Madame CJ Walker was the first Black person to become a millionaire. She made her money in Black communities from the Black hair care industry.

Now, in 2007 Black consumers have to seek out Black-owned beauty stores.

If only she could be here.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS—Virginia Means, co-owner of Sisters Beauty Supply waits for customers to come in to her fully stocked beauty supply store.

In every Black community in Pittsburgh, even the ones without grocery stores, there are hair stores. But most are not Black-owned. They are Asian-owned stores that profit from Black dollars.

 “A lot of Black people would rather go to the Asian stores. They follow (Black customers). They don’t let them touch the hair. They don’t treat them right when they step into their establishment,” said Diane Harrison, one of the six women who own Sisters Beauty Supply store on Warrington Avenue in Beltzhoover.

The flooding of Black dollars to Korean-owned beauty supply stores is nothing new. It began in the early 60s, according to Aron Ranen who produced a documentary entitled “The Black Hair Documentary” last year.

The documentary suggests the Korean and U.S. government worked together to prevent the export of hair, or weave, to other countries, making Korean-Americans or South Koreans the middlemen for all wig and weave sales worldwide.

In response to the Korean dominance Black owners have formed alliances.  BOBSA, the Black-Owned Beauty Supply Association, began to support its 2,000 members four years ago.

BOBSA founder, Sam Ennon, said one of the biggest hurdles has been overcoming the Korean middleman.

“We have to buy directly from Koreans, and they don’t want to sell to us,” he said.  Ennon said there are currently 9,000 beauty stores controlled by Korean wholesalers, only 1,000 of them are Black-owned.

Despite this, the Hunter-Miller Group, a Black-owned market research firm, reports that Blacks account for 30 percent of all hair care product purchases.

“The average annual expenditures by African-Americans on health and beauty aids are 11.2 percent higher than all races, estimated around $6 billion,” reported a market snapshot on Hunter-Miller’s Web site.

In 2005 Blacks spent less on transportation, computers and books than on personal care products and services according to Target Market News.

In response BOBSA has formed a worldwide network of Black-owned stores and manufactures. It can be viewed on their website www.bobsaone.org.

But Nora Johnson, a co-owner of Sisters Beauty Supply, said having a reputation as Black-owned isn’t enough.

“Its hard to get them out of their old habits.  Some customers who live around here would rather go all the way to Mount Oliver and buy hair than come to us,” she said.

In addition, there are mileage rules that owners must adhere to.  

For example, if one store has the Beverly Johnson line of hair weaves, no store within a 10-mile radius can carry that brand. And with fully stocked stores like Two Cousins in the Hill District and Hair Master in East Liberty dominating the market, it may be impossible for Black-owners to gain footing.

Johnson said she couldn’t purchase some of the upscale hair brands that are sold at nearby stores.

Geri Duncan Jones, executive director of AHBAI, the American Health & Beauty Aids Institute, said it all comes down to money.

“It may be difficult to compete with price, because many of the OTC [over-the-counter] stores purchase together to get the lowest price possible,” Jones said.  Because Black-owned beauty stores aren’t plentiful, it’s often difficult for them to forge together and buy in bulk.

Shelbi and Mark White sold their store this year after the competition got too tough.

“Sometimes Koreans will sell their hair $5 cheaper.  But, people don’t understand that they’re buying it for cheaper too,” Shelbi said.

Antoine Powell, the new owner of Beauty Rite Hair, on Hillsboro Street in Sheraden, said one order of hair can cost upwards of $3,000, and that’s not a fully stocked store.

But, Powell said the failing of Black-owned businesses is less about Koreans and more about what he calls “the lower level mentality” of Black folks.

“If its $8.99 its $8.99.  They don’t go in to Two Cousins and ask for hook-ups or discounts,” he said.

AHBAI director, Jones said Blacks need to realize when they purchase products from Black-owned stores they benefit themselves.

“Our youth need to see positive African-American role models who are entrepreneurs in their community. In addition, African-American owned businesses provide an opportunity for African-American employment in the community,” Jones said.