Annie Turnbo Malone - The Pioneer

At DeColonaise Hair and Body, we honor the legacy of Annie Turnbo Malone not simply as a successful businesswoman, but as a revolutionary force who used beauty as a means of resistance to colonial domination. Born in 1869, at a time when the colonial capitalist system sought to define, control, and devalue African people, Annie recognized that the condition of our hair was tied to the condition of our freedom. She created Poro, to restore dignity, self-worth, and economic independence to African women. Through Poro, she built an entire institution; training, employing, and uplifting thousands, proving that when African women control our image and our labor, we control our future.

Reclaiming African Beauty from Colonial Degradation

In the aftermath of enslavement, the colonial world continued to define Blackness through degradation;  marking African hair, features, and skin as something to be hidden or “tamed.” For African women, beauty became one of the earliest battlegrounds of psychological warfare. Annie Turnbo Malone understood this deeply. Her entry into the world of hair care was not simply entrepreneurial, it was political.

She saw the daily harm done to African women through toxic products that burned scalps, thinned hair, and reinforced self-hatred. Instead of accepting this as normal, Annie used her knowledge of chemistry and African herbal traditions to create products that nourished and healed. She developed her signature “Wonderful Hair Grower” at the turn of the 20th century as a step toward restoring the natural strength and integrity of African hair. In doing so, she redefined beauty as an act of self-love and self-preservation.

Building Poro: A Model of Economic Liberation

Annie’s greatest genius was in building a cooperative structure of production, education, and empowerment. She named her company Poro, a West African term referencing a society of initiation and collective uplift.

Annie trained African women as agents who could sell her products directly in their own communities, giving them both income and autonomy. This structure disrupted the colonial economy that limited African women’s labor to servitude and domestic work. 

By 1918, Poro had grown into a massive enterprise. At its height, Poro College in St. Louis functioned as a manufacturing plant, training center, and dormitory, employing hundreds and training thousands across the African world. It became one of the first institutions fully owned, operated, and governed by a Black woman. It was a place where African women learned business, hygiene, public speaking, and pride. Poro was, in every sense, a school of liberation.

Beauty as Resistance and Community Care

Annie Turnbo Malone’s approach to beauty directly confronted the colonial logic that told African women we were ugly, unworthy, or incomplete. She didn’t appeal to white consumers or dilute her message for approval. Instead, she built her empire inside the African community and for it. 

Beyond business, Annie gave back. She funded institutions for children, students, and families long before the existence of state welfare systems that often excluded us. Her support of the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home — later named the Annie Malone Children’s Home — reflected her understanding that liberation required collective care, not just individual success.

The Decolonial Legacy

Annie Turnbo Malone’s story is a blueprint for what we at DeColonaise Hair and Body believe: that the body and the economy are sites of struggle and transformation. Her work prefigured a decolonial economy — one where African women control the production, distribution, and benefits of our labor; where wellness and wealth are built in service of our people, not in imitation of colonial systems of oppression.

She proved that Black women could be scientists, executives, and leaders of industry while staying rooted in our community. She showed that beauty could be weaponized to dismantle shame.

Her legacy lives in every product made with care for African skin and hair, every woman who builds a business from her own hands, and every person who recognizes that freedom begins with self-love and collective control of our resources.

We Continue the Work

At DeColonaise, we stand on Annie Turnbo Malone’s shoulders. Our mission — to create indigenously rooted hair and skin products, follows the path she paved. Each bottle, oil, and salve we make is a continuation of her work: reclaiming our beauty, restoring our wellness, and rebuilding our economic power.

Because, like Annie taught us, liberation starts at home, in our hands, our communities, and our self-determination.