Before the bundles.
Before the installs.
Before the billion-dollar beauty supply empires…
There was Christina M. Jenkins.
In 1951, she patented the sew-in hair weave — sewing hair extensions onto cornrows — creating a protective, versatile styling method that would later become the foundation of a multi-billion-dollar global industry.
What started as innovation became infrastructure.
What started as protection became power.
Yet so many people profit from the culture without knowing the woman who built it.
Christina Jenkins didn’t just invent a hairstyle.
She created opportunity. Ownership. An entire lane that generations of Black women would turn into salons, brands, and legacies.
This is why credit matters.
This is why our stories matter.
And this is why Black history is also business history.
Source: @prettyshadesofmelanin
