A curling iron is a small tool used for creating waves or curls. Is this tool an original invention or is it a modern equipment? A lot of inventors claim that they are the inventors of a tool when all they did was modify the original designs with the help of technological advancements.
The use of irons to create curls dates back to ancient times. From history books Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians are depicted with curls on their heads and their beards. In Egypt it was the custom that the nobility shave their heads due to the hot climate. During ceremonial events, they wore wigs which can be short or long and straight or curly. Hairdressing was popular in Rome the nobles and upper classes sported curls piled on the head around wire frames. In the 18th century, there was an emergence of wigs and big coiffures highly decorated with curls. What is common with these people is the use of some kind of iron which they heated over an open flame to curl natural hair, wigs, or beards. Evidence of this is found in hieroglyphics, paintings, and other historical documents.
The early curling iron was problematic. Controlling the temperature was tricky so that many irons users were burned or had their hair singed by the process. With the realization that the curling iron is a valuable beauty enhancement tool many persons in history attempted to modernize the tool. Nobody really ever knows who or when the modern iron was modernized however here is a list of notable persons in history who are thought to have contributed to the advancement of this tool.
In 1866 the inventor Hiram Maxim filed a patent for improving the design of the curling iron, he was only 26.
Back in 1870, two stylists named Maurice Lentheric and Marcel Grateau applied hot air drying and a set of curling tongs to popularized the Marcel Waves.
Then in the year 1906 Charles Nesslar, a hairdresser placed borax paste to the hair then used an iron to permanently put the curls into place. But due to the lack of modern technology, this process usually took twelve hours to finish. Because of this, people never really got to patronizing this method.
After that in 1914, a man named Eugene Sutter created a dryer that had 20 heaters and adapted Nesslar’s method to make the hair curling process more efficient. Later the name Gaston Boudou became known when he modifying Sutter’s work by adding rollers that run automatically.
Finally in 1946 Jessie T. Pope invented the thermostatically controlled curling iron and patented it with help from Eleanor Roosevelt.
From these came beauty and beauty product companies came up with their own modification adding features here and there. With such extensive use and modification it certain that the curling iron is the foundation of all styling tools found in the market today.