Sarah Breedlove Walker, born in 1867, faced a life filled with hardships from being orphaned at age 7, becoming a mother at 17 and widowed by 19. For years, she worked as a laundress. Later, facing hair loss — common among Black women of the time due to scalp ailments and damaging hair products — she claimed a dream revealed a unique pomade formula.
In reality, she served a stint as an agent for Annie Pope-Turnbo Malone, a Black woman with an established line of beauty products. Malone believed Walker (and others) knocked off her products.
Nonetheless, Walker continued to grow her empire. Using a pioneering direct sales approach, she trained women for door-to-door sales and even established a training university. Over her lifetime, she employed 40,000 people in the U.S., Central America and the Caribbean.
Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t invent the hair straightening comb, but she did improve on the design (giving it wider teeth), which made sales soar.
Though often dubbed the first self-made woman millionaire, records place her worth at about $600,000 — a significant sum for her time. She generously supported institutions like the YMCA and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
