Tonette and the Toni Home Perm

Lots of moms took their daughters to the beauty salon, and it was a great education, but when the Toni Home Perm Company came out with Tonette home perms for little girls, things changed. Perhaps it was the move out to the suburbs and the idea of not driving into town to visit a beauty parlor was especially appealing to busy mothers of little girls, but the Tonette really took off.

Back when Toni Home Permanents first came out in the 1940s the fact that you could buy a perm in a box and do it yourself was a breakthrough. Women had been dying their hair at home (and only their hairdressers knew for sure) but home perms were something new.

The Toni Home Perm was marketed with an ingenious marketing campaign asking "Which Twin Has the Toni?" The twins campaign was so popular, over the years there were a few sets of twins and even Toni twin dolls for girls.

Toni was bought out by the Gillette Company in the late ‘40s but the brand remained and new products were added. The company hit a goldmine (or at least a lucrative vein) with the Tonette for kids. For many of us, it was the first time we could have real Shirley Temple curls and, for the most part, we loved it (despite the odor!).

— Betty