Have you ever thought about the style on your brush? Have you looked at the design that is your curling iron? If you take a look at your hair care products there’s a good chance you’ll see an array of hair care products.
Your favorite hair care products are based on more than a century of innovations driven forward by the great Black leaders. Their revolutionary innovations have opened the way for many products, formulas, techniques and tools that are used today.
The efforts of Black entrepreneurs and innovators was able to continue despite the prohibition of the beauty business at the time, generating employment and improving the education of thousands Black Americans.
This year, we’re taking part in Black History Month with telling the inspirational stories of Black pioneers who revolutionized the industry of hair. Meet the women entrepreneurs who broke down barriers and helped shape future change-makers to build a better future.
Annie Malone
Entrepreneur, inventor as well as philanthropist and one of the first American female self-made millionaires Annie Malone revolutionized the hair care industry for Black women, opening the path for future hair care entrepreneurs.
As a child, Malone enjoyed chemistry, but she quit school because of frequent illnesses. She was enthralled by hair care and created a line of homemade products specifically for Black women. Did I mention that she was just 20 years old young?
As many ladies damaged their hair using damaging methods of straightening, Malone pioneered non-damaging products that flattened hair and encouraged growth.
Her most famous merchandise, “Wonderful Hair Grower” was a stimulant to growth which gained significant acclaim and eventually inspired the creation of a similar product from Madame C. J. Walker (one of Malone’s sales recruits).
Malone was also the first to pioneer an agent-based system, in which she hired and trained women to work as salespeople. They were then able to recruit other women to join across the country and beyond. This led to the widespread marketing of her brand throughout in the U.S., South America, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Alongside hair treatments, she also launched cosmetics such as lipsticks cold cream, lipstick, and powders that come in a variety of shades. Malone used her”Poro” as her name “Poro” to trademark her highly successful products and hair/scalp nourishing system that earned her the status as one of the richest women.
Her wealth was staggering, Malone focused on giving back by making donations to universities as well as for the YMCA, Black orphanages throughout the nation and much more.
The year 1918 was the time she constructed a multi-million dollar structure which housed a factory as well as a cosmetics school. Poro College served as training premises for Black women and offered accommodation, employment and training in their pursuit to achieve financial independence. The campus also offered the opportunity to meet for Black groups and individuals who were not able to gain access to public areas in the time.
Lady C. J. Walker
The name she was given is “Sarah Breedlove” to parents who were once slaves to slavery, Madam C. J. Walker was once washerwoman, earning $1.50 every day. She persevered and became millionaire on her own thanks to her popular line of haircare.
Breedlove suffered from the loss of hair, scalp dandruff and various scalp issues that were unfortunately frequent in Black women in the 1890s. Due to the lack of plumbing in the house and a lack of indoor plumbing, numerous Black families could not regularly wash their hair to get rid of lice and other harmful substances.
Breedlove determined to channel her energy into exploring homemade remedies, treatments and hair products. Some of these were all on their own specifically designed for her hair’s texture.
At the beginning of 1900, Breedlove relocated to Colorado and started work for Annie Malone as a sales agent. She also accumulated essential hair care information that she later incorporated in her line of products. She also got married Charles Walker and became professionally known as Madam C. J. Walker.
In the footsteps of Annie Malone, Walker invented a formula to promote scalp conditioning and hair growth she also founded her own company in the year 2000, and began to manufacture and sell the products she developed herself.
Inspired by healthy hair growth, Walker developed a special hair care regimen that includes Shampoo, hair growth oils, hot combs and many more that deliver soft, well-conditioned hair.
Madame C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company employed approximately 20000 women as sales representatives. She provided sales training and helped women to start their own companies and building financial security.
Lyda Newman
A feminist and inventor Lyda Newman invented a brand innovative and more efficient hairbrush model at only thirteen years of age.
Growing as a child, Newman moved to New York City from Ohio. She began her career as a hair expert and recognized the necessity for a more comfortable method to repair the hair of her clients. All it was down to the brush.
In 1898, she invented the first brush specially designed for Black women’s hair . It was an expertly crafted collection of synthetic bristles that were firm (most brushes in the past were made of the hair of animals). The bristles did not only last longer, but they were spaced evenly for ease of cleaning.
The design was innovative and encouraged airflow for faster drying. It also included a separate compartment to easily catch dirt and other debris. Additionally, the synthetic material made the brush more simple and more affordable to produce in addition to being cheaper and more accessible for women.
If it wasn’t the invention of Newman we wouldn’t have many of the popular brush designs we have come to know and are awed by today.
Nobia A. Franklin
Inspired by the beauty gurus, Nobia An. Franklin came up with her own hair products. She started her business with the opening of a hair salon within the walls of the walls of her San Antonio home. The year 1916 was when the beauty therapist from Texas and entrepreneur opened her own beauty salon located within Fort Worth. Soon after, she established the Franklin School of Beauty Culture in Houston.
In the 1920s, over 500 students had graduated from her beauty academy prepared to begin jobs in cosmetology. Her guidance and instruction allowed women to earn an independent living through mastering her method of beauty.
Franklin’s company sold a wide assortment of products, such as products for hair growth, tonics soaps, pressing oil as well as special trial products (only $1.10!) and products for the face.
