The Proud Lady Symbol
The Proud Lady symbol reminds consumers to buy Black beauty products. In 1981, to protect themselves against white encroachment, 10 Black haircare manufacturers joined forces and founded the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute (AHBAI). I remember those days as a hairstylist, but as a Black-owned businessman I was cautious and watchful of the white owned beauty product companies. In the late ’70s to the early ’90s, we hairstylists made good money performing beauty services using Black beauty products that bore the Proud Lady silhouette. In 1987 white beauty product manufacturers dominated more than 50 percent of the Black beauty market The trespassing of the Proud Lady’s power in the Black product market had begun. Black and white manufacturers were fighting for control of the billion dollar Black industry.
In my opinion, the Black Beauty Industry is about to follow in the path of the mom and pop businesses and the funeral businesses that are no longer just in Black hands. I feel that the ethnic haircare industry is one of the few industries where Black people still have a foothold. We should not let it get away. In 1993 Johnson products was sold to the white owned Ivax Corporation for 67 million dollars. The American Health and Beauty Aids Institute gave us the Proud Lady symbol. It’s up to us to keep a buy Black mindset.
Now I am not asking you to believe this because I said it, I am asking you to study to show your own self-approval.
By: Pete Stone, (205) 252-2508
