Background
Karl Ludwig Nessler was born on May, 2, 1872 in Todtnau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. He was the son of Rosina Laitner and Bartholomew Nessler. At an early age he became fascinated with hair and spent many hours studying its properties.
Karl Ludwig Nessler was born on May, 2, 1872 in Todtnau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. He was the son of Rosina Laitner and Bartholomew Nessler. At an early age he became fascinated with hair and spent many hours studying its properties.
Rather than becoming a shoemaker like his father, Nessler served briefly as a barber's apprentice in a neighboring village. Nessler's interest in hairdressing led him to Paris in 1899 to study firsthand Henri Marcel's waving system, the most popular technique of the day.
Nessler moved across the nearby border into Switzerland, where he took jobs with firms making small electric appliances and watch parts. Work in these factories gave him a good background in simple mechanics and a basic understanding of electrical equipment.
After leaving factory work he took jobs in hairdressing shops, where he learned the art of cutting and waving and continued his analysis of human hair.
Karl found employment at an exclusive Paris salon where he could observe the Marcel method and perfect his own permanent waving devices.
Nessler soon developed a reputation for excellence in hairdressing and Marcel waving and was persuaded by one of his customers, a wealthy Londoner, to take his skill and experimental hair-waving devices to England. Nessler arrived in London about 1900.
Soon after opening his own hairdressing business he gave a series of public lectures at which he demonstrated his new waving techniques. Nessler--or Charles Nestle, as he called himself in London--had discovered that the introduction of moisture into hair increased its ability to hold a curl. His system used a borax paste and an application of heat to make hair porous enough to absorb additional moisture from the atmosphere and thus enable the hairdresser to set a more permanent curl. Because the public did not quickly accept his new waving devices, Nessler kept his business in operation by developing and manufacturing false eyelashes and eyebrows. Soon, however, through a skillfully orchestrated advertising campaign, he broke down the resistance to his permanent waving system and began to prosper.
He also continued to perfect his equipment; in 1909, for example, he replaced gas heaters with electric ones and in 1912 he devised a mechanized curler that greatly simplified hairdressing. Because Nessler had neglected to become a British subject, he was declared an enemy alien upon the outbreak of World War I.
In January 1915 he was forced to immigrate to the United States, leaving his wife and four children in England.
Upon arrival in New York City he discovered more than 600 hairdressers using permanent waving systems that imitated his own. Nevertheless, Nessler soon demonstrated to patrons at his new Manhattan salon that the machinery and methods he used produced a superior and more lasting wave.
Nessler continued to modify his curling equipment and by the mid-1920's had patented a score of curling devices, including curlers, solutions, and hair-testing machines.
In 1927 he opened the world's largest beauty salon on Broadway, where he waved the hair of some of New York's and Hollywood's leading actresses. He also purchased a large midtown office building that served as the headquarters for the worldwide operations of the Nestle Company and affiliated firms.
Nessler was active in the affairs of hairdressing associations and in 1926, while president of the Master Hair Dressers' Association, led a fight against the recently introduced bobbed hair style.
Nessler's The Story of Hair, published in 1928, continued his attack on shorter hair styles for women and contained his analysis of the properties of hair, suggestions for proper hair treatment and care, methods of curling and dyeing, and possible cures for baldness.
In 1928 Nessler began negotiations with the LeMur beauty parlor supply firm of Cleveland, and in the following year a merger was arranged. For a time Nessler was active in the affairs of the company; eventually, however, his deteriorating health led to a reduction in his involvement with Nestle-LeMur. The new company, one of the largest and most important manufacturers of permanent wave supplies and hair care products, showed a profit in 1929 but suffered losses throughout the Great Depression. The company became profitable again in 1939 and has been successful ever since. Nessler lost most of his sizable fortune through investments in unsuccessful hair and skin care products.
He continued his study of hair and efforts to devise and market new health care products and equipment until his death at Harrington Park, New Jersey.
Nessler married a fellow employee, Katherine Laible, on August 13, 1901.