The Millstone Times - December 2022

Interesting People Throughout History Rommy Hunt Revson -The Inventor of the Scrunchie By Pam Teel

Rommy Hunt Revson, (born February 15, 1944) was an American nightclub singer and cre ator of the scrunchie, a hair accessory used to hold the hair in a pony tail. She recently passed away in September of this year. Born as Rommy Kolb in White Plains, NY on Feb. 15, 1944, she first tried to make a career out of singing in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village during the 1970’s and 80’s, performing under the name Rommy Hunt. She was also a voice and piano teacher, and a songwriter. She is credited for writing over thirty songs. While working as a singer, she met Revlon cosmetics heir, John Revson. After dating for six years, they married. In 1986, Revson invented the scrunchie, while preparing for job interviews. She was going through a bad divorce with Revson and the stress had caused her hair to thin and become brit tle. She created the fabric hair tie out of necessity. She made it out of soft fabric to avoid damag ing her hair with elastic bands or plastic clips. The following year, she received a design patent for the invention. The invention, originally known as the "Scunci," was named after Revson's pet poodle. It later became known generically as the scrunchie. With a $50 used sewing ma chine, she made the first prototype, an ugly black and gold scrunchie with navy blue thread. After a marketing campaign that saw fashion retailers such as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s plac ing large orders for the product, the hair accessory caught on. Female consumers seemed to admire it for fashion and function. She had $20 million in orders in the first initial months, but she couldn’t keep up with all the demand for the product. Thereafter, she licensed her pat ent for manufacture by others. Copycat retailers were soon selling their own versions of the product. By the time her patent expired in 2001, more than two billion Scrunchies had been sold. Revson made $1 million a year in royalties from the scrunchie for more than 12 years.

She was married and divorced four times during her lifetime and had one son. Though she lived in Wellington, Florida, she died in Rochester, Minnesota, at the age of 78 from a rupture in the ascending aorta while undergoing medical treatment at a Mayo clinic for Cushing’s Disease, a hormonal disorder, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder relating to the body’s connective tissues. “The scrunchie was the most successful hair accessory in the world,” said Lewis Hendler, whose company, L&N Sales and Marketing, was the exclusive licensee of the product from 1989 to 2001, when Ms. Revson’s patent expired. The scrunchie, which originally sold for $1 as a single hair accessory, now sells in multipacks and in every color, pattern and fabric imaginable — velvet, leather, silk, lace, fur, encrusted with pearls. Somehow, throughout her divorces, Rommy also thought she would end up a street lady, but that wasn’t meant to be. She lived well off her royalties. In 1997, she moved to Wellington, FL. She rode horses, cooked, and entertained for a large circle of friends, often wearing a scrunchie in her hair or on her wrist, and ensuring her guests left with one, too. Revson leaves behind a lasting impact on fashion.

30 The Millstone Times

November 2022