The first hair dryer was the vacuum cleaner! Around the turn of the century, women dried their hair by connecting a hose to the exhaust of their vacuum cleaners. In early models, the front of a vacuum cleaner sucked air in, the back blew air out, and the hose could be attached to either end.

In 1920, the first true hair dryer came on the market, but it was extremely large and heavy, and frequently overheated. Since then, thousands of patents have been issued for different hair dryer designs, but most of them only tweak the outside packaging of the hairdryer so that it looks more aesthetically appealing to you. Aside from the addition of some safety features, the inside of a hair dryer hasn't changed too much over the years. Not until 1951 was the first really workable dryer made. The device consisted of a hand-held dryer connected to a pink plastic bonnet fitted over the woman’s head.

TO LEARN MORE

ON THE BOOKSHELF:
The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle : And Other Surprising Stories About Inventions
by Don L. Wulffson / Paperback - 128 pages (1999) / Puffin
Brief factual stories about how various familiar things were invented, many by accident, from animal crackers to the zipper.

ON THE SCREEN:
Household Wonders  
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / Less than $25.00
HOUSEHOLD WONDERS tells the story of seven taken-for-granted inventions that make modern life comfy, fast and clean: the stove, sewing machine, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, toaster and mixer.

ON THE WEB:
Hair Dryer History
The History of the hair dryer is very broad and deals with many facets of technology, including electricity and plastics.
(URL: www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Engineering_Graphics/_EG2000/hairdryer/history.html)

HOW IT WORKS:
How a hair dryer works. Lots of COOKIES and POP-UPS.