The biography of walter sammons

Many black women remember it: the smoky smell of heated hair, the tense craning of necks to keep still while the darkened comb hovered closer to the scalp, and the occasional burns. Whether it was heated on the kitchen stove, in a heater at the salon, or plugged into the wall, the hot comb promoted beauty while masking a complicated history.

It is a common misconception that Madam C. Walker invented the hot comb. It is also a misconception that she was the only African American woman to make a fortune from the black hair care industry. The truth, however, is that while her accomplishments were extraordinary, another African American woman named Annie Turnbo Malone initially pioneered the path that Walker took.

The successes of Malone and Walker in expanding the black hair and beauty industry are closely intertwined with the history of the hot comb and changing beauty standards. Tracing the history of the hot comb is complicated, largely due to misinformation and missing or unclear documentation. Tracing its patents also proves to be troublesome because the hot comb was referred to by many names and seems to have had several inventors.

It is difficult to identify precisely when the first hot comb was invented. A Frenchman named Marcel Grateau, who went by several names, is often accredited with its invention in the late s when the hot comb was used by white women in Europe.

Walter Sammons was born

Note it is very possible for him to have invented the hot comb without having a registered patent for it. In , the invention was being marketed to white women in popular American store catalogs like Bloomingdale's. Other individuals with patents for hot combs include, but are not limited to, Walter Sammons in and a St. Louis based woman named Clara Grant in