Hair dryers and stylers overview: where the wind blows from

I wonder if a modern girl can do without a hairdryer, straightener or curling tongs? And our great-grandmothers could not do without it: they invented all sorts of ways to build curls and other hairstyles. But the men were the inventors of the first styling “gadgets”: they wanted to make women more beautiful.

DANCED ON THE STOVE

In the olden days, hair dryers had special stoves for drying hair. They had a tube on top that widened towards the end, from which warm air was blown, but it was usually mixed with smoke.

The invention of the hair dryer, later to be called the “hair dryer”, dates back to 1900, when it was first produced at the design office of the German company Sanitas in Dortmund. In appearance, it resembled a large tin, to which a steel tube and a wooden handle were attached. The design resembled the shape of a slightly modified watering can. A combustion engine was placed inside the can so that it heated the inner steel spiral and the propeller blew hot air through a tube. Its temperature was 90 ° C, so dry hair had to be at arm’s length, and closer contact could lead to involuntary combustion of hair and burns. It weighed about two kilograms and cost 39 German marks. At that time it was a fortune. To put that in context, a visit to the most luxurious beauty salon cost about two marks. Nevertheless, the first pilot batch of the novelties of the early 20th century in the amount of 2.5 thousand pieces was sold out in a few weeks.

The first hair dryer, despite its design flaws, allowed you to dry your hair in only 5-10 minutes, and it was worth it: at that time washing and drying was quite an important problem, since almost all women wore long hair.

Over the years, the appliance became lighter, more powerful, and over the years, a new range of portable hair dryers was developed. Over the years, the appliance became lighter and more powerful. In the twenties, a hair dryer weighed 850g, and its power was 250 watts. In the thirties – 500 g, and the power was already 550 watts. Of course, today such models look almost invalid.

AND PROGRESS HAS REACHED US

In the USSR it was almost impossible to buy a hair dryer: women who were lucky enough to have a hair dryer brought from abroad. The philosophy of Soviet life did not imply that a woman needed to style and dry her hair every day many families lived in general “from bath to bath,” but Soviet women were both well-groomed and beautiful. In the eighties, in our country there appeared table hair dryers “Aelita” and “Lokon” that looked like a weighty square box with a hole where a weak air flow came out: a shoulder hose was connected to this hole and a cap was put on top. Lokon had only two modes – cold and hot air. In the set of “Aelita” over time began to appear nozzles, combs. And this at a time when Western brands have been producing a wide variety of hair dryers and hair-brushes. By the way, similar models are produced today, but, of course, improved: for example, “Valera 613.The “01” is already 600W, with a soft hood and, moreover, with an ionizer. As the owners say, such a thing is indispensable for applying masks, laminating and curlers.

Many owners of Soviet hair dryers complained that they almost did not dry anything – and no wonder, because their power was about 300 watts. You had to dry your hair while sitting in a certain position, almost without moving: as soon as you tilted your head, the hose would sag in the middle, “break”, and thus cut off the airflow. There was, however, and “advanced” Soviet model – “Mechta”: well-made hair dryer with a set of combs in a handy suitcase.

The early nineties – the time when new models appeared. American hair dryer with a magic name “Fairy” and two attachments – a comb and a clamp for curling curls – easily fit into the bag, but it dried hair very long. Unfortunately, today in our country they practically do not produce styling appliances: our manufacturers, unfortunately, not only cannot compete with the Western brands, which successfully developed technology during the twentieth century, but also do not see the point in this: the product is simply impossible “to spin” in the competitive environment, which we see now in the market of devices for hair.

It is known that the Soviet people in conditions of scarcity showed wonders of ingenuity, in order to make up for the lack of the most common things. So it is not surprising that table-top hair dryers were often used as heaters: the built-in fan heater allows you to warm up the room. There was another paradox: sometimes hair was dried with electric fans and even tried to use ovens: hairdryers were a rarity.

JUST LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS

Historians can’t find the inventor of the curler, but it may have been a collective effort. Over the centuries, curling techniques were refined by trial and error, and sometimes even by hair loss.

The word “curlers” itself comes from the French bigoudi and has no analogues in other languages, but it can be conventionally interpreted as “hair tubes.

