INVENTOR of the MONTH

Marjorie Stewart Joyner: Hair Curls

Marjorie Stewart Joyner was born on October 24, 1896, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Joyner developed an early interest in becoming a beautician and started a salon in her home. Her mother-in-law was not impressed with the way she did hair and suggested she study at one of Madam C. J. Walker’s schools. Joyner took her advice.

One day, while cooking a pot roast, Joyner reasoned that the long narrow rods that held the roast together and heated it internally incorporated a technique that could be used on hair. She pursued the idea and invented the Permanent Waving Machine. The 1928 patent was assigned to the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, which used the machine in its chain of beauty salons and schools. Later, to make the machine more comfortable for clients, Joyner invented a scalp protector.

Awareness of the machine’s capability also grew among white women who wanted to add curl to their hair. Consequently, Joyner’s invention began to appear in white hair salons.

Joyner held important positions in the Walker company. She was a member of the board directors and vice president of its nationwide chain of 200 salons.

In 1945, Joyner co-founded the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association (now Alpha Chi Pi Omega) with Mary Mcleod-Bethune, president of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona, Florida. In 1973, at age 77, she earned a B.S. in psychology from the school.

Marjorie Stewart Joyner died December 26, 1994.

View Archive