Happy Blackity Black History Month!!!! I don’t care what they saying in any city in Florida baby the whole month is Black history month no matter what they voted. With that being said if you’re just as excited to celebrate Black history month as I am you are in for a treat.

In 2021 we have a lot more representation of black men and women who rock their natural hair unapologetically. We have an entire cast of women on Blackish who effortless move through a range of natural and protective hairstyles. Not to mention Traces Ellis Ross who not only has talked openly about what it means to wear her natural hair on screen she also has her own hair care line Pattern.

Today beautiful black women grace the screen with their natural hair more than ever before. Let me just say that I eat it up every time, but someone had to be first. That someone was our dearly departed Cicely Tyson. Cicely Tyson made history as the first black women to wear her natural hair on screen. More specifically on CBS in East side/west side.

She spoke out about wearing her natural hair and the hopes that she had for the relationship that black women have with their hair. Now we have amazing hair stylist like Yene Damtew who not only is our forever first lady Michelle Obama’s personal hairstylist: she’s also out here expanding her business in the middle of a pandemic. Not to mention all the wealth of knowledge that we have at our fingertips.

I mean there are so many small business’s birthed out of black hair care. Melanin by Naptural85 a vlogger who has been D.I.Y.’ing for the duration of her natural hair journey. Others like Camille Rose by Janell Stephens and Mielle Organics by Monique Rodriguez.

Hair care lines that were formed in some cases to care for the founders and their families hair. Some to reach a group of people that they knew were struggling to find products that worked for them. All of them having amazing inspiring Stories.

But I can’t tell the inspiring stories of black women who run sustainable hair care businesses with out giving a shot out to the first who ever did it. My girl Madamae C.J. Walker. The first self made female millionaire in America, who just happens to be black. We all hear about how she invented the hot comb. But let me tell you she did way more. She started her hair care line after suffering a scalp disorder that caused her to loose her hair.

When she started her hair care line their weren’t any products that were made by black women for black women. She sold her products door to door before she hired staff and when she did she hired you guessed it more black women. Check this out sis called her saleswomen beauty culturalist aint that cute!

Madame C. J.Walker not only was a black business women (before that was even a thing) she was about the advancement of black women. She donated money as scholarships to women in universities and encouraged her employees to give back as well. Oh and did I mention that she started a school. A whole beauty school in PA Pittsburg and threw in a factory cuz she could.

When we think about how far we have come in the hair care of black women where would we be with out the woman who started it all. On behalf of black history month I had to take a moment and honor a lady who started us off strong, Madame C.J. Walker. I hope that you enjoyed the first blog post of black history month. Remember, be happy, be curly, you and you will never fail!