Tomima Edmark, is there anything you can do?
Now something of a hero to home inventors, especially those in the hair acessory field, Edmark financed production of the Topsy-Tail with the proceeds of her first kissing book. She invented the Topsy-Tail in 1989 after seeing a woman with a French Twist hairstyle. She was working for IBM at the time, but was frustrated with the “glass ceiling” she encountered there and decided to try her hand at something else. So, inspired by the French Twist, she experimented with masking tape and knitting needles until she came up with a version of what we now know as the Topsy-Tail, a plastic loop that can turn a ponytail inside-out, creating a Fabulous New Style!! After patenting the Topsy-Tail, she invested $5,000 to begin manufacturing the product, and started selling it by mail order in 1990. It was a modest success at first, but didn’t really take off until 1992, when she produced an infomercial that demonstrated its use. This was apparently the first hair-accessory infomercial, and it was a
