I am looking for annual and/or quarterly sales for hair dryers, in
dollars and or units, US and/or world, preferably hand held but could
include other hair styling instruments.  I will take what is out there
for now and I may not be available to clarify. I need an answer before
Monday and will tip accordingly.
I would like a consistent data source for as many years or quarters as
possible but will take whats there.

<According to Remington the global hair care appliance market is worth
$2 billion.
http://www.remington-products.com/usa/corpinfo/sec/BSC20030603.pdf

The most consistent figures were from Mintel.
Hair Styling Appliances Market – US Report.
According to Mintel, the hair styling appliances market was worth $779
million in 2001. There was 4 % growth over 2000.
Based on these figures sales in 2000 were $749 million.
The market grew 9% over the period 1996-2001.
Based on these figures sales in 1996 were $714 million.
The market is mature. The full report costs $3,000.00
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000066U8F/longlockshair-20/002-6536244-5298443
Contents
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000066U8F/ref=pm_dp_ln_b_2/002-6536244-5298443?v=glance&s=ebooks&vi=contents
http://www.longlocks.com/hair-industry-library.htm

However estimates from AC Nielsen are considerably less.
According to AC Nielsen in 2002, sales of hair appliances were $413.6
million (up 0.6%)or 27.9 million units (down 3.2%).
Based on these figures sales in 2001 were $411.13 million.
http://www.ecrm-epps.com/Expose/V6_17/38.pdf

Freedonia has a report available on world electric house wares and
personal care appliances to 2005 which gives details of sales and
company profiles. Sections of the report can be purchased for $30. Of
interest to you will be:
Hair dryers and curling irons/brushes. 
http://freedonia.ecnext.com/coms2/summary__0001_000842_000000_000000_0001_1
Hair dryers & curling irons/brushes – world demand.
http://freedonia.ecnext.com/free-scripts/comsite2.pl

Hair styling appliances U.S. 2002 $2995.00
http://reports.mintel.com/sinatra/mintel/subscriptions/9&4723&26107/report/repcode=U082&anchor=a116/doc/653624115&repcode=U082>


<Additional links:>
<In 1979 sales of hairdryers in the U.S. were 13 million a year.>
<http://classaction.findlaw.com/recall/cpsc/files/1979mar/79013.html>

<Europeans buy 16 million hair dryers each year.>
<http://workscited.net/articledisp.ehtml?articleid=119>


<Search strategy:>

<"hair dryers" million "market share">
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22hair+dryers%22+million+%22market+share%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N>

<"hair dryers" billion>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22hair+dryers%22+billion>

<mintel "hair dryers">
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=mintel+%22hair+dryers%22&btnG=Google+Search>

<Hope this helps.>

We didn't get the answer we needed, but we did get some help toward
that answer that we eventually discovered.  You were also operating
under very tight time constraints.  Thanks for the extra effort