Some inventors have given a lot of attention to the human body from the neck up. These inventions were probably thought up while these inventors were going through their normal morning routines, combing hair, brushing teeth, shaving, or just looking at themselves in the mirror.

The Toy Hat

One of these inventions is the toy hat. The toy hat was invented in 1966 and looked like a cap with a ribbon on a rod coming off the top of it. You wore the hat was on your head and it was held there by a strap. The wearer then moved his or her head in a circle, causing the streamer to spin and move around the wearer in pretty patterns. The chance that the person wearing the hat (or anybody standing near the wearer) might get hit in the eye or smacked in the face by the streamer may have been some of the reasons this invention did not become popular. Also, by spinning your head around so much, the wearer could and often did get a severe headache and a sore neck.

The Hair-Cutting Machine

There was another invention designed for a person’s head that was called the hair-cutting machine. John Boax’s 1951 hair-cutting machine used an air exhaust system, like a vacuum cleaner, to suck hair straight up into tiny holes where electric coils would instantly burn the hair to the desired length. The hair-cutting machine looked like a spaceman’s helmet with tubes attached all over the outside. Mr. Boax realized that everyone had different tastes in the way their hair is cut, and he suggested that a set of masks of different sizes and shapes be made for different lengths of hair. Unfortunately for Mr. Boax, there was too much chance that his invention would seriously burn the wearers’ hair and injure them, so hand scissors are still used to cut hair today.