Source: BlackBusiness.Org

Annie Malone took an interest in hair styling, in particular, developing a better way to straighten African American hair without damaging it. By the early 1900s, she developed a formula that worked and called it “The Great Wonderful Hair Grower,” which she began to sell door-to-door after moving to St. Louis, Missouri. During the 1904 World's Fair, she opened a retail outlet where she sold her hair care product to out-of-town visitors to the city. Her idea was to hire and train other women to serve as local sales agents. They would, in turn, recruit others. The idea worked so well that by 1910, distribution had fully expanded nationally.