Hard water can leave hair feeling dry, skin feeling tight, and soap harder to rinse away. MakeMake believes it has a portable answer: PERLUO, a battery-free tumbler that prepares a small amount of softer water for personal cleansing.
PERLUO is NOT a water bottle or a drinking-water purifier. Instead, it is meant for people to use water on their face, hair, or skin. Fill the bottle with tap water, add its replaceable cartridge, shake it for about 60 seconds, and use the treated water as part of a washing or rinsing routine.
MakeMake says its cartridge is designed to reduce hardness minerals such as calcium and magnesium, as well as certain trace metals that may be present in water. Those are company claims, and the product’s real-world performance will need independent testing.The consumer idea is straightforward: reduce the residue that can remain on hair and skin after washing with hard water.
App screen of MAKEMAKE’s non-powered portable soft water tumbler ‘PERLUO’
The ideal audience is people who already notice the effects of hard water. That includes travelers dealing with unpredictable hotel water, apartment dwellers in hard-water regions, and people with dry-feeling hair or skin who want more control over their cleansing routine. It could also appeal to skincare enthusiasts who use filtered showerheads at home but do not have that option at the gym, on a trip, or in a rental.
The Korean beauty-tech startup first focused on swimmers with its SOOO brand, which targets chlorine residue after time in a pool. PERLUO represents a broader move into what MakeMake calls “water stress care”: products designed around the quality of water that comes into contact with skin and hair.
MAKEMAKE CEO Hyoseob Kwak (left) during an interview with Ubergizmo Co-founder Hubert Nguyen | Photo by AVING News
Unlike a shower filter, PERLUO does not require installation, electricity, or plumbing. Its portable design is its central appeal, even if it also creates a limitation: it prepares only the amount of water that fits inside the tumbler. That makes it better suited to a face rinse, a targeted hair rinse, or a compact personal-care ritual than to replacing a full shower filter.
MakeMake plans to debut PERLUO at CES 2027. The company’s challenge will be helping consumers understand a use case that many people are not yet aware off: making the water you wash with potentially more comfortable for your skin and hair, wherever you happen to be.
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