The hairdresser for particular ladies: Eric Geisler

Eric Geisler learned his trade of hairdressing in Berlin, Vienna and Zurich before arriving in Australia in 1926. He opened a salon in Bower buildings, Charles Street, Adelaide, attracting a clientele which included the wife of the governor of the day, Lady Dugan. In the early 1930s he moved to Shell House, North Terrace. Geisler believed that hairdressing apprenticeships should be a complusory part of training for those seeking a career in this field. With Hedley Pascoe he was appointed to the first hairdressing school in South Australia which opened in Duncan Buildings, Franklin Street, Adelaide, in 1938. Eric Geisler was first headmaster of the school, which had 60 students in its first year.

The State Library holds the personal papers of Geisler, which include extensive notes relating to his teaching role in the school, including miniature samples of wig-making. His papers also include advertising matter for his salon. Geisler was a skilled hairdresser, making new European styles and techniques of hairdressing available to the women of Adelaide. In 1934 he introduced a method of permanent wave which was "machineless". (Advertiser, 20 June 1934, p. 10)

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