Is a woman really the weaker sex?
The story of a former Martha Harper maid who opened the world’s first beauty salon,
followed by 500 more salons.
Her name is known to few, but her inventions to this day are in all the beauty salons,
than most professional hairdressers.
This unique woman went from being a maid to owning over 500 salons
and gave hundreds of non-wealthy women the opportunity to start their own businesses.
Let’s meet the woman Martha Harper.
He was born in Canada in 1857.
Her family was poor and her father sent her 60 miles away to work when she was only 7 years old,
as a maid to wealthy relatives of the family.
For 22 years she worked as a maid in Canada, first in her uncle’s house and later in the home of a doctor who introduced her to his innovative ideas for hair care.
It was then that Martha learned about the importance of scalp hygiene and how vigorous combing stimulates blood flow to the scalp and increases hair growth.
Inspired by this, she was the first to apply them to her own head with excellent results.
The doctor seeing Martha’s interest bequeathed her with a secret formula for a special hair tonic.
With her savings and the secret formula written on a piece of paper she moved to Rochester,
where in a house where she was also there as a maid, in the backyard,
created the first batches of her tonic where she and her mistress tested them.
Starting her own business.
In 1888 Martha Harper invested all her savings and created the first beauty salon.
She hung a full-length photo of herself at the entrance with her incredibly long healthy hair that reached her toes as it was the best advertisement for her business.
But there were no customers because a public barbershop was a novelty for most people at that time.
But Martha didn’t give up.
The clever woman did a trick so that she could reach more customers.
It invites young mothers who were in a music school with their children to
go to her place until their children’s lesson is over.
So she offered them her services pro bono.
The news of the first public hairdresser’s was a fact everywhere.
The Harper method.
Hair care in the late 19th century was only from the home.
The culture of hair hygiene did not exist at that time.
In Victorian times women rarely washed their hair.
To wash away the dirt they usually used an ammonia solution or onion juice that smelled repulsive.
Normally the servants were the ones who did all the washing and combing of their owners or invited hairdressers to their homes.
Then Harper made her appearance with her magic hair tonic “which was actually an organic shampoo”
and a salon where any woman could have her hair done in public.
She prioritized the comfort of her customers, something she knew how to do very well
and named the grooming service “The Harper Method.”
What the Harper method involved.
Apart from the calm atmosphere of the space and the unique natural cosmetic products created by her method, it included a relaxing head and face massage.
Martha did not use chemical dyes in her salons as she did not do perming either,
because it was destructive to the hair and was against the idea of it.
The female maid invented the modern franchise.
This single woman went from being a maid to owning a chain of salons with more than 500 shops.
She creates a line of hair care products and gives hundreds of young women the opportunity to start their own business.
The best advertisement was her own hair as it radiated beauty and health.
The Harper method took Chicago, and many cities in America by storm.
Salon owners who had her method were required to have a chair and a sink
“which she did not patent,” as well as all her cosmetics.
She designed a washbasin with a semi-circular cut for washing hair and a reclining chair for rinsing hair
in the most convenient way without getting shampoo in the eyes of the customers.
Today there is no salon that does not have this furniture.
In time she opened a network of beauty schools where she taught women her hair care method.
He also started a cosmetics factory.
At the height of its business in the 1920s, the Martha Harper chain consisted of 500 locations.
The decline of the empire.
Harper dedicated her life to growing her business.
She was busy attracting customers, training staff and finding new hair care products.
The businesswoman married a much younger man at the age of 63.
At the age of 78 she stopped and handed over her network to her husband.
After she died, her husband sold the business and in time the great empire of a brilliant woman
was dissolved and turned into an ordinary company.
Over time the reclining chair makes its appearance in every barber shop and of course
other shampoos and hair care products came on the market.
Harper’s uniqueness and this woman’s contribution to the development of women’s entrepreneurship,
should not be forgotten because it reminds us how strong women were.
Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Makri