Archaeologists say that something similar to a curler appeared thousands of years before Christ. It is believed that it was the ancient Greeks who invented curling. To “fight” with straight hair came various natural materials, in particular wood. Plaster and metal were also used. It was the Greeks of the Mediterranean who pioneered the use of bronze wands to create curls. The prototype of the first curlers was called “calamis”, those were metal rods with round balls and wooden handles. Slaves who could do their masters’ hair were called calamistras, and they enjoyed privileges. Since then, the first hairdressers were called calamistratus from the Latin calamistratus – permed, with curled hair .

Later this method was adopted by the Romans: they heated up iron rods and curled the hair.

But the curls from the first “curlers” lasted a very short time. Greek women tried to secure the unruly curls with wax and similar materials. As a result, the hair got sticky and tangled, lost its shine and simply got damaged, and it took a lot of effort to regain the original beauty and freshness of the hair.

It is known that the ancient tribes of Central Africa, to give shape to the already curly and unruly hair used vines, impregnated with a mixture of a special substance, the manufacture of which was kept secret. And the shape of his hair was long-lasting.

And to this day in some countries in Africa and other parts of the world, where the technological advances and the new lifestyle have not yet reached, such curlers are still in use.

THE GREAT INVENTORS OF THE SECRETS OF ENCHANTMENT

King Louis XVI of France can be considered a pioneer in the art of hairdressing and the originator of new methods of curling hair. He is credited with introducing the fashion for curly wigs. The king was very supportive of hair experimentation. “Calamistras” of the Middle Ages wound the wig strands on wooden sticks and boiled them in a special liquid with lye. Such curls kept their shape on the heads of noble lords even during bathing in pools and taking baths.

Before the advent of classic curlers and curling with the help of electricity ladies used curlers – little cords of cloth or paper, on which the wet strands were wound.

Hot twisting came into vogue in the eighteenth century. At that time hair was even wound on red-hot nails. Wigs have long replaced natural hair for fashionable women it’s a pity to curl your hair on nails, though… ! , but with the advent of electricity came the first thermal curlers – in the form of tubes that were filled with wax and boiled in water. After the waxing of the curlers, the hair was resistant to wear and tear for a long time.

The first curling iron was invented in 1880 by French hairdresser Marcel Grato. He obviously benefited from the expertise of the ancient Greeks! The form of hair twisted by the Grâteau method was called “Marcel’s wave”, and the term “ondulation” caught on with professionals.

This invention became popular only at the end of the nineteenth century, when curling tongs “Marcel” were on sale.

Styling was done on dry hair and required at least two curling tongs. One was heated on a hotplate, while the strands were manipulated with other, already heated strands. The labor-intensive process was very time-consuming and costly to style! Grato’s invention soon took off all over the world, and he opened his own barbershop in downtown Paris and became a millionaire! The technique was popular in big cities like London, Brussels, Vienna, Geneva and St. Petersburg.

But the curled hair waves were short-lived, especially in humid weather.

Soon masters have thought up a permanent perm capable of staying on the head of a young lady for up to six months! The pioneer of this “miracle-action” in 1909 was the German hairdresser Carl Ludwig Nessler, and his method was called “permanent” or “dauerwelle” – literally translated from the German “long wave”. At first he experimented with the hair of his wife, Catharine Larble, but as a result she received a scalp burn and simply went bald.

In those days, women wore their hair very long – at least 50-70 cm long. Nessler’s curling iron looked like a chandelier with brass shafts hanging from it. Nessler’s “permanent wave” offered to first immerse the hair in a chemical solution with ammonium, it was a kind of fixer. The hair soaked in the preparation was wound onto hot rollers that were connected to an electric device invented by a German.

You had to sit under such a “chandelier” for five hours, but the naughty curls and rings, obtained as a result, lasted for several months.

Over time, the innovator has moved to London, where he had no shortage of clients, and even later – in America, where Nessler opened a network of beauty salons.

Nessler’s device was improved over time by other inventors, who this time suggested filling flexible tubes with hot steam and winding the hair soaked in a special solution. The curlers were connected to small pincers with an electric resistance inside. In hairdressing salons, in order to avoid electrocution, clients’ feet were placed on rubber or wooden supports during the procedure. It was still a popular hair curler in the late eighties.

In the mid thirties came the first wireless devices with thermostats, a little later in the U.S. developed the method of cold curling, and then began to apply the combined methods.

