Did you know that Q-Tips were actually made by accident? Yes, the invention was meant for safety, not to be a real product. The story started, one day, a protective father (Leo Gerstenzang) was watching over his son and his wife in 1923. That was when he realised, she took a little toothpick and put a small piece of cotton on top. As Leo watched, he saw to his horror, that his wife put it in his son’s ear to remove wax from it.
Thoughts filled his mind, what if the stick broke? What if a little piece of cotton was still stuck in his ear? He, suddenly, then started to manufacture an item like he had saw except the cotton would be tightly glued on the two ends of the stick. Leo initially called the product Baby Gays, but in 1926 he changed the name to Quality Tips Baby Gays and this was changed again to the name you know it by now, the Q-Tips.
