The wildest things women have used to style their hair.

For centuries, women have gone to great lengths to have beautiful hair. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way, and today we can look back with a smile and some amazement at the tools women once used for hairstyling.

  • Curling tongs and trimmers (575 BCE–1194 BCE)

    Hair-styling tools were a symbol of wealth among the ancient Egyptians. These devices for curling and cutting hair were made of bronze and even looked somewhat like weapons.
  • Bone comb (5th–8th centuries)
    The people of the ancient Merovingian civilization (in parts of present-day France and Germany) tamed their hair with combs made of bone (hopefully animal bone), and also used patterned scissors and hairpins.
  • Hair hygrometer (1783)
    In 1783, Swiss physicist and geologist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure created the first hair hygrometer. It measures humidity using a human hair.
  • Thermicon hair dryers (1880s)
    These ceramic devices were filled with boiling water and were supposed to dry hair within minutes. It doesn’t sound very convincing, but that’s what the makers claimed.
  • Curling tongs (1891)
    Tongs had been used since ancient times, but only in the late 19th century did curling become truly popular. The electric device pictured heated the curling tongs.

  • Electric hair comb (late 1890s) 

    Inventor Charles Klein created this electric comb made of slightly magnetized iron rods. He claimed the healing powers of magnetotherapy would relieve headaches and prevent baldness.

  • Hair dryers (early 20th century)

  •  Hair-waving machine (1939)

    Used to curl long hair and turn everyday girls into glamorous pin-ups.