40 Popular Items That Used to Look Completely Different in the Past

If you think your portable hairdryer is noisy and cumbersome, take a look at this thing. This photograph, which might be from the 1920s or 30s, features a larger-than-life blow dryer that looks more like a torture device than a beauty tool. This monstrosity looks like an accumulation of several large hairdryers set on high to dry this poor woman’s hair.

The power of this blow dryer is so strong that the woman has to close her eyes against the force. At least her hair looks dry! Handheld hairdryers definitely existed during the 20s, so we’re not sure what the point of this invention was. For some reason, it didn’t really catch on. We can’t imagine why.