A historical look at the hair straightener and hair straightening.
Recently I was watching a few old movies and saw this lady using an old fashioned hair straightener. Now this got me thinking so I decided to look into how the devices for hair straightening have evolved over the years from the heating irons to the present day straighteners like the Sedu ceramic hair straightener. We now take for granted our beloved hair straightener but you wouldn't believe what ladies had to do years ago to keep their hair straight. Hair straightening was not easy and many a head of hair, and scalp, were ruined by some of the early methods.
Brief history
One of the very first implements to straighten hair was called the straightening
comb. There appears to be some confusion about who actually invented it
as this initially was attributed to Madam Walker way back in 1905. However,
this is NOT true. She was responsible for producing many hair care products
and in fact she was the first self made female millionaire in the USA.
Although she did not invent the straightening comb she did popularize
its use amongst black women who she taught how to use the device.
There is much evidence to suggest that straightening combs, hot irons
were available as far back as 1872. And it was around this time a person
called Marcel Grateau (a Parisian) who started using heated rods to straighten
hair. This tool helped straighten the hair and caused less damage than
other hair straightening techniques.
Heated combs were also used throughout the early days. The comb was placed in a special warming device until heated to the right temperature and then pulled through the hair. I've read many a story about these early straighteners and my mom remembers many an hour spent in her kitchen surrounded by the smell of burnt hair and scalp. Thank god for the Sedu ceramic.
Since the 1870's the use of different metals and materials have been tried and tested. Aluminium was used on early straighteners and metal was obviously used along the way too. Nowadays most manufacturers, like Sedu, use ceramic and tourmaline which give great results. I'm sure the next generation of hair straightener will be made from even more weird and wonderful materials. How's about Kryptonite?
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