The Eugène Method belonged to the era of electrically heated permanent waving. Its history is not simply the story of a patented machine: it involves how hair was divided and wound, how heat was delivered and controlled, and how salon equipment was made practical for repeated professional use.
Root winding and tubular heaters
In a root-winding arrangement, a lock of hair is wound spirally around a rod. A tubular electrical heater is then placed over the prepared winding. The heater and curler are separate components: one supports the hair, while the other supplies the heat required by the process.
The technical account preserved in the research file Perm (hairstyle) describes early heaters developed by Isidoro Calvete for Suter. It attributes to Calvete a design with two electrical windings inside an aluminium tube, allowing a different distribution of heat along the lock. This attribution should be verified against contemporary patent specifications and trade material before being presented as an exclusive invention claim.
Why Calvete matters
The same account states that Calvete established a London electrical workshop in 1917, supplied equipment marketed by Eugène Ltd and also developed products under the Icall name. That distinction is fundamental: the engineer who devised a component, the individual named on a patent and the company that sold the finished apparatus need not be the same party.
Suspended equipment and the 1923 machine
Early electrically heated systems required supports for multiple heaters and their cables. Later machines used a mobile vertical stand and an overhead circular distribution unit, often described as a “chandelier”, from which the heaters were suspended. This helped organize the electrical supply and keep the equipment clear of the client’s head.
A historical illustration identifies a machine made by Icall for Eugène in 1923. Descriptions of up to 22 heaters relate to the number of sections treated on a head of hair and to the equipment configuration; they do not by themselves prove a patent granted in 1923.
Other winding techniques
Root winding should be distinguished from point winding, in which the ends of the hair are rolled inward toward the scalp. Josef Mayer’s flat-winding approach is relevant here, but represents a different technical line. Tubular heaters and later clamp-like heaters could coexist as stylists combined methods for different areas of the head.
Products and process
Heat was only one part of a successful salon treatment. Historical accounts describe the use of water, steam and chemical preparations, while manufacturers sold associated curlers, sachets and lotions. A complete reconstruction of the Eugène process requires contemporary instructions specifying treatment times, winding, temperatures and the exact formulations used.
Technical starting point: Perm (hairstyle), research-file extract, especially the sections “Eugene Suter and Isidoro Calvete” and “Development of the heaters”. See also patent records.