1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy, did you know 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,159 Speaker 1: that nineteen eighties hair aesthetics are back? I did not 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: know this. I have. I stumbled across it. I didn't 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: seek it out, but I discovered on TikTok a number 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: of young people, like in their teens and twenties seeking 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: out hairstylists who were working in the eighties so they 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: can get an authentic eighties style perm. Okay with the 10 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: flufy banks. We lived through it. It wasn't all great, 11 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: but I kind of love that it's come back because 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,480 Speaker 1: we say lived through it. I mean specifically I had. 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: I had the terrible eighties perm with the poofy banks. 14 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: I did too. It was awful. It didn't look goost 15 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: really bad. We can talk about it more on Friday, Yeah, 16 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,959 Speaker 1: for sure. So it got me to thinking because I 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,559 Speaker 1: was like, just the fact that permanent waves are coming 18 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: back in in general, even if you're not doing an 19 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: eighties style as a salon service that people will book. 20 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: Because we've talked on the show before that I used 21 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: to work in hair salons, and that was not a 22 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,839 Speaker 1: very common request going on at that point in time. 23 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: So it's interesting to me that they're back so much. 24 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: So I thought we would talk about particularly one man's 25 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: work in that field, and he's usually credited with inventing 26 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: permanent waves, as Charles Nessler. I also want to make 27 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: sure we acknowledge upfront we are talking about perms on 28 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: white people hair. Yeah, this is pretty much all I 29 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: will mention very briefly. Laid on a sorting technique that 30 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: Nessler invented that he's like for all types of hair, 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: but it's not it involves white people. Yeah, it did 32 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: not involve you know, any people of color that sometimes 33 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: have different textures of hair. Certainly did not involve you know, 34 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: any black people, anyone from Asia. It was white people, right, 35 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: So just going into this, know that that is the 36 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: caveat to the whole thing, is that we are literally 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: talking about like white Eurocentric style and hair care. Yeah. Yeah, 38 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: In the early decades of the twentieth century, there were 39 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: a lot of innovations in the world of beauty technology. 40 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,959 Speaker 1: People have been finding ways to beautify themselves for all 41 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: of recorded history, obviously, and we have talked about cosmetics 42 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: in history many times, also talked about hair care, fashion, 43 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. The man credited with really shifting 44 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: the landscape of beauty treatments in the early twentieth century 45 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: is Carl Nessler, who's actually known by a couple of 46 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: other names. He is sometimes recorded as Charles Nesley, but 47 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: most frequently is named in articles and on a book 48 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: that he authored under the more anglicized name of Charles Nessler. 49 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: We will talk about these varied names as we go 50 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: through his story. Yeah, since Charles Nesler became what he 51 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: used in his personal life, and we'll talk about that, 52 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: that's what we're using for the most part here. So. 53 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,359 Speaker 1: Nessler was born in eighteen seventy two in todd Noow, Germany, 54 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: which was and is a small town in the Black Forest. 55 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: His father, Bartolomeus Nessler, was a shoemaker and his mother 56 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: was Rossina Leitner Nessler. According to Nessler's account of his life, 57 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: he was fascinated with hair from a very young age, 58 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: and with curls in particular. His father was bald, and 59 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: his mother and siblings all had lots of hair, which 60 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: sparked his curiosity, and he wondered why his one family 61 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,839 Speaker 1: could have so much variety in their hair texture and type. Yes, 62 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,119 Speaker 1: some of them had straight hair and some of them 63 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: had curly hair, and later he told reporters that they 64 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: would argue over which one was superior, and they would 65 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: make Carl judge. He became really fascinated with curls while 66 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: doing shepherding jobs while he was young. He noticed that 67 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: the wooly hair of sheep was always curly, unlike a 68 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: lot of human hair. He had seen that people with 69 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: straight hair could curl it, but that effect would wear 70 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: off as it drooped over time or when the hair 71 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 1: got wet. So he was thinking, again, according to his 72 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: own account, about whether there was some way to permanently 73 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: curl the hair. From the time he was quite young, 74 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: he said to have collected hair samples as a kid, 75 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: taking them from the local barbershop yeah, and presumably also 76 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: from his siblings, who reportedly also had all both boys 77 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: and girls