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Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker, better known
as Madame CJ Walker or Madame Walker, together with Marjorie Joyner
revolutionized the hair care and cosmetics industry for African American
women early in the 20th century.
Sarah began to suffer from a scalp ailment that caused her to lose some
of her hair. Embarrassed by her appearance, she experimented with a
variety of home-made remedies and products made by another black woman
entrepreneur, Annie Malone. In 1905, Sarah became a sales agent for
Malone and moved to Denver, where she married Charles Joseph Walker.
Changing her name to Madame CJ Walker, Sarah
founded her own business and began selling her own product called Madam
Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, a scalp conditioning and healing
formula. To promote her products, she embarked on an exhausting sales
drive throughout the South and Southeast selling her products door to
door, giving demonstrations, and working on sales and
marketing
strategies.
In 1908, she opened a college in Pittsburgh to train her "hair
culturists." |
