Planet Money – "How Black Hair Care Grew Black Power"

NPR | January 7, 2026
Host(s): Erica Barris, Sonari Glinton
Special Guests: George E. Johnson, Olivia Joan Gali

Brief Overview

This episode of Planet Money delves into the intertwined story of Black hair care and Black economic empowerment, focusing on the rise and fall of Johnson Products, the company behind iconic brands like Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen. Through the voices of the Johnson family – notably founders George and Joan Johnson and their granddaughter Olivia Joan Gali – the show explores how attention to Black consumers' needs fueled both the civil rights movement and the broader Black middle class, while also chronicling the eventual loss of Black ownership in the modern era. Framed around three landmark hairstyles – the conk, the Afro, and the Jheri curl – the episode is a poignant look at business, culture, and legacy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Personal Connection — Olivia Joan Gali’s Inheritance and Legacy

• Opening Anecdote:
  Olivia Joan Gali, a young Black photographer, shares her TikTok posts featuring her late grandmother’s couture wardrobe.

  • Quote (Olivia Joan Gali, 01:29): “You really did not see black men and women able to even afford designer pieces. But to see that my grandmother had such a deep rooted archival collection is the reason why I really kept talking about it.”

• Revelation of Heritage:
  Olivia discovers that her grandparents are Joan Betty Henderson Johnson and George E. Johnson, key figures in Black entrepreneurship.

  • Memorable moment (Olivia Joan Gali, 02:02):
    “Yeah, my grandmother is Joan Betty Henderson Johnson.”

2. The Birth of Black Hair Care as Black Business

• Early Chicago Context:
  Post-WWII, Black families migrate north seeking opportunity and respectability; hair straightening becomes a symbol of assimilation.

  • Historical context (Erica Barris, 06:19):
    “As black people were moving into the middle class, there was intense pressure to assimilate. The more kink you conked out your hair, the whiter you looked, the more respectable…”

• George’s Hustle and Entry into Hair Care:

  • Childhood of poverty; early jobs (scrapping, shining shoes, etc.).
  • Entry into cosmetics manufacturing and chemistry via on-the-job training (07:47-08:27).

• Key Partnership:
  Partnership with Orville Nelson, Nat King Cole’s barber, to invent a safer, shelf-stable hair straightener.

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 11:13):
    “It was obvious to me when I saw the product, the way it was separated, it told me that it needed to be emulsified... it took nine months.”

  • Ultra Wave Launch:
    The two launch Ultra Wave Hair Culture in 1954 – “this wasn’t the first hair straightener, but what was new was this product was shelf stable and reliable.” (12:06)

• Joan Johnson's Business Acumen:
  Joan’s fearless approach to collecting debts and managing operations.

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 13:05):
    “She just sat down reading Ebony magazine until the guy finally decided he had to pay her. And he did.”

3. Community Impact and the Expansion of Black Power

• Johnson Products Becomes a Symbol:
  The company grows through Black barbershops and onto retail shelves, serving as a monument of Black culture and employment on Chicago’s South Side (14:10-14:24).

• Economic Empowerment:
  The Johnsons support Black community initiatives, including buying a failed neighborhood bank and renaming it Independence Bank (14:41-14:54).

• Civil Rights Movement Collaboration:
  Johnson Products becomes deeply linked with Black empowerment—funding Soul Train, lending $100,000 to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a critical moment (16:09-17:07).

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 16:47):
    “He looked up at the building and he said, this is black power.”
  • Memorable moment (George E. Johnson, 17:07):
    “Oh, he cried. He cried when we gave him the check.”

4. Marketing Genius and Going Public

• Soul Train Sponsorship:
  The company sponsors Soul Train, embedding Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen into pop culture with catchy slogans and product placements.

  • Quick exchange (George E. Johnson & Sonari Glinton, 18:27-18:47):
    “Kids loved it... use Afro machine.” / “And that's the natural truth.” / “That's viral marketing.” / “Yeah.”

• Massive Financial Growth:
  TV marketing leads to explosive sales growth—from $11.2 million (1971) to $39 million (1975).

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 19:11):
    “Oh, absolutely [attrition to Soul Train].”

• Stock Market Milestone:
  In 1971, Johnson Products becomes the first Black-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange.

