Some say there’s an art to beauty, but at Living Proof—the hair care company founded by MIT professor and prolific biotech inventor Bob Langer in 2004—a small team of innovators has looking good down to a science. Their latest invention: Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo ($22). Launching on Sept. 6, it’s a product that head of research and development Eric Spengler calls “the first true dry shampoo, the first one that actually cleans hair.”

Designed to soak up oil and sweat without residue buildup—thanks to a patented molecule that reduces surface friction so the absorbent powders brush out more easily—the dry shampoo was conceived, created and tested in Living Proof’s multipurpose headquarters in Kendall Square. February saw the debut of its “Style Lab” retail store, but the space is also home to four actual laboratories housing a team of about a dozen scientists, along with futuristic-looking pieces of equipment, some affectionately named after the likes of C-3PO, Doc Brown and Ghostbusters’ Egon Spengler. In the adjoining open office—where the CEO sits in a cube alongside the rest of the staff—conference rooms are adorned with quotes from innovators like Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Richard Buckminster Fuller. And there’s an onsite salon where two cosmetologists test products on paid participants (not to mention sporting employees).

Spengler says that having all of the facilities in one space contributes to collaboration and invention. The location doesn’t hurt either. “Because we’re in this rich biotech community, there are so many resources right outside our door,” he says. “And we have the capability, through our network, to access that and get really powerful insights really fast. For instance, when we’re designing new materials, we’ll go down to the analytical labs at MIT, and we can use equipment like their GC-MS [gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer], which costs millions of dollars to acquire, and you need a whole team to manage. And we can just lease time for several hundred dollars an hour and get the results we need.”

Not that MIT has a monopoly on the high-tech tools. Spengler points to an infrared spectrometer that has improved the cycle time for analytical testing by 85 percent and goes by the name of Scotty. “Beam me up, get it?” he laughs.

Still, the Living Proof team is willing to take its time when needed: The idea for the dry shampoo took root five years ago, and the finished product required more than a year of active development. It’s an approach that reflects a quote from Langer that Spengler says he likes to live by: “If you understand the cause of a problem, the solutions are easily at hand.”