Hair dryers were invented in the late 19th century. The first model of these dryers was created by Alexandre F. “Beau” Godefroy in his hair salon in France in 1890. His invention was a large version, accompanied by a seat for the user.
Before the advent of hair dryers, it was common to dry hair with a similar device, a vacuum cleaner. In fact, the first hair dryer model invented by Alexandre Godefroy was inspired by vacuum cleaners. They are so large and heavy that they cannot be carried or held by the hand, but the user has to sit under it.
In 1890, mankind’s first hair dryer was invented by French stylist Alexandre Godefroy. This design of Godefroy’s hair dryer was later widely copied and became icons of hair salons. Many variations of hair dryers also have features such as hot water faucets, heating coils instead of just a single drying cap.
Around 1915, hair dryers began to appear on the market in handheld form. This was due to innovations by a technology company called National Stamping and Electricworks, and later by Racine Universal Motor Company of the United States and Hamilton Beach Co., who came up with innovations that allowed the dryer to be small enough to be able to hold it by hand.
However, the early hand dryers were very heavy and most of all, they were not user-friendly, because if not careful, the user could easily get an electric shock. Therefore, during this time period, most people only use a hair dryer when they go to the hairdresser.
Hair dryers have been continuously improved since their invention.
The bonnet dryer was introduced to consumers in 1951. This type of dryer usually comes in a small portable box, connected to a hose that goes into the bonnet allowing people to put their heads in. inside.
The 1950s also saw the introduction of hard-top hair dryers, the type most commonly found in hair salons at the time. It has a hard plastic helmet that wraps around the user’s head. This type of dryer works similarly to the bonnet dryers of the 1950s but at a much higher capacity.
There was a time when washing your hair was considered a perfectly acceptable reason to turn down someone’s invitation to go out, because it takes so much time to dry your hair after washing it. The first patent for a hair dryer was granted in 1911. Lighter models of dryers were subsequently introduced, but they all had problems such as weight, blowing out hot air and It also poses a risk of electric shock to the user.
In fact, the principle of the hair dryer has not undergone any major changes since its inception. An important improvement direction is to change the material from metal to plastic to reduce the weight of the machine.
Most hair dryers use a coil of wire with a large resistance to generate a lot of heat and quickly when an electric current flows through. A fan will guide the surrounding air through the heating coil, thereby heating the air and this hot air will be blown into the hair to dry the hair. The electrical heating element in most hair dryers is a bare nickel coil wound around an insulating mica rod. Nichrome is used as a heating element because it has both high resistivity and does not oxidize when heated.
Source: Earthlymission; Rarehistoricalphotos