had very long hair. Following on that fascination, 78 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: he eventually got an apprenticeship with the barber in far Now, 79 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: and after studying there for a while, he moved on 80 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: to study with other barbers and barber surgeons in Basa, Milan, 81 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,160 Speaker 1: and Geneva. He worked for a while as a barber 82 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,679 Speaker 1: surgeon in Switzerland, and he performed all of the jobs 83 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: that went along with that role, including minor surgeries and 84 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: tooth extractions. He also would later tell a story that 85 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: was pretty fascinating that we'll share behind the scenes. But 86 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: most importantly, he got a lot of experience with hair, 87 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: and this is when he first started using the name Nesle, 88 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: which looks like Nesle to us in the US, allegedly 89 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: to sound a little bit French and blend in better 90 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: in Switzerland. Nessler moved to London at the end of 91 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, and it was somewhere during this time 92 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: that he started going by Charles instead of Carl. First, 93 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: he got a job as a receptionist in a hair salon, 94 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: and when he wasn't seeing clients, he kept himself busy 95 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: working on an idea for a false eyelash, and then 96 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: he moved on to trying to figure out how to 97 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: permanently curl hair. Around this same time, Nessler, who was 98 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: age thirty, decided that it was time to start a family, 99 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 1: and he is said to have put an ad in 100 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,799 Speaker 1: the personal section of the paper that supposedly read man 101 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: with nothing would like to meet a girl with a 102 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: little capital. According to his account, twenty nine women responded, 103 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: but one of them, Katerina Libel, happened to also be 104 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: from the same area of Germany as him, and the 105 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: two of them hit it off. They married seven months 106 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: after they met, and they were happily married for the 107 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: rest of their lives. They had four children together, two 108 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: sons and two daughters. Nineteen oh two was when Nessler 109 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: got his first patent for an invention he called a 110 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,840 Speaker 1: new or Improved method of and means for the manufacture 111 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: of artificial eyebrows, eyelashes, and the like. The description of 112 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: that invention read quote. Short loops of hair or other 113 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: material are threaded over a hair and secured by twisting 114 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: two other hairs round them by the appliance shown in 115 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: Figure one. This consists of standards with hooks for holding 116 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: the hair, and two hooks carried by an arm on 117 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: a spindle which is turned by a hand wheel to 118 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: twist the threads or hairs. This material may be used 119 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: as an artificial eyelash, or maybe used as a foundation 120 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: material for artificial eyebrows, wigs, fringes, et cetera, by twisting 121 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: and nodding it to the shape desired. This was the 122 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: first of many patents that Nessler would hold. I love 123 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: that He's like early on, like, you know what, we 124 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: need to make a machine that will make false eyelashes. 125 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: One thing that is in this patent that appears in 126 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: a lot of his is it unlike some of the 127 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: patents we've talked about on the show, where it's like 128 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: they're patenting one tiny part of a process or one machine. 129 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: He's looping it all together in one big patent, which 130 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: is interesting. Also, in the early nineteen hundreds, Nessler was 131 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 1: asked by a lawyer to serve as an expert witness 132 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: on matters of hair in a case. And this wasn't 133 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: because Nessler had any name recognition at that point. That 134 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: lawyer had merely walked into the salon where he worked 135 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: looking for someone willing to take on this job. Who's like, 136 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: I need a witness who can do this, And he 137 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: talked to Nesler and was like, you'll do. As a 138 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: consequence of the exposure that this case brought him, Nessler 139 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: actually became in demand. He had a big bump in 140 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: business and people started showing up at his job and 141 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: asking for false eyelashes, and after selling out his initial 142 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: run of eyelashes, he realized that he just needed to 143 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: open his own shop. He was very successful in this 144 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: business and he rapidly made a small fortune. In nineteen 145 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: oh six, Nessler gave his first lecture about curly hair 146 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 1: and his theories about it. That was to an audience 147 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,559 Speaker 1: of European professional hair stylists. People had been using water 148 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: to set their hair in curlers of some type for centuries, 149 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: and when the hair dried, the curlers were removed and 150 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:59,199 Speaker 1: this hair would be curly, but only temporarily. Nessler wanted 151 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: to capture that curl in the wet stage and make 152 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: it permanent, and his solution to the problem was to 153 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: bake alkali into it, and he had designed a machine 154 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 1: to do that. You have seen pictures of this machine. 