance on Oprah Winfrey later, it became one of the first beauty devices used in the home, inspiring many other cleansing devices.

Clarisonic fans will still be able to purchase accessories to support their existing devices from Currentbody.com, official retail partner to Clarisonic.

Laurence Newman, CEO of CurrentBody.com, says: “In an ever-changing world, Clarisonic owners L’Oréal are moving in a different direction but we are not, and remain very much at the forefront of all home-use beauty technologies including facial cleansing solutions. We have been working hard in the background with our long-term partners at L’Oréal to ensure you have all the brush heads and cleansers you will need to support your existing device for a significant period of time, along with the expertise and knowledge to help you get the best results.”