| History of the curling iron. Is there such a | | | | hot climate, shaved their heads. On |
| thing or is the curling iron just a modern | | | | ceremonial occasions, for protection from the |
| invention? Each generation is the same. We | | | | sun, they wore wigs. The wigs would be short |
| think we have invented something new when | | | | and curly or long and full of curls or |
| perhaps all we have done is to modify "old | | | | braids. The Science Museum has an example of |
| inventions" by applying modern technology. | | | | curling tongs used by rich Egyptians to |
| Let us begin to investigate the history of | | | | prepare their wigs.In classical Greece it is |
| the curling iron or, as it is also known, the | | | | known that the upper classes used curling |
| curling tong.Let us begin with the definition | | | | irons.Through time there have been many |
| of a curling iron. It is a tool, a | | | | methods devised to curl hair and to keep the |
| cylindrical metal appliance, used to change | | | | curl in place. For example, in 1906 Charles |
| the structure of the hair by applying heat to | | | | L. Nessler, a German hairdresser working in |
| a lock of hair that has been curled around | | | | London, applied a borax paste and curled hair |
| it. It is natural to think with a modern mind | | | | with an iron to produce the first permanent |
| and assume that the heat is generated by | | | | waves. This costly process took twelve hours. |
| electricity. However, the curling iron goes | | | | Eight years later, Eugene Sutter adapted the |
| way back before the introduction of | | | | method by creating a dryer containing twenty |
| electricity.We only have to look at carvings | | | | heaters to do the job of waving more |
| from the ancient world to see that people | | | | efficiently. Sutter was followed by Gaston |
| cared about the style of their hair and that | | | | Boudou, who modified Sutter's dryer and |
| a popular style involved creating curls. | | | | invented an automatic roller. By 1920, |
| Babylonian and Assyrian men dyed their hair | | | | Rambaud, a Paris beautician, had perfected a |
| and square beards black and crimped and | | | | system of curling and drying permed hair for |
| curled them with curling irons. Persian | | | | softer, looser curls by using an electric |
| nobles also curled their hair and beards, | | | | hot-air dryer, an innovation of the period |
| quite often staining them.Egyptian nobles, | | | | made by the Racine Universal Motor Company of |
| men and women, cropped their hair close but | | | | Racine, Wisconsin. |
| later, for coolness and cleanliness in their | | | | |