In 1910, Sarah “Madame C. J.†Walker is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first African American female self-made millionaire through the creation of a range of haircare products targeted to the African American community. Once asked about her secret of her success, Walker responded: “There is no royal flower-strewn path to success…If I have accomplished anything in life, it is because I have been willing to work hard.†(Image: Madam C.J. Walker)
Even before the beginning of the 20th Century, African Americans were at the forefront of the haircare business. In 1898, Lyda Newman, an African American New York resident, patented a new and improved hair brush. In fact, some historians claimed Newman invented the first brush with synthetic bristles. (Image: The Newman hair brush)more
In 1910, Sarah “Madame C. J.†Walker is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first African American female self-made millionaire through the creation of a range of haircare products targeted to the African American community. Once asked about her secret of her success, Walker responded: “There is no royal flower-strewn path to success…If I have accomplished anything in life, it is because I have been willing to work hard.†(Image: Madam C.J. Walker)more
Through the 1910s and 1920s, Claude A. Barnett, founder of the Associated Negro Press news wire service, and several business partners established Kashmir Chemical Company to manufacture and sell specialty hair products to African Americans. (Image: Claude Barnett)more
In 1928, Marjorie Joyner, national supervisor of Madame C.J. Walker Beauty Colleges, invented the permanent waving machine modifying the process in which black women straightened tightly-curled hair by using a stove-heated curling iron. The device connected 16 rods to a single electric cord of a standard drying hood and after women wore the hood for a designated period of time their hair would be straightened or curled. Joyner, one of the first black women to receive a patent, produced a device popular in both black and white salons. (Image: the permanent waving machine)more
One of the early powerhouses in the haircare industry was S.B. Fuller who established the Fuller Products Company on the Chicago’s Southside in 1936. By 1947, he scored a coup when he purchased Boyer International Laboratories, a white cosmetics manufacturer that sold products such as Jean Nadal Cosmetics and a tonic called H.A. Hair Arranger. By the 1950s, Fuller developed a sales force of 5,000 that reportedly sold haircare and cosmetics to white and black customers. He became the first African American member of the National Association of Manufacturers. (Image: S.B. Fuller, Black Enterprise, August 1975)more
In the 1950s, Chicago entrepreneur George Johnson, a former Fuller Products employee, began to amass power and wealth with Johnson Products Company and development of Ultra Wave Culture, a “permanent†hair straightener for men. He also created a similar product for women. (Image: George Johnson) more
Chicago continued to be the birthplace of black haircare entrepreneurship and innovation. The late John H. Johnson, legendary publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, also developed grooming products manufacturers--Beauty Star in the 1940s and Supreme Beauty Products, which produced Duke pomade for men and Raveen hair dressing for women, in the 1960s. By 1967, he expanded his haircare products distribution beyond the mail-order operation. However, the company promotes the haircare products line in its publications to this day. (Image: Duke hair product ad, Ebony, July 1960)more
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Afro emerges as the dominant black hairstyle symbolizing black pride. Angela Davis becomes an icon of the Black Power Movement with her large fro while Melba Tolliver, a news reporter for a New York ABC affiliate, is fired for wearing an afro while covering the wedding of Tricia Nixon, daughter of the 37th President of the United States. The hairstyle also boosted sales in the ethnic haircare market. (Image: Melba Tolliver)more
In 1970, Johnson Products becomes the first black-owned company to be publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange. With $13 million in sales, Johnson leads the big five black haircare manufacturers. The others: Atlanta-based Cannonolene Co.; Magnificent Natural Products of California; John H. Johnson’s Supreme Beauty Products; and Madame C. J. Walker Company. (Image: Johnson Products logo)more
With only $600, a typewriter and a dilapidated warehouse, Comer Cottrell launched Pro-Line Corp. in 1970. Creating a strawberry-scented, oil-based spray developed by chemical companies, he convinced beauty parlors and barber shops to take his product. With his brother James, they developed 15 hair dressings, shampoos and skin-care products making it the second largest black-owned hair companies during the 1970s. (Image: James and Comer Cottrell, Black Enterprise, November 1979)more
In 1973, 24-year-old model Naomi Sims partners with Metropa Corp. to launch the Naomi Sims Collection, a line of wigs for black female consumers, who made up roughly 40% of the market. By 1979, the Collection grossed $5 million and was sold in more than 2,000 wig boutiques and department stores nationwide. (Image: Naomi Sims)more
In 1973, Atlanta pharmacists Cornell McBride and Therman McKenzie take $500 of their own money to produce Sta-Sof-Fro Oil Sheen and Comb Out and launch future haircare giant M&M Products. After generating strong sales on a regional level, M&M gained national distribution with such major retailers as K-Mart and Woolworth stores. By 1980, revenues for the upstart had grown to $8 million. (Image: Cornell McBride and Therman McKenzie, Black Enterprise, February 1980)more
In 1977, the Jheri-mack curl emerges as new hairstyle trend in California. The ultra-moist curly perm grows in popularity through the nation and becomes prominent during the 1980s. As a result, it catapulted a number of black haircare companies to BE 100s status. (Image: 80s actor Stoney Jackson sporting a Jheri Curl)more
In the August 1978 issue, BLACK ENTERPRISE publishes a feature on the haircare and cosmetics industry. With more than 32% of the $120 million black haircare market, Johnson Products is one of the industry’s most dominant players. On the strength of Afro Sheen, the company’s sales grew from $13 million in 1971 to $41 million in 1978, making it the country’s fourth largest black-owned business. (Image: George Johnson on cover of Black Enterprise, August 1978)more