The school was regarded as the biggest African American beauty school in the southern United States, pre-desegregation. The school is still in operation as the longest-running beauty college in Texas.
Marjorie Joyner
From gaining acclaim in the world of hair to fighting against racial discrimination within America. U.S., Marjorie Joyner changed the direction in beauty as well as American history during her 98 years.
Joyner’s love for beauty exploded after she graduated from the A.B. Molar Beauty School in 1916. Following her graduation, she started her Salon at Chicago where she was introduced to Madam C.J. Walker whom she later would work as a national advisor.
It was in 1928 that Joyner was to revolutionize cosmetology business forever thanks to an invention for hairstyling that was that was inspired by the process of cooking a pot roast. In the course of cooking, she used rods to heat the meat inside and believed that a similar process of heating could keep curls of hair in good shape.
Joyner imagined the idea of wrapping hair around rod-like devices to create hands-free curls in one session. It was a much better option than long, section-by-section style using typical hot tools.
She then invented and later patented”Permanent Waving Machine,” which she later patented “Permanent Waving Machine,” comprised of several rods that were connected to the drying hood via electrical cords. The invention was instantly accepted into salons, and ladies would lie under the drying hood and create a style of great hair that would last for several days.
Joyner’s career began to heat up with the success of the wave machine. She went on to co-found the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association and start the Alpha Chi Pi Omega Sorority and Fraternity (a historically Black organization for beauticians and barbers).
Throughout her leadership, she taught around 15,000 stylists, helping them gain respect and success in the growing field.
What really drove Joyner was her passion for making significant change, not just for Black beauticians, but also for all Black women enduring racial discrimination during the 1930s.
Working alongside First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Joyner became a leader on the Democratic National Committee where she advised New Deal agencies in their outreach to Black women, as well as helped found the National Council of Negro Women.
Sara Spencer Washington
It was a surprise to Sara Spencer Washington know that her modest beauty shop situated in New Jersey would grow into an empire that grew rapidly, earning her place as a beauty icon in history.
As a hairdresser, she began her journey, Washington found herself constantly testing new ingredients and products that targeted an increasing number that included Black women. Washington would work at her salon during the morning and then concentrate on sales and product development in the evenings.
Around 1920, her tiny business grew into a brand new venturecalled that of the Apex News and Hair Company. The company sold a range of products that ranged from shampoos to hair care products and lipsticks, as well as creams and lotions. She also had ads that celebrated Black fashion and cultural.
The enormous popularity of her brand has enabled her to expand to Apex Beauty Colleges, Apex Laboratories, Apex Publishing Company and many more. Her empire was comprised of Beauty schools that were 11 located in the U.S. alone, in addition to many schools in other countries.
In addition to employing thousands of Black women (at the time, the number was as high as 45,000 Apex agents across the nation) Washington’s status in the category of world’s most prominent businesswomen at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 brought international recognition for the important contribution of Black women.
Rose Morgan
Rose Morgan technically became a businesswoman when she was 10. She would walk from door to door selling her paper flowers to neighbors for just five cents per bunch. Her business acumen was to blossom into the ownership of the most prestigious beauty salon that caters to Black Americans in the world.
As she grew up, Morgan shifted from flower creation to her newfound passion–hairstyling.
The year was 1938 and she was given her biggest break when she was able to style the hair of singer and actress Ethel Waters’ hair. Morgan employed a unique technique that required the use of the product in a controlled manner to create a silkier result that have more bounce. With only $500 to her account, Morgan moved to New York and started renting a booth in Upper Manhattan, which quickly saw a steady flow of customers.
After 1945, the actress launched its own hair salon called Rose Meta House of Beauty and would rack up over $3 million in revenue within a short period of time. The salon grew its services that included massages and skin care as well as other services unavailable to Black women of the time.
With coat-checks available, Morgan’s beautiful salon was a peaceful place where women could enjoy relaxing and indulgence without having to lift the finger. Morgan ensured the Black women, so used to taking care of other people were taken to in a respectful manner at her salon.
in 1955 Morgan acquired a completely new structure, named The Rose Morgan’s House of Beauty that included the department of dressmaking, a salon facilities, charm school and eventually a hair salon. Through her entire career she hired and trained more than 3,000 individuals to work for her enormous beauty establishment.
Christina Jenkins
Christina Jenkins developed the sew-in hair-weaving technique, which is a huge leap in the industry of hair.
When 1943 came around, Jenkins completed her college degree with an undergraduate degree in science and started working for an wig maker in Chicago. As she was researching ways to secure wigs securely without using extreme heat or harsh chemicals She developed a revolutionary concept.
She believed that mixing natural and commercial hair would result in greater volume and longer lasting results. Jenkins Hair weaving consisted of braiding cornrows on her clients, and then affixing the hair of commercial clients to a net which was later sewn to the base of the cornrow.
Then, in 1951 she got the patent for her original technique that is still being used by stylists around the world.
Theora Stephens
Although there’s not much information on Theora Stephens patent in the 1980s, her invention for an improved and new “pressing and curling iron” revolutionized the way hair is twisted.
As a hairdresser Stephens was looking to improve the old methods of curling. Her style, which mimics the irons that we are familiar with as well, included springs to form and hold curls to make styling easier and provide longer-lasting outcomes.
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