At the turn of the century, many women had need for income-producing employment despite limitations placed on them because of their gender. Many of them took advantage of a growing commercial and service economy and changes in cultural perceptions about what was acceptable for a lady to do to enhance her appearance (Peiss 70). Madam C.J. Walker, "made straight hair 'good hair,'" and in doing so, made a fortune for herself and a decent standard of living for a work force of "agents" that numbered 20,000 in the U.S. and the Caribbean" (Gates 165). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the life and business of Madam C.J. Walker, in the context of her times and the hair care and beauty business.
Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in Delta, Louisiana in 1867, and was the daughter of former slaves. She had a very hard life: she was orphaned as a child and lived with an older sister. She married at the age of 14, and had one daughter, Leila before her husband died in an accident. She moved to St. Louis in 1888, doing domestic work and occasionally selling scalp preparations called "Wonderful Hair Grower" manufactured by the Poro Company. She had begun using the product to battle her own hair and scalp problems - these were common to black women at the time because of poor diet and stress.
She invented her own product. She claimed the formula came to her in a dream: "a big black man appeared to me and told me what to mix up for my hair." Some of the ingredients were grown in Africa, but she sent for them, mixed up the concoction and "in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out" (Gates 166). She called her product "Wonderful Hair Grower" just like the one she had sold until the Poro Company registered the trade name. Both Poro and Walker claimed to have invented hair care systems for African Americans, but most likely they modified existing formulas and heating combs already on the market....