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Hairdressers descended upon Oxford Street on October 8th, 1906 to witness Karl Nessler\u2019s first public demonstration of his pioneering new \u2018perm\u2019 - a style which didn\u2019t have its heyday until some eighty years later.\nCreating a long-lasting curl had been a goal for many stylists over the decades, but Nessler had hit upon a winning combination of technique and chemicals. He achieved this by subjecting his wife, Catherine, to a seemingly endless onslaught of painful and laborious experiments.\nIn this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the system of weights, pulleys and chandeliers that facilitated these early experiments; discuss the parallel movement for (yet more risky) chemical relaxers in the African-American community; and compare notes on the weirdest hairdos they\u2019ve permitted on their own heads...\xa0\nFurther Reading:\n\u2022 \u2018The Story Of Hair and The Nessler Wave\u2019 (Timeless Tales, 2018):\xa0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pi11YxY4ww\n\u2022 \u2018Inside the heated history of the permanent wave machine\u2019 (The State Museum of Pennsylvania):\xa0http://statemuseumpa.org/wave-machine/\n\u2022 \u2018Making waves: Celebrating the centenary of the perm\u2019 (The Times, 2006):\xa0https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/making-waves-tnttbrtt30n\nFor bonus material and to support the show, visit\xa0Patreon.com/Retrospectors\nWe'll be back on Monday! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:\xa0podfollow.com/Retrospectors\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.\xa0\n#1900s #Invention #Person #UK\n\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices