51 '90s Hair Tools That Defined The Era (& Were Kind Of Wild)

Believe it or not, the 1990s were 30 years ago. The tail end of the Millennials are entering their third decade of life, and Gen Zers are headed there soon. Since we've had long enough to adequately process all that the '90s was, we can now objectively look at some of the trends we engaged in — good, bad, or otherwise — and determine once and for all under which category they fall.

We can do the same with hair tools. The '90s brought us some of the wildest hair tools we've seen to date. From strange curling irons to accessories that simply did not work, hair products of that decade were unique — so unique, in fact, that most of them died with the new millennium. In honor of said unique hair products and with '90s hair styles that could become trendy once again, let's review them and thank them for the strides in hair styling they allowed us all to make. Here are 51 '90s hair tools that defined the era.

If you had randomly selected 10 homes in the '90s and searched through the contents of their bathrooms, chances are, you would've found Goody products in nine of them. While we're not certain that's a legitimate statistic, we're confident that it's fairly accurate. Goody products, like its combs, ruled heads in the last decade of the 20th century. Goody has long been the brand that we turn to for basic hair products, then and now. They make durable, reliable products, and you're lying if you say you haven't brushed your hair with a Goody comb at least once in your life.

As always, hindsight is 20/20, and, upon review, the '90s feels like a time when trend forecasters and tastemakers gave up a little bit. Instead of equipping us with beautiful ways to style our hair, they gave us cheap accessories, such as EZ Combs, and told us to make do. We did make do, but at what cost? EZ Combs could pull your hair back into a ponytail, bun, or twist, but it really only succeeded in making hair look worse. If this product comes back in style, just use regular pins.

Sick of hearing about Conair? Well, you're not in luck, because this brand had a chokehold on the hair products of the '90s. Let's pay a quick homage to their Quick Braid Styling Kit, a kit replete with a braiding tool, a pouch to carry the tool, a comb, beads, and bands. This was one item that all girls in elementary and middle school wanted, but most of our parents were too sensible to purchase for us. To those lucky enough to have owned one, we have one question: Did it actually work?

If there is one product on this list that stands out among the others as the most unnecessary, it's the Conair Impressions Stamper. And that's saying something. By applying an amount of heat even a woodfire oven would find high, users of this bizarre tool were left with an impression of a chosen shape — hearts, stars, and zig zags were among the choices — in their hair. A fun, albeit strange, idea, but, unless your hair was made of foam, these impressions weren't staying put.

But why waste your money on a hot tool that can only crimp? Conair knew that anyone dedicated to trendy hair needed more than just a crimper, so they responded with their Shiny Styles hot tool, which came complete with four separate slide-in attachments that all achieved a different look. There was a crimper, a slightly larger crimper, a straightener, and a shiner. That's right — one of the attachments was dedicated to shining your hair, because there was apparently no other good way to do so. File this one under "only sort of unnecessary."

A Scunci Stretch Comb was that item we all had, but we weren't really sure why. Even then, we knew it was wholly unnecessary. If you needed to pull your hair back, but didn't have a ponytail, and also didn't want it fully pulled back, just out of your face a bit, then it was useful. In literally every other hair scenario, it served no purpose. It was also very difficult to use, which makes perfect sense when looking at it now. Points for creativity, though.

Someone in the '90s must've been on a mission to market as many different tools for curling hair as possible. We can't imagine another scenario in which the sponge curlers would've become so popular. Like with most hair products, the tresses of the model on the sponge curlers' package looked way better than any of our at-home results ever did, likely because the model's hair wasn't styled via sponge curlers. They might be more comfortable to wear than other rollers, but, as far as results go, there are several far better options for curls.

The Wrap, Snap and Go! Comfort Curlers were just another tool used to give us curls we desperately needed to brush out. But, as far as curling tools of the '90s go, these weren't the worst. They worked and probably didn't damage your hair. If anything, we're most confused about the name, particularly the Go! component. Did the creators of this product intend for us to leave our homes while wearing these? We can't think of many scenarios in which that would be necessary. But, then again, the '90s were a different time.

Why lock your hairstyle with regular hairspray when you can use glitter hairspray instead? Well, if you're not a child or a professional dancer, there are literally hundreds of reasons why you shouldn't use glitter hairspray. But hair in the '90s threw away all logic. It wasn't about what was practical or what looked good. It was about what looked the gaudiest, and glitter hairspray is one surefire way to give yourself a gaudy hairstyle. Unless you need it for a Halloween costume, glitter hairspray doesn't need a spot in your cabinet.

Chic hair in the '90s translated to some sort of bun or ponytail. And hair tool manufacturers everywhere apparently thought the inability to give ourselves certain bun or ponytail looks was a pervasive problem that could only be solved with highly specific products with literally only one use — hence, products such as the Hairagami. Though the product claims it's good for six new hairstyles, we're not so convinced. Hairagami was popular enough for it to expand into other products, though, so maybe someone out there found a purpose for it?

Once again, hair manufacturers of the '90s had very little faith in the consumer's ability to style their own hair. They had such little faith, in fact, they created the Braidini, a tool intended to make braiding easier. The problem with the Braidini is that the braid it produced was loose and messy — and not in a good way. The Braidini was also created to save your arms from tiring while braiding the conventional way, but we're fairly certain it didn't save anyone any time.

In the 2020s, hair mascara is used to cover grays or touch up roots, and it's actually a super useful product. But, in the '90s, hair mascara was used to change your hair color from something natural to something neon. Hair mascara in the '90s was unnatural in the most basic sense of the word, and it was likely toxic. If you have some from the bygone decade lying around, don't use it. It's definitely expired, and it probably shouldn't have been used when it wasn't. But keep it as a reminder of how much progress has been made in at-home hairstyling.

