Business of Black Beauty: How Annie Malone and Madam CJ Walker inspire Black hair stylists more than 100 years later

PEORIA (25News Now) – In the early 1900s, two pioneering women made millions of dollars while, at the same time, making millions of women look and feel more beautiful. In 2022, Forbes estimates people spent close to $90 billion on beauty products. When it comes to the Black hair industry, the market value is estimated at $3 billion. Many women have become successful entrepreneurs in the beauty industry, but it all began with two women starting a journey to help Black women have a hair product that would allow them to hold down employment in white spaces. Now, many decades later, both the legacies of Annie Malone and Madam C.J. Walker are living on as the blueprint for entrepreneurship and economic freedom — one hair strand at a time. Since the beginning of recorded time, Black women have always invested in their hair. Maps were braided into a woman’s head to show people the way north to escape slavery. “So, Madam Walker and Annie Malone really are two giants who deserve to have their stories told,” said Aishah Bilal-Ali, owner of Hairadox. There are historical discrepancies over which woman became the true first self-made millionaire. Modern history says Walker was...