Shark joins the war on high-tech skin care masks with an impressive opening shot at CES 2025

I have to admit — I used to be very skeptical of LED devices that claim to be good for your skin. When they first started being sold for home use, I felt like they were mostly expensive, inefficient appliances that were obviously money grabs. These days, however, as is usually the case with any burgeoning product category, technology has improved. We’re seeing more advanced offerings that not only use better components, but are also more comfortable to wear. Full face masks from the likes of TherabodyDr. Dennis Gross and Omnilux exploded in popularity, took over social media and consistently sold out. After hearing rave reviews from friends and family and undergoing more light salon treatments, I became more convinced that there is a place for devices like these.

Shark, the maker of vacuum cleaners, deep fryers and a variety of kitchen accessories, has unveiled its LED facial mask device here at CES 2025. Launched under its three-year-old Shark Beauty arm, the new “CryoGlow Under-Eye Cooling + LED Anti-Aging and Clearing Facial Mask on the skin” has a rather long name. I’ll call it the CryoGlow mask from now on. At a meeting here in Las Vegas, Shark’s senior vice president of global product development, Daniel Lessing, described a number of ways CryoGlow is different from what’s currently on the market.

First of all, as its name suggests, this device has a cooling component. In addition to the mask’s 160 “locking tri-wick LEDs,” there are two metal cheek plates that are shaped like eye masks. It’s the conduit for what Shark calls its “InstaChill” technology, and it’s actually a pair of cold plates that, in my short time with the CryoGlow, felt satisfyingly soothing. In fact, this might be my favorite part of the device (and frankly its standout feature).

After putting the CryoGlow on for maybe a minute or so and taking some fun photos and selfies with it, I really appreciated how cold it felt on my under eye area. To be clear, my plates got cold as soon as I put the mask on, but I enjoyed the lingering coolness. And after removing the device, I still enjoyed the sensation that remained, even after a few minutes. I don’t feel like I’ve worn the mask long enough to know if it will start to feel uncomfortable after extended wear, but at least during my demo I didn’t feel strained, nor did the wired remote get in my way.

I also want to note that unlike the Therabody option, Shark’s CryoGlow does not vibrate. Lessing said, “It’s a skin care system, and the vibration doesn’t affect the skin.”

Lessing stressed to me the importance of each of the three-wick LED bulbs being able to produce red, blue, and deep infrared light, as they differ from some other products on the market that can only use single or two-wick bulbs . In these cases, manufacturers may choose to place red-only or blue-only bulbs in alternating layouts or different arrangements that allow them to claim to provide both types of light while effectively covering less area per bulb.

It’s this kind of math that Lessing enthusiastically highlighted in our quick meeting, as she told me that the company worked hard to calculate the ideal combination of factors such as the distance of the bulbs from the user’s face and from each other. To this end, the CryoGlow will sit so that the LEDs are about 15mm from your skin – a good balance between efficiency and coverage. The bulbs themselves are spaced 10mm apart, and the four programs Shark offers also take into account how long the lights are on your face.

Lessing said the company wanted to do something that was more comprehensive, not only for different head sizes and types, but also for skin concerns. Most of the products currently available target the signs of aging in women, she said. Shark wants to buck this trend, and part of that effort includes creating a mask that should fit all types of people, from women with smaller faces to men with larger heads.

When I first saw CryoGlow in person, I couldn’t help but smile. Unlike Theraface or Dr. Dennis Gross, which look a bit like robots or cyborgs, the Shark device is, strangely, cute? The cutout shape of his mouth is slightly turned up and everything just looks like he’s smiling at you. I also instinctively reached out to caress the textured sides of the mask, which look like lines cut into sand. I could see making this my pet.

CryoGlow not only looks amazing, but also feels comfortable to wear. It was big enough for my larger than average head but didn’t feel too heavy. This may be due to the adjustable T-headband that it reminds me of Apple Vision Pro. Lessing said the team also drew inspiration from ski goggles for the design, particularly the protective guards around the eye cutouts.

There’s also the fact that the CryoGlow is relatively lightweight, likely due to the fact that it’s powered by a battery in the attached remote control. This handheld controller is wired, which is a slightly less elegant approach than competing products that have buttons on the mask. But I appreciate that it looks and feels like the Nokia 3310 with a much nicer screen and dial plus two buttons below it.

You can spin the wheel to scroll through the menu and I also liked the Shark aesthetic used for the interface. The system offers four treatment modes: an under-eye ‘revitalisation’ which provides ‘cryo-inspired tightening and soothing’, a 6-minute ‘Better Aging’ option, an 8-minute ‘Skin Clearing Treatment’ which is targeting acne and a 4-minute “Skin Sustain” maintenance regime that is designed for daily use. There are also three levels of cooling that you can control with this system. Shark says its tests show clearer skin can be seen after four weeks of use, while two months of consistent application can lead to tighter skin.

Shark says all of its programs are backed by clinical testing, and most intriguingly, it actually tests its CryoGlow device against competitors. According to Shark, this image “captures a demonstration conducted with light-absorbing, photochromic paint to show the uniform coverage of CryoGlow’s iQLED technology versus the competitor’s uneven coverage.” I will note that while the Shark device appears to have a more uniform and overall greater spread, it leaves the two under-eye patches bare.

It’s unclear what this competing device is or how much it might cost, but given that the CryoGlow is priced at $349, while Theraface Mask and on Dr. Dennis Gross SpectraLite FaceWare Pro starting at $599 and $455 respectively, I’m already intrigued. I feel it is a sophisticated device that is at least in the range I could afford. I loved my brief experience with it too. I’ll probably have to test other competing products before I can definitively judge how well the CryoGlow stacks up against what’s out there, but for now, and for the price, I’m very impressed with Shark’s debut LED mask.