Article: Women routinely bring new products into the world.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Necessity is the mother of invention, and nothing seems to create need more than a big mistake that requires correction.

Take the case of Rommy Revson, inventor of the soft band for ponytails known as the Scunci (though most people call it a "scrunchy").

"More than 2 billion Scuncis have been sold in the past 10 years, and it all started because of a bad divorce and a worse bleach job," writes Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek, authors of "Patently Female, From AZT to TV Dinners, Stories of Women Inventors and Their Breakthrough Ideas," (John Wiley & Sons, $24.95). The book is a light encyclopedia of women's contributions to the world of change.

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