ContributorCommunity HistoryDescriptionGolden Jet portable Commercial hairdryer by Eugene Australia Pty Ltd. Has a 755mm x 360mm x 211mm scratched and rusted metal motor housing base with wheels on the underside, a rectangular vent missing the grill, power cord and handle on the back. The lid has heat time knobs, red and yellow lights and a movable arm top with a movable 320mm diameter clear double plastic bowl. The inner bowl has holes to allow movement of hot air over the head. This hairdryer was used in the City of Stirling community centre in Balga.Date created1950sHeight (mm)1470Width (mm)360Depth (mm)460Materialsmetal, plasticHistorical details
Eugene Suter started selling hood dryers around 1918 in London. By 1930 he had invented the Eugene Waver, a revolutionary perming machine used extensively around the World for the next decade. Eugene Ltd, was based in Park Lane, London, by the 1940s designing and producing a number of Hood Dryers for the UK and Global market.
The Salon serves a social role and is associated with growing occupations for women in the twentieth century. Gender and Women's Studies scholar Jennifer Scalon writes, "Salons provided an economic avenue for female entrepreneurs, and their emergence in commercial spaces (beyond private homes) meant that—like department stores—they created another public space for women to participate in society, and at a more intimate level. They remain a uniquely public/private space—a shopfront open to anyone, yet a space for otherwise private grooming—and private conversations." Scanlon describes salons as a place that women “get their hair done and let their hair down.” The salon was coded as a place for conversations to take place.
