page_title: Perm (hairstyle)
section_title: Developments after 1930
hierarchical_section_title: Perm (hairstyle) / History / Developments after 1930
caption_attribution_description: English: Wireless permanent-waving machine introduced in 1934 by Icall Limited to satisfy a demand for a machine in which there was no direct connection to electricity when the heaters were applied. Because such heaters started cooling as soon as they were applied to the hair, they were bulkier so as to provide a greater heat sink. Even so, timing had to be longer because of the cooling of the heater and waves tended to be softer.
context_page_description: A permanent hairstyle, commonly called a perm or "permanent", is a hairstyle consisting of styles set into the hair. The hairstyle, although not truly permanent, may last for several months.
  Perms may be applied using thermal or chemical means. In the latter method, chemicals are applied to the hair, which is then wrapped around forms to produce hairstyles. The same process is used for chemical straightening or relaxing, with the hair being flattened instead of curled during the chemical reaction.
context_section_description: By 1930, the process of permanent-waving was well established and its importance can be gauged if one considers that the majority of middle-class women, at a rough estimate, had their hair set once a week and permed perhaps once every three months as new hair replaced the waved hair. Meanwhile, hairdressers sought to improve the process and reduce the work involved; this meant savings at the lower end of the market and yet more women getting their hair permed. This was also stimulated by pictures of the rich and famous, particularly film stars, who all had their hair permed.
  This resulted in many copies of the original equipment being made by reputable firms in some cases with innovations of their own:
  Nestlé. Nessler re-entered the British market under this name, introducing the "Radione" system in which the hair was wound dry and inserted into hollow cellophane tubes sealed at both ends, but contained moistened paper. Also introduced the "oleum" system in which water was replaced by oil.
  MacDonald. A revolutionary system, as it did not use direct electrical heating. Steam was generated in a separate kettle, or later in small individual kettles, the steam being led by tubes to each "heater". Arrangements had to be made to remove the condensed water, but there was no risk of overheating nor of electric shock, but scalding was a risk.
  Gallia originated by J. Metelski, is credited with first moistening the hair with a reagent. which gave better results but made winding more difficult. It was said to be a very fast system.
  Superma originated by Sartory, was a machineless system that relied on the chemical reaction of the contents of a cotton pad, with water. Temperature control was rather more difficult but the method was popular in the United States perhaps because electricity was not used.
  Wella-Rapide was a German system that used croquignole heaters exclusively. A chandelier was not used and for safety worked at a reduced voltage.
  Frigidine was one of the few, apart from Icall, to use a timing mechanism and Bakelite heaters.
  Vapeur Marcel was a French machine based on the same principles as the MacDonald.
  The manner in which reagents worked when applied to the hair and heated, was not only due to the chemicals they contained, but also the effect of the water. Water not only played a part in "steaming" the hair, but there was better heat control, because while there was water, the temperature hardly passed 100 °C. However, this evaporated the water, and it was found that by wrapping the windings with aluminium foil, the hair stayed moist for longer, and also kept the windings upright, facilitating the addition of the heaters.
  A further advance was the use of so-called "sachets", a misnomer, because they were small absorbent pads containing certain chemicals, attached to foil or other waterproof material, such as vegetable parchment. The sachets were placed in water and then wound rapidly round the curlers. These were popular with hairdressers as a labour-saving device, and with manufacturers, as they were only used once and some 20 would be used for a head of hair.
  There were also changes in the equipment. Icall pioneered the use of plastics in hairdressing equipment, specifically a thermosetting plastic, (Bakelite) which was used not only because of its electrical properties in the windings of motors and heaters, but in the outer coverings of the heaters. They were less affected by corrosion and were less likely to burn the fingers of the hairdresser. Icall also used Bakelite for the outer casings of hand-held hair-dryers and also for the large linings of pedestal hair-dryers.
  It can be imagined that at a time when electrical installations were not to today's standards and at one time were not even grounded, the application of electrical windings to wet hair resulted in enough accidents to worry women. Icall developed what was called the "wireless" system, in which the electric lead to the heater was replaced by a cord that took the weight of the heater, and the heater was heated by plugging into a socket in the chandel
caption: A Wireless Permanent-Waving Machine designed by Icall in 1934, in which the heaters were disconnected before applying to the head, known as the "falling-heat" method. The heaters were bulkier so as to store more heat, since they began to cool as soon as applied. The heat was controlled according to the type of hair by a thermostat control.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:07:16 10:06:36", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6289", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1578", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1774"}