Curling tongs appeared in the second half of the 19th century, but there is evidence of earlier devices with a similar function.

For example, in Ancient Egypt, in order to induce a curl into the hair, it was first moistened with water mixed with soil particles, then curled on sticks of the chosen diameter and then dried. The same method was used by aristocratic women in Ancient Rome and Greece.

In addition to sticks made of wood, iron or bronze rods were used to curl hair. Such devices in the form of sticks, metal rods, tubes and even nails were used in different countries for many centuries. In the late 1820s the so-called papillotes began to be used. A kind of ancestor of curlers, they were small bundles of cloth or paper, which were twisted on a strand of hair.

A revolutionary discovery was made by the French hairdresser Marcel Grateau. In the early 1870s, he designed curling tongs and a curling technique that soon became very popular.

Very simple to make, the tongs had two working surfaces — a concave and a convex sides. They were heated on an open fire, such as a gas burner or a spirit flame. In some cases, when only a slight adjustment of the hair was needed, the flame of an ordinary candle was used. The tongs were used in a special way: if a strand of hair was clamped with the notch downwards, the result was a groove, and if the notch was upwards —a convexity. While working, the hairdresser used two pairs of tongs at the same time. While one was being used, the other was being heated.

The hair curled in this way resembled a wave, and therefore the new hairstyle was called “Marcel wave” referring to the name of the designer. This style was most popular in the 1920s–1960s.

Marcel Grateau’s original tongs are preserved in the Museum of Hairdressing in Barcelona (Spain). Extremely simple in design, they do not differ from many other copies, one of which is also on display in the museum and cultural center “House of Merchant Grigory Tetyushinov”.