Conair

In 1959, Leandro Rizzuto and his parents started Conair by selling hair rollers and dryers. To fund the new company, Lee sold his Cadillac, paid off his debt  and jumpstarted the business with the hundred dollars he had left in his pocket. 

The Conair corporation soon began to breathe with new life, growth and innovation,  creating tools for women that would enable them to achieve salon results in their  own homes. One of these was a revolutionary, and now iconic pistol-shaped hair dryer. Customers could finally do the perfect “do” themselves and as a result, Conair reshaped the haircare industry. 

But this passionate, young company was just getting warmed up. We improved on our  popular creations and pushed even further ahead. We expanded into personal care, health  and beauty, grooming tools, cookware and kitchen electrics. By the 1990s, most American households owned at least one of our products. With a contemporary design focus,  Conair quickly grew into one of the  largest consumer product manufacturers in the world.