Grow Your Hair Naturally with Longhairlovers Luxe Natural Hair Growth Remedies Scientifically Backed - Cert. Organic Ingredients Live Help | View Cart Made without Sulfates, Parabens, Petrochemicals, Silicones, Artificial Colors or Fragrances Products  |  Growth Formula  |  Our Ingredients  |  Expert Advice  |  Testimonials  |  Hair Care Articles   Long Hair May Get Stamp of Approval   By Jennifer Bahney Longhairlovers.com   Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has joined New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter in an effort to create a U.S. postage stamp honoring pioneering entrepreneur Martha Matilda Harper. Harper, known for her incredible floor-length mane, invented franchising in the 1800s with a chain of beauty salons around the world.     Harper grew up poor and worked as a servant for 25 years, before striking up a friendship with an herbalist who taught her how to make scalp treatments and shampoo formulas. According to Jane Plitt, author of Martha Matilda Harper and the American Dream: How One Woman Changed the Face of Modern Business, the photo that would be used on the stamp, "was Martha Matilda Harper's first advertisement for her pioneering healthy hair and skin care salon she opened in 1888 in Rochester, New York." Harper believed that true beauty came from healthful practices and that all women were inherently beautiful. They just needed to uncover that beauty through cleanliness and good circulation. Martha developed this belief while working for a doctor in 1856. He taught her about the physiology of hair, as well as the importance of scalp stimulation and scalp hygiene. Keeping the scalp clean was a new beauty concept since many women washed their hair infrequently in the 1800s. The doctor also shared a secret-formula hair tonic with Martha, which she believed made her scalp healthy and caused her hair to grow even longer. He taught Martha that "keeping your hair always clean is the first essential step to hair beauty . . . To do that, you must brush well with castile suds, and rub this herbal tonic vigorously into the scalp, then rinse with warm water" (Plitt, pg. 20). The hair tonic would become Martha's first commercial product and she had it patented in 1888. Unfortunately, we don't know what ingredients comprised the hair tonic. A company called Niagara Mist Marketing, Ltd. in St. Catherine, Ontario, currently owns the formula for the original product. Martha described the method that would make her famous in The Scientific Care of the Hair and Scalp: "The whole Harper Method (was) . . . developed from . . . the . . . principle of 'health first.' With the scalp properly cleaned, a vigorous flow of blood coursing through its tissues and free from disease, the way (was) cleared for a healthful, luxuriant growth of hair which is the first requirement in any woman's claim to beauty. . . Beauty and heatlh are inseparable . . . the laws of cleanliness, nourishment, exercise and breathing must be observed." (Plitt, pg. 48) In keeping with that philosophy, each Harper shampoo included a head and shoulder massage to stimulate circulation. Martha was strongly opposed to permanents and hair dyes because of the damage they did to hair, and she always stressed hair health over faddish styles like the 1920's "bob". When Martha was young, a friend told her that someday her floor-length chestnut hair "would make your fortune" (Plitt, pg. 16). Indeed, that prediction came true. Plitt told Longhairlovers, "Because of national demand, Harper then launched modern franchising with her Harper Method Shops, over 500+ worldwide, to empower former servant women with economic ownership and to continue her commitment to healthful hair processes and products. Harper believed with her organic products, and stimulating massages, each person's inherent beauty would shine forth. Obviously, hers was through her magnificent tresses. To her, beauty was health. She was also known as the bald prevention source since men and women came to her to stimulate hair growth. "Notably, she only used boar bristle brushes to stimulate blood flow. The oldest, continually operating beauty salon is in Rochester and called the Harper Method Founder's Shop." Longhairlovers.com visitors can help in the postage stamp effort one of three ways: 1. Send your name and address via e-mail to Jane Plitt at info@marthamatildaharper.com and your name will be added to a national petition. 2. Print the petition itself, available on Plitt's web site, make lots of copies, and return them with signatures to Jane Plitt, 1394 Highland Ave., Rochester, NY 14620. 3. Get the organization you are a part of and/or your local congressional representative to send a letter of support to: Dr. Virginia Noelke, Chairwoman Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee Stamp Development US Postal Service 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Room 4474E Washington, DC 20260-2437 Be sure to visit Plitt's web site at www.marthamatildaharper.com     The author is donating a portion of the book's royalties to The Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley's entrepreneurial projects to support financially challenged women.

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