In the 1800s, most women took care of their hair at home. Martha Matilda Harper changed that. She invented the beauty salon and built a network of over 500 salons around the world. Hair is the story of this woman’s journey from servant to successful business owner.
Harper was born in Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 1857. At age 7, she went to work as a servant. During her 25 years as a personal maid, Harper learned how to make and apply natural to the hair and skin. She moved to the United States in 1882 with plans to start her own business. Six years later, she opened her first hair salon in downtown Rochester, New York. Harper advertised her salon by showing off her floor-length hair. She kept her salon spotless and encouraged people to bring along their children to the salon. And Harper offered treatments that focused on health as a way to achieve natural beauty.
Women preferred coming to Harper’s salon to doing their hair at home. Harper opened salons in other American cities by developing “the Harper method,” a system of training people to operate similar salons. Harper created a franchise business model, allowing salon owners to keep their profits while requiring them to buy all supplies from her and use her hair care methods. “She created the most significant structure of new business,” said Jane Plitt, who is from Rochester and wrote a book about Harper.
Since Harper had spent decades as a servant, she made sure that the first 100 salons went to women who had been servants or factory workers. “Her passion was not only to enrich herself, but to poor women,” added Plitt.
As business grew, Harper created new natural hair, skin, and make-up products. People enjoyed head, neck, and shoulder in Harper salons. Martha Matilda Harper also invented a chair for shampooing that could tip backward as well as a sink with a cut-out for someone’s neck to rest. These helped people stay dry and feel comfortable during their salon visit. By 1928, over 500 Harper salons operated around the world.
Harper got married at age 63 to Captain Robert McBain. She retired from business in her seventies, though her salons continued to operate. Harper — who died in 1950 — was added to the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003. “She encouraged everyone, whatever their background, to dare to dream, think outside the box, and to succeed, but also to bring others along,” explained Plitt.
The author continued, “So whatever your home situation is and how challenging life may become, Martha Matilda Harper should be a beacon of light to say, if Martha did it, I can succeed too.”
By Diana Richard
Updated March 12, 2025, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