But the first curling iron, the electric curling iron, was invented by Eugene Suter from Switzerland. But this was nothing less than the first electric machine for creating curls. Many hairdressing historians now compare it to an instrument of the Inquisition. Eugene’s device also resembled a chandelier. It was a machine that combined an electric heater and metal pipes. By 1940, just about every woman could curl her hair in the latest fashions with one of these curling irons. After the procedure, the curl lasted very long and held its shape even after many washes of the head. The invention became popular, so much so that men also started to use it.

The hairdresser Arnold F. Willatt had developed a formula for a perm lotion. Women would spend up to eight hours soaking their hair in this lotion to get the curls they wanted.

The forerunners of the classic “chemistry” were flannel bags filled with a solution containing sulfates or marble lime. These bags were put on the hair, which had already been curled. The hair was heated electrically from the outside, causing the chemical solution inside to boil. But it was rather dangerous: a ruptured bag could burn the head.

Today, in the twenty-first century, a similar method, oddly enough, is used in beauty salons. This new technology is called the “vellaphormer,” but this time it uses latex bags that are squeezed and turn the hair into curls.

GEOGRAPHY OF MANUFACTURERS

Owners of “decaying” Western industry, had a different view on the needs of consumers than in the Soviet Union. Women need a hair dryer – so we need to produce this equipment, and not by the principle of “build it from what did not fit a tank and an airplane,” but quite consciously – in the name of beauty, convenience, dignity.

GERMANY

The word “hair dryer” has German roots: it comes from the German company Foehn, which produced some of the first appliances for drying hair. Since 1908 according to other sources, since 1920 , the word “hair dryer” itself has been a trademark of

AEG

, The German, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Czech, Latvian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish, French and, of course, American. The first modifications of the Foehn company were named “Breeze” and “Lorelei” – after a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine in Germany near St. Goarshausen and the legendary golden-haired beauty Lorelei, who, according to legend, threw herself from a cliff to save her beloved. Romantic poets were not only inspired by the dramatic fate of Lorelei and her golden hair that “flashed for the last time in the water”, and since then a mermaid girl sometimes appears on a high cliff above the Rhine, brushing her long hair.

The company

Siemens

– the parent company of the group

BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausger&auml te GmbH

– received its first patent for a hair dryer on January 8, 1930. And on May 19, 1979 BSH patented their first hair dryers for home use under the Bosch brand, which has a long history in the hair care sector: It developed from a hair dryer manufacturer to a hair care specialist stylers, straighteners, hair dryers-brushes, etc. . Since 2003, the BSH Personal Care Development Center in Berlin was established as a special project of the BSH.Traunreutte Germany develops and laboratory tests beauty and wellness appliances. According to BSH specialists, beauty should not “demand sacrifice”: shine, elasticity and healthy look of hair are main values. Decisions on what features devices should have are made only after research. For example, it was found necessary to limit the temperature of the plates of styling tongs to 200 ° C, because at 230 ° C and this maximum has many devices on the market in the hair keratin destroys.

THE NETHERLANDS

Philips is celebrating the 50th anniversary this year of its first hair styling appliance, the

Philips HK4100

. With its release

Philips

became the No. 1 hair dryer manufacturer in Europe and the No. 2 hair dryer manufacturer in the world. It was lightweight and had a spacey, stylish design in green and white. The hair dryer had a stand, a hood for quick hair drying, and a diffuser. By the way, in the history of “hair dryer construction”

Philips

One can judge the development of this type of technology in the world in general. All technologies that we now take for granted or even ignore, were once developed. In 1973

Philips

Japan has unveiled its first compact hair dryer with uniform air distribution, as well as a compact hair dryer with three nozzles, allowing not only dry but also style your hair. In 1974, the year the ninth James Bond movie ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ was released, Philips launched the HP4118x James Bond . It was presented in bright orange, had 3 temperature settings and a concentrator nozzle. It was so popular that it was produced until 1982. In 1977 Philips was born, the first Philips traveling hair dryer: a lightweight, compact hair dryer designed to be worn on the shoulder. This year also saw the creation of the first curling iron from

Philips

And the first hair styler with two temperature settings and five nozzles. In 1981 the company introduced a folding hair dryer for traveling, and two years later a semi-professional hair dryer designed for salon-quality results in hairstyling.

