I am continuing to do some research for my eventual book. I am using Newspapers.com to look at old articles about, specifically, about curling irons. I am trying to see a bit more about how the day to day citizen was presented with information about curling irons. I will be doing this with combs, brushes, perms, etc. For now the topic is full of fascinating facts, and I have only made it to 1896. I am working from as far in the past as there are papers available.
There have been two recurring themes: eyes burnt and homes lit on fire from the use of a curling iron. In my search, so far, I have found 77 different mentions of hot curling irons to the eye. This was apparently a serious problem. I can not even imagine the pain of getting a hot iron in the eyeball. This is so disturbing to me. I would imagine that such things didn't happen as often today, but maybe we're just not talking about it.
In lighter news, I do find interesting ads for curling iron designs and products to encourage curls in the hair. I am going to do a solid bit of research on these designs after I finish my search for all of the mentions of a curling iron in the news. There are some fascinating ideas, but I don't know exactly how they worked. There was even a mention of a rotating curling iron, and this is the 19th century.
I am more determined than ever to compile and create the book, I just need to focus on the key bits of info that need to be shared. Then, perhaps, write a second or third book as I want to focus on different facets of hair history.