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 19:38):
    “It was a great deal. We went to New York and of course they just... put the red carpet out.”

5. The Costs and Pressures of Success

• Loss of Control Post-IPO:
  After going public, the Johnsons face pressure from shareholders and outsiders, lose company oversight to new (white) managers, and encounter the challenge of increased transparency (21:20-22:47).

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 22:30):
    “We wanted to be out front and give a good, honest report. And we overdid that. And that was not smart.”

• Competition and Decline:
  Competitors like Revlon use publicly available data to enter the Black hair care market, diminishing Johnson’s market share.

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 23:00):
    “Then they got interested.”

• Jheri Curl Revolution:
  Failure to keep up with changing fashion trends (the Jheri curl boom) symbolizes the company falling behind.

  • Quote (George E. Johnson, 24:40):
    “We didn’t match the leading Jheri curl products... we lost a lot of our customers and that's when we had our first losses.”

6. The End of Family Ownership—and Its Meaning

• Final Sale:
  Joan Johnson sells the company to a white-owned pharmaceutical for $70 million in 1993, sparking national conversations about Black business succession.

  • Headline (Erica Barris, 26:02):
    “‘Should we sell our firms to whites?’”

• Legacy, Loss, and Hope for the Future:

  • The Johnsons’ granddaughter Olivia expresses bittersweet pride:
    • Quote (Olivia Joan Gali, 26:53):
      “I think business wise, they paved the way for black hair care to this day.”
  • The persistence of Johnson products in Black homes, even as Black ownership disappears from store shelves.
    • Quote (Olivia Joan Gali, 27:35):
      “This [Ultra Sheen] is perfect for braids... this is my saving grace.”
    • Quote on modern market (Olivia Joan Gali, 27:53):
      “It truly just breaks my heart to see how many are actually founded or run by white people, even though their products are directed for the black community... shouldn’t there be more?”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Black Culture and Business:
  Erica Barris (03:08): “The Johnsons saw black culture as black business.”

• On Civil Rights & Economic Power:
  George E. Johnson (16:47): “He looked up at the building and he said, this is black power.”

• On Going Public:
  George E. Johnson (19:57): “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew I had made it then. People were just buttering us up all over the place.”

• On Lost Opportunities:
  George E. Johnson (22:40): “Because the white companies didn’t know what we were doing until we issued that report... they woke up.”

• On Competition and Decline:
  George E. Johnson (24:40): “We weren’t. We didn’t match the leading Jheri curl products... we lost a lot of our customers and that’s when we had our first losses.”

• On Modern Realities:
  Olivia Joan Gali (27:53): “It truly just breaks my heart to see how many are actually founded or run by white people, even though their products are directed for the black community... shouldn’t there be more?”

• On Black Economic Optimism:
  Sonari Glinton (28:54): “[The Johnson Products building] symbolized blackness, prosperity and black power.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:01–03:23] — Introduction & The Johnson Family Connection
• [05:20–09:41] — The Conk Era: Black Assimilation and Early Entrepreneurship
• [10:56–12:37] — Creating a Safer Hair Straightener: Ultra Wave
• [12:37–14:41] — Expansion, Community Employment, and Indications of Black Power
• [15:13–16:57] — Civil Rights Collaboration, Black is Beautiful, and the Afro
• [17:15–19:11] — Soul Train Sponsorship and Viral Marketing Boom
• [19:26–20:34] — Going Public & Social Mobility
• [21:20–22:47] — Pressures and Risks of Public Capitalism
• [23:10–24:40] — Competition, the Jheri Curl, and the Downturn
• [26:14–26:53] — The Sale and Its Legacy
• [27:00–28:20] — Generational Reflections and Black Ownership Today
• [28:54–29:15] — Epilogue: The Symbolic Legacy of Johnson Products

Conclusion

"How Black hair care grew Black power" documents not just a business story, but a cultural and economic revolution. The Johnsons’ entrepreneurship was inseparable from their community commitments, symbolizing the possibility and perils of Black wealth in America. Today, as the Black hair care aisle grows ever more lucrative but less Black-owned, the story’s resonance—and its unresolved legacy—matters more than ever.

Recommended Further Reading:

• Afroshine by George E. Johnson
• Blackonomics by Sonari Glinton (forthcoming)