|THE DEN|
Few people are familiar with Martha Harper, yet many people who attend beauty salons still employ her inventions. This unusual woman worked her way up from being a servant to becoming the boss of a chain of more than 500 beauty salons.
It was Martha who invented hair salons as we know them today, developed a line of hair care products, and provided hundreds of less fortunate women with the opportunity to launch their own companies.
Martha Matilda Harper was born in 1857 in Canada. She had been a servant in Canada for 22 years. She was working at a German doctor's home, where he shared with her some avant- garde (at the time) hair care concepts. Martha later discovered the value of good cleanliness and that combing increases blood flow to the scalp and hastens hair development.
These discoveries gave Martha ideas she attempted on her hair with tremendous success. The doctor gave the girl formula for a special hair tonic in recognition of Martha's interest in what he was doing. Martha didn’t want to be a sought-after servant, but a businesswoman.
Martha Matilda Harper used all of her savings to start a beauty parlour in 1888. The best advertisement for her company was a full-length portrait she displayed at the front door, showing her with a head full of healthy brown hair that reached her toes. However, there were no customers since most people were unfamiliar with a public barbershop.
Martha Matilda Harper used all of her savings to start a beauty parlour in '1888. The best advertisement for her company was a full-length portrait she displayed at the front door, showing her with a head full of healthy brown hair that reached her toes.
However, there were no customers since most people were unfamiliar with a public barbershop. But Martha didn't give up. The clever woman employed a ruse to draw in her first customers. Martha gathered young mothers who were waiting for their children to finish their lessons in the hall of a music school next to her salon.
Ladies would visit the salon to pass time, but once they learned about Martha's services, they started coming in regularly. After this, word of the first public hairdresser salon across the entire city spread.
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