In the ’90s, when curls and waves were at their height, the BaByliss,

Philips

BaByliss introduced its first thermal rollers in conjunction with Spoolies, a company that had been making curlers since the 1950s. Made of flexible plastic, they had no internal rod and were so light you could even sleep in them. In 1993 the first hair dryer was created

Philips

, equipped with a cold air mode for the final stages of styling and consolidation of the results. In the same year the first Philips traveling hair dryer was launched, which is as handy for right-handed as it is for left-handed people. The novelty had 5 temperature and 2 speed modes and a cold air mode. Two years later Philips presented a silent hair dryer equipped with a motion sensor so that it would switch off when not in hand – a tribute not only to convenience, but also to energy efficiency. In 2001, was presented styler, equipped with a reservoir of water or styling products, allows you to create long-lasting hair, and in 2005 appeared straightener with a water tank and extra attachments to create a “corrugated” effect on the hair.

FRANCE

The French love their own thing – they love their French charm. Perhaps that’s why the brand is so beloved in this country, and followed by other countries

BaByliss

, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011. Company

BaByliss

was founded in 1961. in Paris, the collaboration of two professionals – Mr. Lelievre, the famous stylist from the rue Émile Zola, who created the first curler, and his companion Mr. Fleblum, who had the idea to start marketing and distributing this novelty through a professional network of retail stores. Consumers have a name

BaByliss

quickly became synonymous with the curling iron. Recognized by professional stylists and consumers, it has become a hallmark of. Also

BaByliss

– is as much a part of a Frenchwoman’s daily routine as the elegant scarf carelessly wound around her neck, like a fresh baguette from your favorite bakery in the morning. All French women, from millionaires to simple doormen or not so simple, like Renee from the novel by M…Barberry “Hedgehog Elegance” , use

BaByliss

, And for 51 years now, “the result is amazing.”.

In 1967, the German brand

Rowenta

, Acclaimed since 1909 for its stationery, smoking implements, lighting and clocks, Rowenta adds a new product for women. The Dryer, an oval hair dryer hood, was an example of the perfect synthesis of form and function. Its success and customers have been aided by its mobile tripod, efficient suspension system and easy storage. Other Brands –

Moulinex

,

Arno

,

Calor

incoming, as well as

Rowenta

currently, in the French alliance

Groupe SEB

, began producing hair care appliances even earlier.

In the millenium the Rowenta brand makes a breakthrough in styling technology. In its range every year appear original devices, allowing not only to dry hair, but also to solve some problem – effectively straighten, for example, and not “iron”, but with a special attachment to the hair dryer, as a hair dryer straightener Lissima, which became a hit of sales in South America. The real “boom” in the beauty industry was the introduction in 2006 of the first hair dryer-brush with automatic rotation of the nozzles – the

Rowenta Brush Activ CF9000

. It was destined to become a bestseller:: because now women don’t have to style their hair with a hair dryer in one hand and a comb in the other. The innovation lies in the combination of two functions: the automatic rotation of the hair styling nozzle and the creation of an air stream for drying

Read the Rowenta Brush Activ hair dryer test

v

in this issue of the magazine – note. editorial

. By the way, as it often happens with a truly original product, its design has been more or less successfully copied by many manufacturers, but until now modifications of Rowenta Brush Activ remain “the most desirable” devices of this kind.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The American company Remington, which traces its history back to 1816, became famous in its day for producing guns as well as the world’s first typewriter with a QWERTY keyboard. Throughout the twentieth century, it also produced grooming appliances – mostly electric razors and clippers. The real coup, however, came in 1994, when Remington acquired the manufacture of small appliances for grooming – in particular for hair care – from Clairol.”. By 1998, sales had declined, and Remington styling products were perceived as attractively priced “copies” of advanced competitors’ devices.

The change began with a market survey. It showed that the producers poorly understood the needs of women, trying to win the hearts of “fashionistas” who were ready to try all the novelties and pay a generous price for them. But only 29% of those surveyed did. The other 71% either had little interest in beauty in general, preferring speed and convenience, or were cautious and unhappy with hair dryers or the look of their hair.

Remington

decided to create a hair dryer for all categories of women – and hit the mark with an innovative hair dryer in 1999

Remington Vortex Jet Speed Hair Dryer.

It dried hair twice as fast as hair dryers of the same power, did not damage the hair and gave it volume by raising it at the roots. For two years, the model has been the most sought-after hair dryer on the American market, ranking first in terms of sales among more than 400 competitor hair dryers. Now they were already making “copies” of this model. On the wave of success experts

Remington

have a different approach to the construction of devices. The brand has evolved into an expert hair care brand with a range of innovative products in the 2000s.