the.com/hairdryer
a tiny hurricane you aim at your skull every morning and somehow trust completely
means a handheld electrical device that blows heated air to dry and style wet hair.
from A plain English compound of "hair" and "dryer," the two words simply bolted together once the appliance arrived in the early 20th century. "Hair" goes back to Old English "hǣr," with cousins across the Germanic family; "dryer" comes from the verb "dry" (Old English "drȳgan") plus the agent suffix "-er" that turns a doer into a thing-that-does. The compound describes the gadget exactly as it works — a device for drying hair — which is why nobody had to be clever about naming it.
- birth year
- 1888, born from a vacuum cleaner repurposed
- hot air speed
- can exceed 70 miles per hour
- police trick
- some mimic radar guns to slow speeders
- early models
- weighed two pounds and electrocuted users
- watt monster
- draws more power than your fridge
dyson supersonic — luxury hairdryer brand launched 2016, costs $400-600
ghd air — professional ionic hairdryer by ghd, used in salons worldwide
dyson airwrap — cordless styling tool by dyson with rotating barrels, launched 2018