Walker Pioneered in Ethnic Hair Care, Women in Cosmetics

By: Laurie DiBerardino

Posted: February 2, 2006, from the February 2006 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

The ability to break down barriers may be the single most defining trait in the make up of an innovator. In an era that suppressed women--particularly black women--and women-owned businesses were an anomaly, icon Madam C.J. Walker jump-started the ethnic hair industry and forged a beauty empire that lasted through the mid-1980s.