Martha Matilda Harper was put to work as a servant at the age of seven in Ontario, but she was ambitious. Armed with a thick head of healthy long hair and a secret formula shampoo from an employer, she moved to Rochester, New York, and set about her plan to open a public beauty salon. It was a novel idea in 1888.
After nearly a quarter century in servitude, Harper knew how to pamper her clientele. She designed the first reclining chair so they could have their hair washed without getting shampoo in their eyes, and had a half circle cut out of her sink (with running water) for ladies to rest their heads. The emphasis was on customer service, long before the term was coined. Once women experienced the Harper Method, they were converts.
Her clients were made up of an unlikely blend of society ladies and suffragists, whose movement was spearheaded in Rochester. Soon Harper was catering to both circles, and women in each sphere were spreading the word about the new salon. Susan B. Anthony was a friend and client.
The beauty salon became a place for women to socialize and talk about ideas among themselves unselfconsciously. It was so successful, Harper was encouraged to open salons another cities. To do that, she had to invent an entire system of quality control. Read about the amazing life of Martha Matilda Harper at Atlas Obscura.