A hair roller or hair curler is a small tube that is rolled into a person's
hair
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...
in order to
curl
cURL (pronounced like "curl", ) is a free and open source computer program for transferring data to and from Internet servers. It can download a URL from a web server over HTTP, and supports a variety of other network protocols, URI scheme ...
it, or to
straighten curly hair, making a new
hairstyle
A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut, or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although ...
.
The diameter of a roller varies from approximately to . The hair is heated, and the rollers strain and break the
hydrogen bond
In chemistry, a hydrogen bond (H-bond) is a specific type of molecular interaction that exhibits partial covalent character and cannot be described as a purely electrostatic force. It occurs when a hydrogen (H) atom, Covalent bond, covalently b ...
s of each hair's cortex, which causes the hair to curl. The hydrogen bonds reform after the hair is moistened.
A hot roller or hot curler is designed to be heated in an electric chamber before one rolls it into the hair. Alternatively, a
hair dryer
A hair dryer (the handheld type also referred to as a blow dryer) is an electromechanical device that blows ambient air in hot or warm settings for styling or drying hair. Hair dryers enable better control over the shape and style of hair, by a ...
heats the hair after the rolls are in place.
Hair spray
Hair spray (also hair lacquer or spritz) is a common cosmetic hairstyling product that is sprayed onto hair to protect against humidity and wind and have it stay in a desired shape. Hair sprays typically consist of several components for the ...
can temporarily fix curled hair in place.
In 1930,
Solomon Harper
Solomon Harper (born August 8, 1893, Poplar Grove, Arkansas) was an electrical engineer and inventor known for creating the first electrically heated hair roller and 28 other inventions.
Harper worked for various railways performing jobs l ...
created the first electrically heated hair rollers, then creating a better design in 1953.
In 1968 at the feminist
Miss America protest
The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included put ...
, protesters symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included hair rollers, which were among items the protesters called "instruments of female torture" and accoutrements of what they perceived to be enforced
femininity
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
.
Velcro hair roller
A Velcro hair roller is made of a strip of hook and loop fasteners that is wrapped around cylinders. They are available in different sizes and can be used on dry or wet hair. The rollers are self-holding because they do not need pins or clips to be held in place and do not need heat to be applied to create the curls. Typically kept in the hair for about fifteen minutes. To clean Velcro hair rollers hair should be removed from them and then soaked in shampoo and water mixture followed by a vinegar solution to remove any excess oil or dirt.
See also
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Barrette
*
Hair iron
A hair iron or hair tong is a tool used to change the arrangement of the hair using heat. There are three general kinds: ''curling irons'', used to make the hair curl; ''straightening irons'', commonly called ''straighteners'' or ''flat irons'', ...
*
Hairdresser
A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...
*
Hot comb
A hot comb (also known as a straightening comb or pressing comb) is a metal comb that is used to straighten moderate or coarse hair and create a smoother hair texture. A hot comb is heated and used to straighten the hair from the roots. It can b ...
*
Scissors
Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting var ...
*
Shampoo and set
A shampoo and set was a hair styling treatment that first became popular in the United Kingdom from the 1930s. The treatment involved washing the hair using shampoo, applying setting lotion to the hair and placing the hair on hair rollers, and t ...
References
Hairdressing
Toiletry
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