155 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: It looks like a big sea creature looking attraption with 156 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: wires that hang from the ceiling or like a chandelier 157 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: kind of apparatus, and they go to every single curler 158 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:24,679 Speaker 1: on a set head of hair. So that if you've 159 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: seen those pictures, that was Nestler's or one of the 160 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: many copycats that sprang up. Those curlers were made of bronze. 161 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: I read one report that said each of them weighed 162 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: a kilo, which seems so much, and that they were 163 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: counterweighted in that chandelier apparatus. And those curlers could be 164 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: heated electrically or by gas. Apparently some of his early 165 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: attempts used gas as the heating mechanism, and he was 166 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: essentially boiling each curl on the curler with his alkali 167 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: solution to set it permanently. Nessler demonstrated the first permanent 168 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: wave in front of a full audience at his salon 169 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: on Oxford Street on a volunteer he knew well, which 170 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: was his wife, Katerina. She'd been his test subject on 171 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: previous tries with this process and had gotten some hair 172 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: and scalp damage before things were all worked out. Both 173 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: the heat and the chemicals could and did cause burns, 174 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: so she sat for what was the public premiere of 175 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: the permanent wave and let the assembled crowd watch as 176 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: her husband transformed her straight hair into curls. Most of 177 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: the assembled hair professionals were pretty dubious of Nessler's invention. Yeah, 178 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: we should also mention this took hours and hours. I've 179 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: seen different numbers of hours mentioned everything from four to ten, 180 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: but in any case, it was a lot of time. 181 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: It's even longer than a permanent eighties. Right, coming up, 182 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how challenging it was to 183 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: convince consumers to adopt the permanent wave. But first we'll 184 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: have a quick sponsor break. One of the hurdles that 185 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: Nessler faced in bringing his process to the masses was 186 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: putting potential customers minds at ease about it. Remember this 187 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 1: was the early twentieth century, so it was coming off 188 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: of decades where women largely just let their hair grow 189 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: and grow and then would put it up into buns. 190 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: The idea of a chemical treatment was frightening for a 191 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: lot of people. It still is for a lot of people. 192 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: But Nessler promised in his advertising that his process would 193 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: produce a quote soft, wavy mass and never quote a 194 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: frows or a flute. There really was already a strong 195 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: desire and a lot of places around the world for 196 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: people to have a way to permanently curl straight hair. 197 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,479 Speaker 1: A story that ran in a variety of Australian newspapers 198 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: in the summer of nineteen oh nine, which was the 199 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 1: same year, Nessler patented the permanent Wave mentioned that children 200 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: who had been treated for ringworm with X rays had 201 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: then started growing curly hair when they previously had straight hair. 202 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:14,320 Speaker 1: Then questions started rolling into the papers after that initial 203 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: report from women who wondered if they could get curly 204 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: hair that way. An X ray specialist named Harry W. 205 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,200 Speaker 1: Cox of London was consulted and his response was quote, 206 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: there seems to be no reason why that not be done, 207 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: provided the lady is willing to become entirely bald for 208 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: a time. The X ray is the speediest depilatory known, 209 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: and I suppose the fact that the fresh hair is 210 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: curly has something to do with the action of the 211 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: rays on the scalp. Today, we know that a big 212 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,719 Speaker 1: determiner of whether hair is curly or straight is the 213 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: shape of the hair follicle. Symmetrical follicles that lie perpendicular 214 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: to the skin generally produce straight hair, and follicles that 215 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: sit at an angle to the skin are asymmetrical and 216 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: curved those produce curly hair. Treatments like chemotherapy and radiation 217 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: can alter hair follicles, which is why sometimes when people 218 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: go through chemo and they finish it, their hair goes 219 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: back curly. Yeah, they get what's called chemo curls. Also 220 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: for clarity, like, it's worth noting X rays had not 221 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: been around that long at this point in time. Uh, 222 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: and they were not as as well understood, and they 223 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: were usually a lot more dangerous in terms of exposure 224 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: than they would be today. I'm like, which episode did 225 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: we talk about the