Marjorie Joyner and the Wave Machine

Marjorie Joyner and the Wave Machine An employee of  Madame Walkers  empire, Majorie Joyner invented a permanent wave machine. This device, patented in 1928, curled or permed womens hair for a relatively lengthy period of time. The wave machine was popular among women white and black allowing for longer-lasting wavy hair styles. Joyner went on to become a prominent figure in Walkers industry. Early Years Joyner was born in 1896 in the rural Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and moved in 1912 to Chicago to go to school study cosmetology.   She was the granddaughter of a white slave owner and a slave. Joyner graduated from A.B. Molar Beauty School in Chicago in 1916. She was the first  African-American  to achieve this. At the beauty school, she  met  Madame C. J. Walker, an African-American beauty entrepreneur who owned a cosmetic empire. Always an advocate of beauty for women, Joyner went to work for Walker and oversaw 200 of her beauty schools, working as the national adviser. One of her major duties was sending Walkers hair stylists door-to-door, dressed in black skirts and white blouses with black satchels, containing a range of beauty products that were applied  in  the customers house. Joyner taught some 15,000 stylists over her 50-year career.   Wave Machine Joyner was also a leader in developing new products, such as her permanent wave machine. She  invented her wave machine as a solution to the hair problems of African-American women. Joyner took her inspiration from a pot roast. She cooked with paper pins to shorten prep time. She experimented initially with these paper rods and soon designed a table that could be used to curl or straighten hair by wrapping it on rods above the persons head and then cooking them to set the hair. Using this method, hairstyles would last several days. Joyners design was popular in  salons  with both African-American and white women. Joyner never profited  from  her invention, however, because Madame Walker owned the rights.  In 1987, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington opened an exhibit featuring Joyners permanent wave machine and a replica of her original salon.   Other Contributions Joyner also helped write the first cosmetology laws for the state of  Illinois,  and founded both a sorority and a national association for black beauticians. Joyner was friends with Eleanor  Roosevelt,  and helped found the  National Council of Negro Women. She was an advisor to the Democratic National Committee in the   1940s,  and advised several New Deal agencies trying to reach out to black women. Joyner was highly visible in the Chicago black community, as head of the  Chicago Defender  Charity network, and fundraiser for various schools.   Together with Mary Bethune Mcleod, Joyner founded the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association.  In 1973, at the age of 77, she was awarded a bachelors degree in psychology from  Bethune-Cookman College  in  Daytona Beach, Florida. Joyner also volunteered for several charities that helped house, educate, and find work for African Americans during the Great Depression.