Before headsets became lightweight tools of modern communication, early telephone operators wore heavy metal bands across their heads as they worked long hours connecting calls by hand. According to this curious 1904 report, the equipment may have come with an unexpected hazard: bald spots.
The article claimed that many “telephone girls” in New York were leaving their jobs rather than risk losing their hair. The pressure and rubbing of the steel headpiece was said to be especially noticeable among operators with thinner hair, and even more obvious on boys doing the same work.
Telephone Girls Become Bald
NEW YORK. — A large portion of telephone girls employed by the big companies in New York give up their places rather than incur the risk of becoming partly bald.
This effect of the steel band or hood which telephone operators wear over their head is plainly noticeable in the case of those who have scanty hair.
On boys who act as telephone operators, it is even more noticeable than with girls.
Source: The Colored American. Washington, D.C. August 20, 1904.
