Did Braun (German company) use Asbestos in this 70's vintage hairdryer?

[Xantulle]

Hello all,

I've only recently found out that old hairdryers used to contain asbestos, mainly in the 70's, for heat isolation. The larger American companies stopped using asbestos in 1979, but dangerous vintage hairdryers are still collected/used nowadays unfortunately. There is information about specific brands/models for the USA market (see: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/1979/cp...ryer-companies), but I can hardly find anything about hairdryers for Europe / UK markets.

In 1972, Braun released the Braun HLD 5 (product number 4402 or 4406), in Dieter Ram design, created by Reinhold Weiss and Jürgen Greubel, see attachments.

My story: my parents have bought this Braun HLD 5 hairdryer somewhere in the 70's/80's, probably secondhand on a fair or they might have inherited it from an older person. They of course didn't know it might have been dangerous and have used it ever since. I was born in 1988 and I've used it a lot at home too until I moved out, and I can remember they still had it until I was about 20 years or older. It just never broke down, so my parents loved it for the 'real german vintage quality'.

My worry now of course is that it contained asbestos . A hairdryer this old would probably leave any asbestos inside in a friable condition, making it even more dangerous. I probably even directed it straight to my mouth to make funny faces in the mirror as a kid.

There isn't much to be found online if this model contained asbestos or not, not even a single Braun hairdryer asbestos result.. Almost all search results speak of USA hairdryers. Can anyone help me out for peace of mind?

--

According to the USA article I do know that Gillette used asbestos in hairdryers, for example in the "Gillette Vintage Max THD-2" which uses a roughly similar design. Gillette acquired Braun in 1967. Gillette says they stopped using asbestos in hairdryers since 1975, but this one is from 1972.

I do know that the Braun HDL 5 was manufactured in West Germany, so hopefully Asbestos wasn't used by Germany. Perhaps they even manufactured it in the same design for some years after 1972-1975, so it could be a newer type?

Replies are much appreciated! I've also attached some photos of the heater element I could find online.

[Station X]

I think the only way you're going to find out if it contained asbestos is to open it up, assuming you still have it, which isn't a good idea as asbestos is best left undisturbed.

If you have inhaled asbestos from the dryer it may or may not harm you. Either way there's nothing you can do about it so I'd stop worrying.

[Xantulle]

Thanks for the reply. It was thrown away recently because it stopped working in the end, so can't open it up to examine the inside.. Would still like to find out, either for peace of mind, or to know if it was indeed asbestos so we can keep an eye out for our health.

I did manage to find better photos of the heating wires, see attachments (especially last 2 images). The wires are going through 2 'solid' plates. Wonder if someone recognises what material that would've probably been? Was asbestos ever used to route wires through them, or only as surrounding insulation to protect the outer case from heating up?

Larger images:

• https://img.ricardostatic.ch/t_1800x...86134552/18/3/
• https://img.ricardostatic.ch/t_1800x...86134552/18/2/
• https://img.ricardostatic.ch/t_1800x...86134552/18/1/

[Station X]

Those plates are probably mica.

[paulsherwin]

Agreed, no visible signs of asbestos there.

I'd be surprised if many hairdryers were still being made with asbestos insulation in the 1970s. Even if your hair dryer contained asbestos, it's extremely unlikely that there would be any health implications unless the dryer has been opened and the asbestos disturbed.

[Xantulle]

Thanks Station X and Paulsherwin! My guess would be 'mica' too, as I've never seen wires routed through holes in asbestos, it's probably not strong enough and too 'paperlike' for that. At least I hope.

I managed to find photos of the heating element in the THD-2 and THD-2A, two of the early 1970 Gillette hairdryers that have been recalled and confirmed contained asbestos. See photos.

The heating wires look completely different there, almost like coils/springs, that look to have been wrapped around the plates instead of going through. These white plates certainly look like Asbestos to me, especially on the THD-2A, the edges look 'fluffy'.

[Lucien Nunes]

I do not think there were ACMs (asbestos-containing materials) in that Braun hairdryer. I looked at one closely a long time ago when it was fairly new, which was the first time I had seen the 'hairpin' form of element, and noted that the supports were made of mica, confirmed by the pictures above.

Don't forget that asbestos is not one substance. There are different asbestiform minerals and different composites that contain them, which vary widely in risk level. A solid asbestos-cement board such as was used for element formers, containing mainly chrysotile, is relatively low-risk. I would not choose to blow air over it at my head, but it's possibly still safer to do that than disturb a soft sealing rope round a stove door.

[Maarten]

I agree on the material. Never seen a somewhat newish west-european made hairdryer (or other small appliance) use anything other than mica for this purpose. Which also makes sense since it would be harder and possibly more expensive to use asbestos containing composites as a rigid base plate for a heating element.

(one notable expection is that spiral heating coils such as those used in a fan heater would sometimes be wound around asbestos cord)

[Xantulle]

Thanks all!! If it was mica in the heating element, my guess would be that there's not a big chance that asbestos has been used elsewhere in the hairdryer, good news.

Only place it could still be is on the plastic sidewalls or handle as insulation, to prevent the outer plastic from heating up when using it, or wrapped around the power cable maybe, but in those cases it would output far less fibres and be less friable than if the heating element itself was asbestos.