Erika Barris

Straight hair and afros, a bank that would give them loans, backing for the civil rights movement, and a banging TV show.

But after going public, the Johnsons had to answer to a board.

But George also ran into another big problem.

Now that they were public, everything about the company was public.

And George says because he knew there was increased scrutiny on them as the only Black-owned company on the stock exchange, he felt extra pressure to get everything absolutely right.

So in all of their official paperwork, the Johnsons broke down exactly how much they were making on each of their products, like where they were getting the best profits.

Why was it not smart?

So you wrote a blueprint for them.

Other bigger companies realized how much money they'd been leaving on the table.

No, the Revlon relaxer did not wipe out Johnson products.

What really did wipe Johnson products out, though, aside from a few sort of typical business missteps, was the final hairstyle of our episode.

The jerry curl.

I'm very familiar, yes.

So everybody was like, I need a Jerry curl.

I need a Jerry curl.

And you didn't have a Jerry curl.

Did it feel like you guys weren't on like at the cutting edge?

There are lots of different things you can blame for the demise of the Johnson Products Company.

The company was starting to feel dated and was losing money.

Also, regulators started requiring relaxer companies to add warning labels because of the potential health risks.