Big hair was at work in the '90s, dedicated to making us believe that bizarre hairstyles, such as zigag parts, were stylish. It was clearly a ploy to sell us the items needed to create the style, like the Part Pizazz. Hairagami, the manufacturer of the Part Pizazz, claimed that you could use it to "draw any part pattern." In case you weren't sure what part pattern existed other than a straight line — the middle part continues its reign today — the package came with plenty of inspirational photos. Unnecessary and difficult to use, the Part Pizazz fit right in with the many other needless hair tools of the '90s.

The Set 'N Curl hot rollers were one of the few hair styling tools from the '90s that could actually save users time. These rollers were meant to set your hair, a style usually achieved through regular — often weekly — visits to a licensed beautician. If you could finagle these babies to give your hair the desired look, the Set 'N Curl could save you a trip to the parlor and the cost of a set. We do love a useful product.

Joining the Conair Spoolies on the list of rollers made of unnecessary materials is the Conair More Big Curls hot rollers set. Instead of silicone, these were made out of velvet. And, we do have to say, although it first seems odd to have rollers made from velvet, we understand the thought behind the product. Rollers can easily give your hair unwanted kinks, and a softer material seems like it would eliminate that issue. The velvet must not have eliminated enough kinks, though, because the Conair More Big Curls is no longer for sale at major retailers.

Of all the Conair products that required you to place strands of your hair into a little machine, the Quick Bead might've been the most useful. Lots of women and girls still put beads in their hair, and it can be awfully time-consuming. But, like the other similar Conair tools, the Quick Bead could so easily go wrong while wrapped around someone's hair. It's great in theory, but, in practice, it's a little precarious.

Hot brushes never work as well as they purport. They don't work well today, and they didn't work well back when we tried to style our hair with the Conair Supreme Hot Curl Brush. This tool was meant to give users smooth curls, but it ended up being more trouble than it was worth. It did have multiple heat settings, though, which is more than we can say for, well, any of the other hot tools on this list.

Thank goodness for product descriptions because sometimes it's hard to tell what exactly a product does by looking at it. Such is the case with the Kurl Mi hairbrush. Unless someone had explicitly told you what it was, you would've had no way of knowing the intended use of this round brush without reading the instructions. The Kurl Mi brush had a sister item, too — a Hot Air Styler you plugged into an outlet. These items are unsurprisingly no longer available for sale, but they make for a great conversation topic.

Don't want to commit to curly hair for the next six months? Fear not, because there's a tool that can solve that issue for you. Meet the Perm for a Day. This device ensured you had beautiful curls that lasted for only a day, allowing you to rock the style without changing your hair permanently. There certainly weren't any other products on the market at the time that gave you temporary curls, especially not ones that were easier to use. We're shocked this device didn't stay on the market long term.

At its apex, there wasn't much to say about the Clairol Currents curling iron. It was a curling iron that worked. Upon review, the Clairol Currents curling iron is quite the piece of '90s nostalgia. Inside its box, it's nearly impossible to discern its actual purpose. Outside its box, it's a curling iron that looks more like a power strip thanks to its giant yellow cord. If you can identify another piece of equipment — haircare or otherwise — in which the electrical cord is the same size as the tool itself, we'd love to hear.

Sticking your hair into a styling tool can either go very right or very wrong. Manufacturer of these designs today seem to have figured out how to safely design the technique, but lots of predecessors, such as the Conair Quick Wrap, taught us valuable lessons through tangles and lost hair. If it didn't give you a bald spot, the Conair Quick Wrap left strands of your hair wrapped in string. It was a very specific style you probably only wanted to sport once. That said, they made for a great sleepover activity.

As-seen-on-TV products ruled the '90s. We all have the shared experience of turning on the TV in the middle of the day only to find whatever program we wanted to watch was interrupted by an advertisement for something no one needs, like a Glam Twirl. The Glam Twirl was another dangerous contraption that could've easily created tangles only scissors could fix, but that didn't stop any girl under the age of 12 from begging her parents for one. Glam Twirls came with beads and glittery twine to spice the style up, only furthering our desire to purchase one.

The '90s weren't a particularly dressy decade, but some of the hairstyles would tell you otherwise. Many tools were created to help users achieve a look that people today would only find suitable for a wedding or prom, and there was a seemingly infinite number of accessories on the market to achieve said hairstyles, such as the fake hair ponytail. If your hair amazingly matched the color of one of these ponytails, they might've looked okay on your head, but even that's a stretch. Note to hair product manufacturers: There is absolutely no reason to continue making these.

Rosie the Riveter's most famous accessory saw a resurgence in popularity in the '90s. Women everywhere were rolling bandanas to tie around their heads and not for costume — they were a legitimate fashion trend. Since bandanas serve far more purposes than hair-related ones, they've remained for sale since once again becoming a bygone trend. If you want to incorporate some '90s into your style, opt for a rolled-up bandana tied around your head, or simply fold it and tie it cap-style. Either way will imbue some welcome nostalgia while keeping your hair out of your eyes.

Interlocking combs: because the '90s didn't have enough options for hair combs. Interlocking hair combs were like many other '90s hair products — sure, they did what they (sort of) said they'd do for our hair, but why did we want our hair to look that way in the first place? Once again, as is the case with many other '90s hair products — plenty of other products can do the exact same thing to your hair and look way better. Instead of interlocking hair combs, opt for a claw clip or a plain ol' ponytail holder.