X ray historyan, because it was uh, yeah, 226 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: there was some scary stuff, especially in the early years. Yeah. 227 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: So to me, the idea that kids got X rays 228 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,319 Speaker 1: for ringworm that were strong enough that it changed their 229 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: hair structure, I'm like, yike, yikes. So this also ties 230 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:55,680 Speaker 1: into the other problem that Nessler had in the early 231 00:13:55,760 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: days of offering permanent waves. The word permanent gay some 232 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: clients the impression that after having the service done, their 233 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: hair would be curly forever, and Nessler had to educate 234 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: his customers that new growth would not be curly. He 235 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: was only able to change the texture of the hair 236 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: on their head at the time of service. He also 237 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: told a story to press about a pregnant client who 238 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: had a permanent wave service performed and then was angry 239 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: at him when her baby was born with straight hair. 240 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: On the one hand, that sounds like a fanciful story, 241 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: and on the other people do sometimes come up with 242 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: rather wild ideas. I could talk about some of my 243 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: experiences in behind the scenes. Though he had those hurdles, 244 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: people really really did want curls, and Nessler became so 245 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: well known and so good at them that he was 246 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: often called away from London to do the hair of 247 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: various royals of Europe. In nineteen fifteen, Nessler patented the 248 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: artificial eyelash and a process for applying it. This involves 249 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: curling each eyelash hair into and then applying a strip 250 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: of mink to the lash base to create the illusion 251 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: of a full lash. That same year he left London 252 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: and moved to the United States, and this was precipitated 253 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: by World War One, which had left him without many 254 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: clients and without income. Some accounts suggest that he may 255 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: have been jailed in Britain because he was German. It's 256 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: a little unclear. I didn't find verification on that. He 257 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: did seem to get out of Great Britain in a 258 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: hurry and with very little to his name. When Nessler 259 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: moved to New York City, he carried with him only 260 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: one thousand dollars and his patents for his permanent wave 261 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: and his false eyelashes and one thousand dollars, to be clear, 262 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: was no small sum in nineteen fifteen, but he had 263 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: been successful enough in his business that this would have 264 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: been a pretty small slice of his financial worth, so 265 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: it does seem likely that his assets may have been seized. 266 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: He found out when he got to the US that 267 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: there were people already making their own versions of his 268 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: permanent wave machine in the US and selling them, and 269 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: he was also told that there were only three hairdressers 270 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: in the entire country that made enough money to pay 271 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: income tax. His first shop in New York was on 272 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: West forty sixth Street, and the first day he was 273 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: open reported sixty two clients showed up thanks to his 274 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: reputation abroad and an ad he had taken out in 275 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: the New York Times, but all of them were too 276 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: fearful of his permanent wave machine to actually have Nessler 277 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: do their hair, so he used his contacts to get 278 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: a client from London who happened to be in the 279 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: city come in for a free perm As words spread 280 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: that his machine was in use, a crowd gathered and 281 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 1: By the end of the process, which took several hours, 282 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 1: he had clients actually booking appointments. Yeah, this is the 283 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: case where the length of the process probably helped him, 284 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: because there was time for the word to spread that 285 00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:00,120 Speaker 1: he's like very obviously doing this in his shop, and 286 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: you could see it through the window and we could 287 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: all go. Look. His business after that grew, and it 288 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 1: grew really quickly. Before long he had a reported one 289 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: hundred employees in another shop at six fifty seven Fifth 290 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,119 Speaker 1: Avenue that was catering to upscale patrons. He seems to 291 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:20,360 Speaker 1: have been a well liked boss. People called him Father Nesle. 