Carl W. Renstrom

Carl W. Renstrom (1902–1981) was an Omaha, Nebraska businessman and multi-millionaire who made his fortune selling hair curlers and other hair accessories through his company, Tip-Top Products.

Carl Willard Renstrom was born in Omaha, Nebraska on 27 September 1902. His parents were Swedish immigrant Nils August Renstrom and his Iowa-born wife, Vera Pearl Bartlett. Renstrom's father was a general laborer who had a knack for mechanics. He filed several patents, including one for an electro-magnetic blanket in 1896.

Renstrom attended the public schools in Omaha, graduating from the now closed Commerce High School.

Following his graduation from high school, Renstrom embarked on a variety of sales positions, including selling Fuller Brushes. When the Depression quickly reduced his sales of church bulletin boards, Renstrom founded Tip-Top Products Company and went looking for a product to sell. While selling door-to-door, Renstrom had crossed paths with a gentleman selling heatless liquid solder in a can. After efforts to form a company with the man failed, Renstrom worked on replicating the unpatented solder in a squeezable tube. He initially manufactured the product in his basement and then went from store to store selling it. The solder was an immediate success and gave Renstrom financial security. Within a year he had purchased a building, and hired production and sales staffs. The building Renstrom purchased was at 1508 Burt Street in Omaha.

After his success with his solder product, Renstrom was looking for his next opportunity. His sister, Grace, had returned from Europe with a poorly made metal hair curler, purchased in Germany, that she showed to Renstrom. The curler was called the "Ruck Zuck". Similar curlers were selling in the U.S. for about 5 cents each. Renstrom improved the curler's design and obtained his first patent for a simple metal hair curler on 14 July 1936. He christened the curler the Tip Top Easy Curler — four aluminum curlers on a card priced at 10 cents a card. The consumer response to the curler was overwhelming.

When World War II intervened and aluminum was at a premium, Renstrom retooled the machines that had once produced curlers to fabricate military wire reels, barbed wire throws and land mine crates. His production building had to expand to accommodate the volume.

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