Sun-Ray Hair Preparation…One of the Best Known for Colored People [advertising ephemera group].

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Ephemera group from the Sun-Ray Hair Preparation Co. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, manufacturers and mail-order dealers of hair straightening products, here advertising to African Americans. The company’s owner, Melvin F. Luster, was an African American businessman in Oklahoma since 1889. In 1926 he built a manufacturing plant and created a line of toiletries that included face powder, bleach, and hair products.¹

A full-page illustrated advertisement on the back of the order blank states: “Notice to Drug Stores and Agents…Sun-Ray Hair Preparation One of the Best Known for Colored People.” Illustrations show two solid brass combs, which were to be heated for use, for straightening hair.

A circular for Sun-Ray Hair Preparation and Toilet Products, informs druggists that the product—available by the dozen, half gross and gross—is “The Fastest Seller of its Kind—The Best Known Preparation for Colored People.” Luster appears to be following the lead of African American entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker in advocating the use of hot combs as a gentler method straightening hair.²

Among the group is an order blank filled out in hand by a woman in California in 1949 ordering “6 hair Growers” and “1 Bottle of temple oil,” a label for which also present.

Commercial hair straightening products for African Americans go back to the 19th century; its practice however goes back further to the days of slavery. The idea of “mitigating” one’s race by altering hairstyle, therefore, has a troubled history linked to racism and discrimination.

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