292 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 1: He offered things like company picnics and fancy dinners for 293 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: his staff each year, and according to a nineteen thirty 294 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: three New Yorker article, he distributed thirty five thousand dollars 295 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: in holiday bonuses each year, just a lot. He was 296 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 1: obviously making a lot of money. His permanent wave service 297 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: cost a whopping one hundred and twenty dollars. While currency 298 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: inflation calculators aren't always all that reliable, Just for the 299 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: sake of a sense of how expensive this was, in 300 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, it would be more than about three 301 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,879 Speaker 1: thousand dollars probably, although that was a huge sum of 302 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: money even for the wealthy. He attracts at a regular 303 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: clients hell who he fed as well as styled. One 304 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: of his most famous patrons was Edith Wilson, known publicly 305 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: as Missus Woodrow Wilson. His business grew so quickly that 306 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,680 Speaker 1: he wasn't performing any services himself in just a couple 307 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: of years, but he was greeting all the clients and 308 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: chatting with them as he glided through the salon during 309 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: their service. Yeah, apparently he would sometimes just show up 310 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: with this tray of Sandwiches'd be like, I've brought your 311 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: snack during your perm which I love this idea of 312 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: feeding his clients a beautiful lunch while they sit there. 313 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,719 Speaker 1: He also founded the Nesley Patent Holding Company, although he 314 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 1: was still going by Nessler in his personal life. He 315 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: maintained the name Charles Nesley for his business affairs, and 316 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 1: then he started opening additional shops around New York and 317 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: then spreading throughout the country in a chain. By the 318 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, the permanent Wave had become wildly pops in 319 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: North America, and demand for the process was so great 320 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: that the beauty industry really exploded. Shops were popping up 321 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: everywhere to meet the increased interest of the public, and 322 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: that in turn led to two things, knockoffs of Nessler's 323 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: machine and a raft of other inventions to offer various 324 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 1: beauty treatments to customers. Like we've made it clear that 325 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: he was really focused on white people's hair, but like 326 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: this did include people making permanent wave machines specifically for 327 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,439 Speaker 1: the needs of black women's hair. As part of this 328 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: whole wave of invention, there was an entire new industry 329 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: born in the early nineteen teens. It was not as 330 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: though people had never specialized in hair care as a 331 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,920 Speaker 1: professional service. We've talked, for example, about Leonard Autier, who 332 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: was hairdresser to Marie Antoinette. But this was a massive 333 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: change in how people thought about it. Suddenly there were 334 00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: entirely new prospects for both professionals and consumers. And of 335 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,200 Speaker 1: course this also gets tangled up in twentieth century beauty standards, 336 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,159 Speaker 1: and it is a self feeding loop. As more people 337 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,119 Speaker 1: of a wider range of socioeconomic classes gained access to 338 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: new treatments and styling, those treatments became popular, and they 339 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: supported and grew a whole new industry, which then kept 340 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: offering new treatments and upkeep plans to keep revenue coming in. 341 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: And part of marketing to people and especially women well 342 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: before this and also booming during this time, was suggesting 343 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: that if they did not seek out beauty treatments, they 344 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: would not look right or appealing. So this is obviously 345 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,880 Speaker 1: an ugly cycle. On the upside, though, a whole new 346 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: level of industry offered new opportunities both to companies and 347 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: to the workforce. According to a Time magazine article published 348 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one, in nineteen oh eight, before the 349 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 1: permanent wave was patented, there were approximately three thousand beauty 350 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: salons in the United States. In nineteen fifty one, there 351 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: were one hundred and twenty seven thousand of them, and 352 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 1: all of them needed a full array of furniture and 353 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: equipment and professionals to use that equipment, and estimated three 354 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand people staffed these salons, and income 355 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: for stylists could be more than one hundred dollars a week. 356 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 1: That sounds really small now, but that was way above 357 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: average at the time. There are some interesting additional statistics 358 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: that are shared in that writeup. Average visits in nineteen 359 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: fifty one ran more than five dollars and three million, 360 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty thousand women in the US visited 361 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:39,640 Speaker 1: salons each year, and to keep those customers, salons began 362 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,360 Speaker 1: to offer a wider and wider array of services, including 363 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: things like massage, manicures, pedicures, false eyelash application, makeup application, 364 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: et cetera. In nineteen twenty seven, Yvonne Loan of Los 365 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: Angeles got her first permanent wave and was touted US 366 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: holding a record because of it. She was the youngest 367 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: person to ever have had one, at the age of 368 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,120 Speaker 1: eighteen months. Yeah, that record may have been broken since then, 369 00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:08,960 Speaker 1: but at the time it was kind of a big deal. 370 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: Nineteen twenty eight was a big year in Nessler's story, 371 