Style and Status: Selling Beauty to African American Women, 1920–1975 (review)

Susannah Walker’s well-researched and well-written examination of the African American beauty industry, from approximately 1920– 1975, makes an important contribution to the growing field of African American business history. Style and Status provides a detailed account of the triumphs and travails of African American entrepreneurs who satisfied the hair care needs of black women.

One of the major issues faced by historic and contemporary African American purveyors of “beauty” to black women is the question of what (or whose) “standard” is being used to define this phenomenon. Style and Status conveys the author’s extensive familiarity with the scholarship associated with this controversial area of inquiry.

Decades before the ascendancy of the “Afro” hairstyle during the late 1960s, segments within the African American community criticized black women who straightened their hair, as well as the beauticians who facilitated this process. Besides ministers who “scolded women for tampering with God’s handiwork” (32), critics of black women who straightened their hair claimed that such individuals were demonstrating their desire to look white (if they could not be white).

Needless to say, the lingering effects of the attempt to dehumanize transplanted Africans during slavery, supported by historic declarations of white superiority and black inferiority, may help explain why some black women chose to straighten their hair. Yet, as Walker states throughout her work (expanding upon the work of Noliwe Rooks and others), the decision made by some black women to straighten their hair, as well as the decision made by other black women to work as beauticians, was far more nuanced than simply a manifestation of self-hatred. For instance, Madame C. J. Walker, the most famous historic figure associated with the African American beauty industry, did not view herself as a hair straightener, but as someone who promoted healthy hair and scalps to black women.

The following analogy may assist in putting the question of black women straightening their hair in a clearer perspective. It is common practice for European American women, during the Spring and Summer months, to sit in the sun (or in “tanning beds”) to darken their skin tone. In all likelihood, the vast majority of these individuals are not seeking to become black, but are seeking a perceived more healthy appearance associated with tanned skinned. Quite frankly, in our advertising-driven society, all of us, regardless of our gender or race/ethnicity, are continually bombarded with marketing messages urging us to purchase particular products to remedy particular “deficiencies.”

Besides providing important insights about the socio-psychological dynamics of the black beauty industry, Style and Status makes an important contribution to business history through its detailed discussion of the competitive challenges faced by black entrepreneurs in the marketplace. Although African Americans literally created the black beauty industry, they did have not a monopoly over female consumers seeking these goods and services. Even during the height of “Jim Crow,” severalwhite-owned beauty products companies actively sought black customers.

In fact, some white companies went so far as to portray themselves as black-owned to elicit black consumer support. The example of the Golden Brown Chemical Company graphically illustrates this phenomenon. According to Walker, “This white-owned company headquartered in Memphis, fabricated an African American female company founder named Madame Mamie Hightower . . . Here was a clear attempt to profit from the popularity of women like [Madame C.J.] Walker, [Annie] Malone, and [Sarah] Washington, whose ragsto- riches stories were well known to readers of African American newspapers” (25).

Ironically, just as many African American beauty industry entrepreneurs decried both the devious and straightforward competition they received from white firms, others in the African American community sought to increasewhite corporate interest in black consumers (believing this recognition would assist the African American quest for freedom, justice, and equality). This, among other things, represents a manifestation of the historic debate among African Americans about whether the promotion of...