THE CASE of the DEADLY HAIR DRYER

 In case someone is interested in why I haven’t written a blog post since 2015, maybe it’s because I was off the grid, lost in the woods, in witness protection, lazy or in prison. You decide.

And now,

THE CASE OF THE DEADLY HAIR DRYER

This retro, Mid Century Modern hair dryer was state of the art in the 1940s and 50s. The pretty pastel green, painted wood handle and extra-long cord made drying hair a breeze. No pun intended. Actually, I did it on purpose.

You’re fairly old if you’re old enough to have used one of these. Remember how heavy it was? This one weighs two pounds … the weight of a toaster or eight apples. Yikes.

You also remember how blisteringly hot it was. Just seconds before you smelled burning hair, you could turn on the ‘cold air’ switch. You also needed the cold air on your face. By now, sweat was dripping off the end of your nose.

My aunt, who lived in one of those great big, brick ranch style homes, gave this to me. After using it as a craft dryer for a while, I put it in my TangoPony Etsy shop. A couple of days later, BOOM! Etsy took it down for safety reasons. I assumed it was some kind of electrical issue, so I cut off the plug. I relisted it as décor for boudoir, bathroom or salon. It’s in someone’s cart right now.

Though it has the ubiquitous Underwriters Laboratory plate, the plug is only two pronged – no grounding prong. The law requiring safety outlets in bathrooms (GFCI-protected) was not initiated until 1975.

Besides risking injury just to dry your hair, hair dryers were great murder weapons. Milady in the bath and the terrible argument with Hubby ends with the handy hair dryer dropped into the water. Suddenly all the lights in the house flicker, the fuses are blown and Mr. Mister thinks he has the perfect alibi.

“As I was leavin’ for bowling night with the guys, she said she was gonna take a bath and go to bed early. When I got home, I found her like this. I guess she fell asleep and drowned. At least she was smart enough to have a big life insurance policy.”   

If that wasn’t scary enough, 90% of hairdryers manufactured through the end of the 1970s were insulated with asbestos. I guess the manufacturers forgot to tell us. What a surprise.

A photographer who was using a hair dryer to dry his prints ‘discovered’ the asbestos. Tiny, dust like bits of asbestos were blowing all over his photos.