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: and we'll talk about his dicey book that came out 372 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,800 Speaker 1: that year after we hear from the sponsors that keep 373 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: the show going. Nineteen twenty eight was a busy year 374 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 1: for Charles Nessler. His book The Story of Hair, Its 375 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: Purpose and Preservation published that year, and it is not 376 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: exactly what you might expect in a book about hair. 377 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 1: Nesler lets the reader know this isn't just going to 378 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: be about coiffure. In the preface writing quote Between the 379 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,879 Speaker 1: day when I began to learn at firsthand about the 380 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: phenomena of human hair and the time in which I 381 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: have been writing this book, many things have happened in 382 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 1: my chosen field of research. Indeed, many of these things 383 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,960 Speaker 1: I have helped to happen. The physical and mental sciences 384 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: have been my aids, and the new viewpoints on the 385 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,439 Speaker 1: subject of human hair which I set forth here have 386 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:14,120 Speaker 1: been the result of the combination of scientific and psychological study. 387 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh five I brought forth my invention of 388 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 1: the permanent way. Twenty years later came still another and 389 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:25,640 Speaker 1: vastly more important discovery, that of classification of hair according 390 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: to texture. So so far that seems fairly normal and interesting, 391 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,439 Speaker 1: But the next couple of paragraphs hints at some of 392 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: the problems to come. Quote. For years, in many countries 393 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: and among many classes of people, I have sought the 394 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: truth about human hair. I have been on terms of 395 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:51,720 Speaker 1: intimacy in every stratum of society. I have visited innumerable institutions, hospitals, orphanages, prisons, schools, 396 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:55,919 Speaker 1: and factories, studying the relationship between the individuals. I have 397 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: found and the hair on their heads. With the passage 398 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: of years, observations became theories, and theories verified themselves until 399 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: they became conclusions. My hair research left the field of 400 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: science and entered the realm of psychology. Okay, so that 401 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: slightly eyebrow raising that Tracy just read really sets up 402 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,719 Speaker 1: the meat of his book, which is filled with concepts 403 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 1: that he claims to have worked out logically. He talks, 404 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,200 Speaker 1: for example, a lot about evolution in the book, although 405 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: as much as he talks about science, he seems to 406 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: be working exclusively from his own conclusions and not referring 407 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: to the work of evolutionary scientists. He has an entire 408 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: chapter on the body hair that people usually begin to 409 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: grow during adolescence as part of their secondary sex characteristics, 410 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: But instead of treating this whole discussion in a scientific way, 411 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: he introduces a character named Gonad, who he describes as quote, 412 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: a messenger of uncertain purpose. He turns out to be 413 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: a troublemaker and a peace to He goes on, quote 414 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: Gonad has an important task and he means to do 415 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:08,439 Speaker 1: it in an artistic way. So obviously this is a 416 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: weird book. I don't know any other way to describe it. 417 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,919 Speaker 1: He also makes a lot of bold and flatly incorrect 418 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 1: claims in this chapter about sexuality and hair, and about 419 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,160 Speaker 1: how older women trick men into marrying them by appearing younger, 420 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: which Nessler says is reducing the human race. He also 421 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: talks about how some races have lower sex drives than others, 422 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: and how men with beards are the ones who sustain 423 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: the human race. There's a lot of nonsense. He also 424 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: states a lot of falsehoods about various cultures as though 425 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,640 Speaker 1: they are objective truths, and a lot of them are 426 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: gross and bigoted and demonstrably untrue. This book also has 427 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: a chapter called hair and Obesity, which is also full 428 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: of falsehoods that are stated as fact, like he believed 429 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: that so called weak hair was somehow connected to obesity. 430 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: He notes that different people have different dietary needs and 431 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 1: that it can be difficult to find the right balance, 432 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 1: but he also makes a lot of really demeaning statements 433 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: about people's weight. He suggests that every person who in 434 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 1: his mind, was carrying extra weight was more comfortable blaming 435 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: anything but their diet for adding these pounds. He does 436 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: also put forth that this is a cultural problem where 437 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: humans have become accustomed to pleasing their palettes instead of 438 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,679 Speaker 1: just listening to their instincts. When it comes to selecting food, 439 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: he seems to think a little adversity will keep a 440 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: person's hair healthier. This is a weird, weird chapter on 441 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: its own, but especially so in the context of a 442 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: book about hair. It starts to feel like Nessler kind 443 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,120 Speaker 1: of wanted a way to justify fat shaming by claiming 444 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,360 Speaker 1: this was all part of his scientific observation. There are 445 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,360 Speaker 1: so many more bad takes in this book. There's one 446 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: that reads, quote, the weak haared child will remain all 447 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:10,240 Speaker 1: its life weak in ambition what And there's a whole 448 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: chapter about child rearing that is set up with the 449 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: conceit that if children came with manuals, that chapter is 450 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: the manual, right down to calling the child the machine throughout. 