The 10 leading black-owned haircare companies established the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute (AHBAI), a trade association to provide education and advocacy, in 1981. The organization is initially led by Chairman George Johnson of Johnson Products and Executive Director Lafayette Jones, a leading black haircare spokesman. (Image: Proud Lady symbol)more
With the growing popularity of the Jheri-mack curl, 17-year-old Soft Sheen finally breaks through the competitive pack. The Chicago-based company, which grossed $500,000 in 1981, found a way to untangle salon owners’ problems. Developing Care Free Curl and a host of moisturizers, conditioners and activators, CEO Edward Gardner and his family-run businesses reduced the time for beauticians to style customers and as a result, boosted the profitability of salons. Grossing $55 million in revenues in 1982, the company ranked No.8 in its debut showing on the 1983 Top 100. It would remain the largest black-owned haircare company for 14 years. (Image: Edward Gardner)more
In 1985, Atlanta-based M&M Products had realized a more than 600% growth in sales – from $7 million to $45 million – over the past five years to become the nation’s second largest black-owned manufacturer. Cornell McBride told BLACK ENTERPRISE at the time that the company would continue its growth through hair-color products because black women represented 25% of the market and crossover product introductions as the curl craze hit Scandinavia and Germany. Four years later, McBride and business partner Therman McKenzie were derailed by financial problems and personal conflicts, selling M&M was sold to Johnson Products. (Image: Cornell McBride)more
In 1987, Irving Bottner, president of Revlon’s professional products division, incited the ire of members of the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute (AHBAI), the Chicago-based black haircare trade association, when he told Newsweek: “In the next couple of years, the black-owned businesses will disappear. They’ll all be sold to white companies.†The AHBAI’s response to the threat was to initiate a $2 million “buy black†campaign targeted to African American consumers. The AHBAI Proud Lady logo was placed on members’ product packaging. At that time, there were five black haircare companies on the BE Top 100 – Soft Sheen, M&M Products, Johnson Products, Pro-line Corp. and American Beauty Products – representing $210.5 million – 6.4% of the list’s collective sales. (Image: AHBAI logo and Proud Lady symbol)more
In 1989, Soft Sheen is named BE Company of the Year, promoting its audacious goal of selling grooming products to a billion blacks worldwide. It becomes the nation’s sixth largest black-owned business through M&A: It acquired 66% of Dyke and Dryden, a London-based distributor and one of the United Kingdom’s largest black-owned businesses to expand its reach in Africa and Europe as well as created a joint venture with Jamaican businessmen to construct a plant to produce products for the Caribbean and Latin America. To further increase market share, it also bought Newark, New Jersey-based Alaion Products, a producer of low-cost haircare products for men. (Image: Edward and Gary Gardner, Black Enterprise, June 1989)more
In 1993, Johnson Products is acquired by IVAX Corp. for a one-for-one stock swap valued at $67 million. The sale represents the first BE100s manufacturer bought by a majority-owned corporation, beginning the decade-long takeover of black-owned haircare companies by major pharmaceutical and beauty aids conglomerates. The transaction also caused such a furor in African American community that Rainbow/Push called for a boycott and inspired the November 1993 cover story, “Should We Sell Our Firms To Whites?†Johnson would then be acquired by Carson, Inc. which, in turn, was bought by L’Oreal in 1998. By 2003, the company had changed hands again, becoming a unit of Procter & Gamble. (Image: Joan and Joan Johnson on the cover of Black Enterprise, November 1993)more
In 1998, French cosmetics giant L’Oreal acquired Soft Sheen, the nation’s largest company that ranked No. 18 on the1997 BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE COMPANIES list with revenues of $95 million. In 2000, L’Oreal purchased Carson Products and eventually merged the two entities. Over the years, Soft Sheen-Carson, which has a product line that includes Dark & Lovely and Magic Shave, has been managed by corporate luminaries such as Candace Matthews, now Chief Marketing Officer of Amway Corp. and the 2009 BLACK ENTERPRISE Corporate Executive of the Year, and Angela Guy, its current General Manager. Both Matthews and Guy can be found on the BLACK ENTERPRISE 75 Most Powerful Women in Business list. (Image: Angela Guy)more
In 2000, Alberto-Culver, a $1.6 billion personal care products manufacturer, acquired Pro-Line, the third largest black-owned manufacturer at the time. (Image: Pro-Line hair product Hair Food)
By 2000, the AHBAI claimed that L’Oreal has become the “Microsoft of ethnic haircare†with 61.9% of the hair color market and 51.2% of the women’s relaxer market. L’Oreal disputed such claims. (Image: L'Oreal logo)more
Documentary filmmaker Aaron Ranen released the 2006 DVD, Black Hair: The Korean Takeover of the Black Hair Care Industry, which he billed as an expose on how Koreans dominate 80% of black beauty supply distribution. In the film, it was reported that black women purchased 70% of all wigs and hair extensions. It was also found that many of the leading black haircare trade publications were written in Korean. (Image: DVD cover of Black Hair: The Korean Takeover)more
Comedian Chris Rock revealed the impact of hairstyles on African Americans’ social life, self-esteem and finances in the 2009 film, Good Hair. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. (Image: DVD cover of Good Hair)more
Former Pro-Line executives Eric Brown and Renee Cottrell-Brown, Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners LP and St. Cloud Capital form RCJP Acquisition, Inc. and acquire Johnson Products. The browns seek to bring back community-focused marketing efforts while seeking international growth. (Image: Hair creation at Bronner Bros. hair show)more
Bronner Brothers, known for the avant garde hairstyles found at the company’s beauty shows, remains the only BE 100s company with haircare and beauty products as its core business. It ranks No.74 on the 2010 BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE COMPANIES list with $50 million in gross sales. Haircare now represent.0.2% of the BE 100s collective sales. Related article: How to Remake Your Company Like Johnson ProductsAdditional reporting by Christina Faisonmore