What was it about inventors in the 20th century that made some of their inventions so weird? Take just about anything you can think of, and someone probably invented a really weird version of it at some point in the 20th century. There have been tons of weird inventions in the past, but they even managed to make something like beauty products look weird and terrifying.
Today, women curl their hair by putting it up into plastic spools or using a curling iron. Back then, this beauty trend required to wound their hair up into a mess of thick, heated wires. They also wore all manner of strange and terrifying masks in an attempt to perfect their natural beauty. Today, women simply need some cream or, in the worst case, a face mask and some cucumbers.
On the other hand, a few of these crazy inventions look awesome – who hasn't had the sort of morning where they'd kill for a Hangover Heaven mask fresh out of the freezer? Now, scroll down below to check the weird and the wonderful historical photos showing what the ladies of 30s and 40s had to undergone to live up to the beauty standards of the bygone era.
'Freezing' freckles off with carbon dioxide was a popular treatment in the thirties
Patients' eyes were covered with airtight plugs, their nostrils were filled in for protection, and they had to breathe through a tube. (Image credits: Time and Life pictures / Getty Images)
A chorus of large blow-driers attends to a customer in the 1920s
Image credits: unknown
A permanent hair procedure (presumably hair waving) being performed in Germany in 1929
Image credits: unknown
This device from 1930, invented by Max Factor, helps correct the application of make-up
Image credits: unknown
This terrifying mask from the 1940s could be plugged in to heat the face and head in an attempt to stimulate circulation and make the skin look fresh
Image credits: Courtesy Everett collection / Re
'Slenderising salons' in the forties devised all sorts of weight-loss treatments, one of which was massage chairs like these, which massaged clients' legs with metal rollers
Image credits: Alfred Eisenstaedt /Time & Life pictures /Getty Images
A 1940s beauty treatment at Helena Rubinstein's salon
Image credits: unknown
Before the invention of sun-screen in the mid 1940s, bathers wore garments like this Freckleproof Cape to protect themselves from the sun. The cape also features built-in sunglasses.
Image credits: unknown
Pre-war women would spend hours with their hair bundled up into creepy heating machines like these to achieve a fashionable curled look
Image credits: courtesy Everett collection / Re
A fruit mask from the 1930s
Image credits: unknown
This 'Glamour Bonnet' from the forties promised to give users a rosy complexion by lowering atmospheric pressure around their head to simulate alpine conditions
Image credits: London Media
This Thirties suction machine consisted of tiny glass nozzles, a rubber hose and a vacuum pump. It promised smooth, spot-free skin
Image credits: London Media
These two 1920s women are getting rid of wrinkles and imperfections by wearing rubber "beauty masks"
Image credits: unknown
The 'Hangover Heaven' face pack, also invented by Max Factor, featured plastic cubes that could be filled with water and frozen. The mask was popular with party-going Hollywood stars in the forties
Image credits: London Media