451 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,600 Speaker 1: Usually when I read a book like this for the show, 452 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: I'll be like, it's an interesting read, even if you 453 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: don't agree with it, And I'm like, maybe, don't even 454 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: bother with this one. In the final chapter, almost like 455 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: a grand finale, he talks about the permanent wave. He 456 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,200 Speaker 1: explains the theory in the science behind his permanent wave. 457 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 1: If you curl damp hair and let it dry. It 458 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: will retain the curl until it gets wet again. So 459 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 1: Nessler explains his way to capture that curl effect in 460 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: a more permanent way. As he explains, quote briefly, the 461 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: application of a permanent wave consists of boiling the hair 462 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: in an alcaloil solution while it is tightly wound on 463 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: a curling rod. There is no solution in existence which 464 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,200 Speaker 1: can be used equally for all hair, since all hair 465 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: is not alike. He goes on to explain that hair 466 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: that is naturally very porous will take up the perm 467 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,399 Speaker 1: solution more quickly, which sounds like a benefit, but that 468 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: it's also more prone to breakage. He describes this system 469 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: that he developed in nineteen twenty six to classify hair 470 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: by its porosity into ten groups, called the Textometer. A 471 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 1: couple of caveats to this, though, Nessler warns that hair 472 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: that has been chemically treated with dyes can be difficult 473 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: to classify. Also, as Holly set up at the top 474 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: of the show, this classification system was really only applied 475 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: to the hair of white people. Yeah, he's so close 476 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: where He's like, Hey, different textures have different needs, but 477 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: then he's like, no, no, I'm just talking about the 478 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: white ladies in my clientele. Even the New Yorker and 479 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: a pretty flattering piece about Sessler, written five years after 480 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: this book was published, calls it quote a rambling philosophic 481 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: treatise on the relationship of hair to health, virility, character, 482 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: and morals. And as for Nessler's scientific street cred that 483 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: same write up states quote, in scientific circles he is 484 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: regarded as at least interesting. Some of his ideas are 485 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 1: regarded with cold suspicion, even misgiving. Also in nineteen twenty eight, 486 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: Nessler was embroiled in a legal battle with the Lemour 487 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: Company over patent infringement. Lamurr was based out of Cleveland 488 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: and had made copies of Nessler's permanent wave machines and 489 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: other products. As the litigation mounted, la Murrer offered to 490 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: buy Nessler out for a million dollars cash plus stock. 491 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: Nessler sold Nesley to Lemore, and the newly merged firms 492 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: became Nesley Lemurr Company. Initially, Nessler took that cash and 493 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: he seemed to kind of retire, at least from actively 494 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,239 Speaker 1: taking clients. He was still tinkering in his lab on 495 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: various projects. He kept that lab in the city, but 496 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: then his home was a huge estate in New Jersey. 497 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: But he lost a lot of his fortune in the 498 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine stock market crash, and he was spurred 499 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: to try to invent new hair care processes and technologies 500 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: to bring in additional money. In the nineteen thirties, the 501 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: cold wave was introduced. No longer did a customer have 502 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: to be hooked up to a machine that ran current 503 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: to their setting curls. Once the cold wave was invented, 504 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,400 Speaker 1: it wasn't long before the home permanent was brought to market. 