There are many stories on the Internet about how, before the invention of the hair dryer, women attached pipes to home stoves, through which warm air rose to the hair, drying it out.
But smoke and soot flew along with the air, and the hair after such a procedure didn’t smell good.
Nobody knows whether it was really so or not, but the appearance of a hair dryer in the 20th century definitely made life easier for many women.
At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, the ideas for the creation of a hair dryer simultaneously appeared in Germany, America, and France.
But history still attributes the invention of the first hair dryer to the French stylist and beauty salon owner Alexander Godefroy. It wasn’t a hair dryer we know now. It was a huge stationary hair dryer.
Imagine you walk in to trim your bangs, and next to the hairdresser’s chair, there is a large engine with four metal pipes pointing straight at you.
However, in 1888, Godefroy installed these bulky devices in his salons, becoming the inventor of the hair dryer.
How Did the Hair Dryer Look Like at the beginning of the XX Century?
Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, German engineers from the Sanitas design bureau in Dortmund created the first “hand-held” hairdryer, which really looked like a hairdryer, not a murder weapon.
Its body and handle were wooden, and the tube from which warm air was blowing was steel. The details of the structure of that hair dryer are unknown, but there is evidence that it worked thanks to the built-in internal combustion engine.
The spiral inside was heated, forming hot air, which exited with a propeller through the tube to the outside.
Despite all the disadvantages, the invention has gained immense popularity. And even a rather high price for that time of 39 marks did not prevent people from the purchase – a trial batch of 2.5 thousand copies was sold out in a couple of weeks.
How Did Different Countries Contribute to the Invention of a Modern Hair Dryer?
Then a “duel” began between engineers from different countries – who will create the best hair dryer.
Germany made an important contribution when its company AEG registered the FOEN trademark in 1908, which means “warm alpine wind.” Only then the device began to be called a hairdryer in large quantities.
The French did not lag behind – in 1926, the CALOR company came up with another version of the hand-held hair dryer, which was much smaller and more accurate than the German one.
The US engineers made their contribution in the 1920s when the production and sale of hair dryers began in the country. Massively hair dryers began to be produced in America in the early 20s.
Already in the 30s, modifications of the hair dryer appeared with adjustable speed and heating. In the 60s, it was fashionable for men to wear long hair, and the popularity of the hair dryer skyrocketed once again.
Today, a standard hair dryer includes housing with an electric motor and a heating element (usually of high heat resistance nichrome) inside. Outside there are only a coil of wire, a power button, and various nozzles that allow the hair dryer to work in several modes.
At the same time, in the 1920s, hair dryers began to be used in beauty salons – the very ones where you need to stick your head.
In the middle of the century, curls were at the peak of fashion – women rolled curlers and then sat for a long time under the “caps” of dryers, forming stable curls. Dryers are still used in hairdressing salons for quick and effective hair drying.
A person who isn’t familiar with hairdressing is unlikely to understand the types of hair dryers, but they are different. A hairdryer with a slotted nozzle for drying and styling hair, a diffuser for gentle drying, and a hairdryer with multiple nozzles are used by stylists.
