Straight To Perfection

From hot combs to keratin treatments and the craze on liquid hair, we take a look at hair straighteners of the past, present, and near future.

- MEGAN LA FABER

There’s a reason why for most women, their prized possessions are their tresses. A permanent crown adorning one’s head, it’s one of the first things people perceive about someone when they first meet. For centuries, women have dyed, cut, coloured, and performed every beauty trick of the trade to achieve stunning locks … and no style more so than straight hair. Girls have gone above and beyond for locks that glisten like diamonds and are as smooth as silk. From old-school tools to the more semi-permanent methods used today, we’ve come a long way from the late 1800s in our pursuit of sleek hair.

Going back to the time of pharaohs, queens, and royal courts, civilisation at the time truly put meaning to the phrase “beauty is pain” as they would heat literal flat iron plates on an open fire and run them over strands to achieve shiny flat locks … at the cost of ghastly burns on the face and hands. It was only in 1872 when Parisian hairdresser Marcel Grateau created the first proper flat iron from heated rods in his salon. Hot combs entered the straightening arena in 1906 through Simon E. Monroe. However, some argue it was school teacher Ada Harris from Indianapolis who created the hot comb, which she filed a patent for in the late 1800s. Though, like trends, its popularity fluctuated, but by the ’60s, straight hair was the hottest thing since sliced bread.