Who Invented the First Rollers for a Perm?

The first perm rods were heat by gas flame.

The perming process was created by a German named Karl Nessler on Oct. 8, 1906. The patent was received in 1909. It took Nessler many years of experimentation to get it right; he destroyed his wife's hair twice during his experiments.

Features

The first perming set included a metal rod, sodium hydroxide to treat the hair and equipment to create a gas flame to heat the rod with. Cylindrical tongs were used to remove rod after 10 minutes of heating.

Bussiness

He hired 500 people and sold tens of thousands of home perm kits by 1927. Nessler sold his patent in 1928 for $1.5 million.

History

Nessler was interned by British authorities in World War I and his business confiscated for being an enemy alien. He escaped and came to America in 1915, where he overtook his competitors, whose perm process was of poor quality.

References

• Echo world: Perm