October 7, 2022 at 1:42 p.m.
Perm Machine in Yellow Trail Museum, Often an Electrifying and Terrifying Experience
The perm machine was originally invented in 1905 by Karl Nessler of Germany. His machine had heavy curlers dangling from a circular tube and involved chemicals, heat and technique. He moved to Paris, and Katharina Laible, his wife, agreed to be his first client. However, the machine completely burned her hair off while leaving scalp burns. Despite the glitches, she agreed to be his second client, and it happened again. (Katharina was obviously devoted to her husband and his dream.) Karl persisted in modifying the machine, and it was used in London soon afterward. He moved to the United States in 1915, and he kept on making improvements while receiving a patent for it in 1919. It soon became widely used, and his company was worth millions.
Below, you will find some comments from some local ladies about their experience with the perm machine:
Darlene Bailey Allen, 75: “My mother took me to a beauty shop toward Shelbyville in 1958 thinking I needed a perm for my sixth-grade picture. It was my worst school picture ever, and I had to put up with the curls for too long!”
Shirley Cox Robertson, 85: “I was five when my aunt took me to Columbus. My hair was long and curly before they started working on it. They cut it and inserted tighter curls. I still recall the bad odor in the beauty shop. Afterward, we rinsed my hair with vinegar to try to get rid of the smell. I never had a perm under the machine again.”
Sandy Freese Tucker, 87: “My mom took me to a home in Edinburgh where delightful sisters took care of hair. I remember Mom getting me an ice cream bar to eat, likely thinking it would help ease my feelings about my long blond hair being cut and dropping to the floor. When we got home, the curls were so tight that mom could not get a comb through them. It was my final time for the perm machine.”
Lavon Sims Wasson, 87: “My mom insisted I travel to Columbus at the beginning of each school year for a perm. Mom helped ease my discomfort a little because the machine was monstrous looking, and each experience was terrifying with all the electrical wiring and the hot spots on my head. I don't recall the perm costing that much because my family would not have been able to afford it. And I was happy when the perm machine was no longer in use, when my hair did not have a perm seemingly forever.”
Later, I asked my mom, Lida Baker Webster,93, if she ever was under the perm machine, and, like the others, she quickly recalled the experience from her wonderful memory bank:
“I got my first perm in eighth grade in the early 40s under the perm machine in Hazard, Kentucky. I first went by taxi from Buckhorn to Chavies and then by train to Hazard. My older sister, Pauline Baker Horton, went with me knowing it would be frightening. I do recall the perm lasting a very long time! After my family moved to Lovett, Indiana in 1943, I got a perm in Deputy. They didn't have the perm machine. I remember paying $3.00, and the perm did not last nearly as long.”
During the conversation, I was pleasantly surprised when informed that the day had made such an impression that she wrote a story and placed it in her binder of stories. Below, you will find her story:
“It was not a new experience for my sister, but it sure was for me. The shop was crowded, and I was just a shy and scared country girl. I smelled a strange odor and looked around. There were monstrous looking electrical machines with dangling wires hanging down with metal clips on them. As I intently watched, clips were hooked onto a woman's head until full of curlers. I was petrified!
Finally, it was my turn. My long hair was cut, and I was ready to be hooked up to the machine. My head was stretched up tight. The current was turned on, and I thought for a second I would be electrocuted. Then, I felt heat and heard a sizzling sound as though my hair was burning. I was to inform the operator where and when an area got too hot. I would point to those spots, and cool air was blown to the hot spots.
At last, the timer went off. The operator turned off the current and removed the clips. I went to a different chair and waited during a cooling period. My hair was shampooed and rolled up on curlers. Afterward, I went to another seat under a dryer.
Once my hair was dry, the curlers were removed, and my hair was brushed and shaped. I looked in the mirror and was amazed at my very first beautiful curls. I left the hair salon very happy, knowing the frightful part of the experience would be forgotten and that I would gladly return even if it took a full day including the traveling!”
Vickie Tedder and Jenni Richards, of Reflections, helped me understand the perm process since I only went through a very temporary one years ago. I got up extremely early in order for my cousin, Greta Baker Raleigh, to perm my hair for an April Fools' Day joke for my fifth graders while suggesting to them it would be my new style for the rest of the school year. The next day, I couldn't tell if my students were disappointed or not when my blond hair was straight again!
Jenni and Vickie indicated that perms seem to go in cycles. They may not do any one week and then do five the next week. Some of their older clientele will get a perm at a cost around $60 while some of their younger clientele will get springy curls in their long hair while paying $80 to $125 or more due to a more involved process. Perms may last from three months to nine months depending on several factors.
Since the introduction of the perm machine over 115 years ago, new technology has been developed. Undoubtedly, ladies will find new hair machines when walking in a beauty shop during the next 115 years, hopefully not quite as electrifying and terrifying as the early perm machine.
David Clouse provided information about the Friendly Beauty Shop which started behind the Yellow Trail Museum and then moved behind WILLow LeaVes. I have only heard positive comments about the ladies that operated it. Apparently, there were several barber shops and a few beauty shops in the 1930s and 1940s according to Merrill Clouse and Ike Wasson when working on the Town of Hope video project, which is also within our museum.