505 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,959 Speaker 1: The home perm quickly gained popularity, and women even formed 506 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: clubs and groups where they would perm each other's hair 507 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,120 Speaker 1: instead of going to the salon to save money. There 508 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: are reports that I read that said that Nessler introduced 509 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: a home perm years and years and years before this, 510 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: But I'm like, but how, because cold perms weren't invented yet, 511 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: and I could never find out what exactly was going 512 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: on there. So this rise in popularity of home perms 513 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,720 Speaker 1: caused such a wave of concern in the salon world 514 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,720 Speaker 1: that the beauty industry actually lobbied lawmakers in the hopes 515 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: of making home perms illegal. That did not work, but 516 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: there was soon a pivot because when it became apparent 517 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: that a lot of people getting home perms ended up 518 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: with damaged hair and permanent curls that did not look 519 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 1: like what they expected or wanted, the beauty industry seized 520 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: the opportunity to book corrective treatments. That same idea of 521 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: corrective services was soon also offered for hair color when 522 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: it became available for home application. In nineteen forty eight, 523 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: US beauty shops had gross sales of one point two 524 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: billion dollars, which, according to a Life magazine article from 525 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, was just a little shy of the 526 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:56,440 Speaker 1: money made by movie theaters. The magazine gave Nessler credit 527 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: for ushering in the new era of beauty shops and 528 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: what they offered, noting specifically the permanent wave, but also 529 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: alluding to the culture of beauty shops being a place 530 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: that quote transformed the social life of women, giving them 531 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: a club where they could read fashion magazines, bear their 532 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,719 Speaker 1: souls to sympathetic hairdressers, and pick up fascinating gossip about 533 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: other bared souls. In nineteen forty nine, the American Women's 534 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: Voluntary Services honored Nessler, noting that he had created jobs 535 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: for a lot of women in the beauty industry under 536 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: the award's umbrella language of enhancing the quote economic, cultural, 537 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 1: and social prestige of women to contextualize this award. This 538 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: was the same year that organization under that same umbrella 539 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: recognized Vassar's president and Helen Keller with awards. In the 540 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: nineteen forties. Nessler wanted to keep innovating, but he went 541 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 1: down a lot of paths that were costly and unsuccessful. 542 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: One of these was a massaging machine he invented, which 543 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 1: promised to keep the skin looking youthful. Nessler died of 544 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 1: a heart attack in January nineteen fifty one at the 545 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,479 Speaker 1: age of seventy eight. He was in his home in 546 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,000 Speaker 1: New Jersey when it happened. The year before he died, 547 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 1: and estimated sixty eight million people in the United States 548 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 1: had permanent wave services. In his career, he had invented 549 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: combs for giving temporary waves, a baldness remedy, and a 550 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: treatment to add curl to the hair of babies, among others. Yeah, 551 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: we didn't get into all his patents, but it's a 552 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,719 Speaker 1: lot of them which is why we didn't get into them. 553 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 1: It was just like one hair thing after another. He 554 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:43,080 Speaker 1: did a lot of beauty treatments. He didn't ever really 555 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: remake his fortune, unfortunately. But that is Charles Nessler, who 556 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: is another one that I just find completely engaging. I 557 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: have another listener mail about Olympic sports. People love the Olympics. 558 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,920 Speaker 1: This is from our listener Laura that writes, Hi, Tracy 559 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: and Holly, I love your show and I really love 560 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 1: the recent episode on Olympic sports no longer in the Olympics. 561 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,280 Speaker 1: Funnily enough, I ran into this blurb from book Riot 562 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: today on how writing was once considered an Olympic sport. 563 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 1: I would love more info if you have room, and 564 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 1: if there's enough info available to do an episode on 565 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,720 Speaker 1: writing as an Olympic sport, plus or minus other strange 566 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:24,399 Speaker 1: no longer in the Olympics events. Thanks for your wonderful show. Yeah, 567 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,600 Speaker 1: it might happen. I mentioned in our defunct Olympics or 568 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 1: maybe it was behind the scenes that I did want 569 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: to do one on the arts aspect of the Olympics. Yeah, 570 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: that was an entire thing. It's on the list, yeah, 571 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: and I think probably it will eventually become an episode, 572 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: but I don't know when, but thank you for listening 573 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,120 Speaker 1: and for hanging in there. It might be a couple 574 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:50,320 Speaker 1: of years, Laura, but I promise I'm working on or 575 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: at least I have it on my list. If you 576 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 1: would like to write to us to make a request 577 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,600 Speaker 1: of a subject, or just talk about something that sparked 578 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: your interest on the show, you can do that at 579 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: History Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. If you would like 580 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:05,879 Speaker 1: to subscribe and you haven't gotten around to it yet, 581 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:07,719 Speaker 1: there's no time like the present. You can do that 582 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,400 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you listen to your 583 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 584 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 585 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 586 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:26,800 Speaker 1: favorite shows.