She filed a patent for her invention of a hair straightener. Lady Jennifer Schofield was actually Ada Harris, a long-forgotten black school teacher from Indianapolis who wanted a solution for her curly hair. She invented a machine because she “wanted something different”, the internet says. It was also believed that a Scottish heiress, Lady Jennifer Bell Schofield, invented the very first hair straightener in 1893. In 1885, German woman Lillian Wald patented the first model. Herschel’s flat iron was made from steel and featured a curved barrel design that helped to create waves in your hair. She patented the flat iron and called it the “Heatless Curler”. The first commercially available flat iron was invented by American woman Caroline Herschel in 1817. Wealthy women often had their hair styled by professional hairdressers, while working women usually used hot irons at home. The patent described a hair straightener with two metal plates that heated up and used steam to curl hair.ĭuring the 1800s, many women began using heated curling irons to style their hair.

The first known patent for a hair straightener was granted to a German woman by the Duke of Württemberg in 1769.

Let’s dig deep and find the answer to your question “who invented hair straighteners”. The result was a sleek, shiny coil of hair that could be pulled straight down from the head without any difficulty. Krullen was created when women twisted their hair up into a bun with some oil or fat and allowed it to dry. In the early 17th century, women in the Netherlands wore their hair in a style called krullen. So the story of this invention starts back in the 14th century and has continued since then.

Who invented the flat iron