March 8, 2022 – Theme Week Day 2

We’re continuing our theme week of 5 Fearless Females today, on this International Women’s Day! Our second fearless female is Madam C.J. Walker, the first female self-made millionaire in America! She made her fortune with her line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through her business, Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Her name was variation of “Mrs. Charles Joseph Walker,” after her third husband.
She was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 to freed slaves in Louisiana, but was orphaned at the age of 7. She and her daughter moved to Saint Louis in 1888, where her brothers were barbers. She worked as laundress, earning just more than a dollar a day. She suffered a scalp disorder that caused her to lose much of her hair, and this is what inspired her to create her own products for black women. The so-called “Walker System” included scalp preparation, custom pomades, lotions, and iron combs. She sold her products door to door, teaching other women how to style their hair using her system.
She and her husband moved to Pittsburgh in 1908, where they opened a beauty parlor and started a college to train what they called “hair culturists”. She expanded internationally to the Caribbean and Central America in 1913. During her heyday, Walker employed thousands of sales agents and her company claimed to have trained nearly 20,000 women.
Her husband, who was also her business partner, advised her on marketing and promotion. Thanks to heavy advertising in African American publications and Walker’s frequent travels to promote her travels, her products became extremely well known throughout the United States. She died in 1919, at the age of 51. At that time, her business had over $500,000 in sales annually. You can still buy products inspired by Walker’s original hair care line. In 2020, the brand was revived as Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture, and sold at Sephora. Learn more here.