Permanent wave
concept · 1905 · Electric age
Curls that last for months: in 1905 Karl Nessler heated hair wound on rods with electricity; since the late 1930s perms have been set chemically, without heat.
A short history
Predecessors: Curling iron (1872).
Principles and materials it uses
- Heating element — uses. Nessler's first machines heated the wound strands with electric heaters.
- Hair rollers — uses. The strands are wound on perm rods, which are essentially hair rollers.
History: what it evolved from and what it influenced
- Curling iron — evolved from. A curl from tongs lasted until the next wash; a perm made it last for months.
How important it is
Rank in the importance rating of inventions: 2055 of 2848, score 17.5 out of 100. Direct links to other things: 3; fields of technology it appears in: 1; things built directly on it: 0. Hall of fame of inventions.
Similar things of the same time and field
- Fume hood (1904) — A laboratory extraction cabinet.
- Plastic (1907) — A synthetic mouldable material.
- Bakelite (1907) — The first fully synthetic plastic (Baekeland).
- Chromatography (1903) — Separating mixtures (Tsvet).
- Air separation (1902) — Producing oxygen and nitrogen by liquefaction (Linde).
- Cellophane (1908) — A transparent film made of cellulose (Brandenberger).
What it has in common with other things
- Permanent wave and dewar flask: what they have in common — a link in 6 steps
- Permanent wave and autoclave: what they have in common — a link in 5 steps
- Permanent wave and transformer: what they have in common — a link in 6 steps