Johnie Barham Brown was a pioneer in the hairdressing industry. The owner of Johnie’s Beauty Palace on Copley Road, she opened up many doors for black beauticians, teaching them about hair trends and about business.
Mrs. Barham Brown died Thursday at age 94.
“Her first beauty shop was out of her home. She was a giving person, the majority of [area] hairstylists learned from her,” said her daughter, Drexa Pearson, who now runs the shop and worked side by side with her mother. The shop opened in the early ’60s. “She purchased the first black beauty shop on Copley Road. It was a white-owned salon. She gutted it, remodeled it and then as her business grew made further additions. She added a boutique and created space for a separate salon for another beautician, who rented that part of the building. It has a separate entrance and bathroom facilities.”
Pearson said her mother was an entrepreneur on her own, raising three children after her divorce when the children were young.
Her daughter said her mother also helped strangers, “saving many people from getting their gas or electric shut off. She’d say, ‘Let me go get my purse’ and just give them money.”
Mrs. Brown had her own modeling school, attended hair trade shows and was first with the newest hair styles and trends. Her shop was “the place” to go for prominent blacks. She was noted for being a good hair colorist and for weaving. She weaved hair in a private room out of respect for people’s privacy.
She was featured in the Akronite in 1957, a small black magazine that featured prominent blacks in Akron and was part of an ad in Ebony magazine in October 1970 on hair conditioner.
In it there is a picture of her with a quote for using the product, Raveen, “because my customers prefer it,” the ad reads.
Mrs. Barham Brown married again. John Brown was an attorney who attended law school at Harvard. The marriage ended, but they remained good friends.
She worked until her early 80s.
Her daughter recalled how hard her mother worked and how she didn’t understand back in the ’60s why her mother was denied when she tried to buy her first Cadillac. “She had the money but that wasn’t good enough,” her daughter said. “She had to get an attorney and sue the dealership to get the Cadillac.”
Her mother’s luck with cars changed. In the early ’70s she won a Lincoln, a Mark IV, her daughter recalled. She won it after entering a benefit drawing for Akron Children’s Hospital at a Day at the Races fundraiser.
Running a tight ship
Clients said Mrs. Barham Brown made her business family oriented.
“I’ve been going there since I was 18, my mother went there, and now my daughter …,” Cheyenne Brown of Akron said. “She ran a tight ship and was so knowledgeable about hair. She used natural products and would create a mix right there for you for your hair. Many friendships were made in that shop. It was quality time. There’s a reason her business survived, she was a people person.”
Sheri Carboni, who now lives in Louisville, Ky., would visit every time she came to Akron. She said Mrs. Barham Brown was like a mother to her growing up. She recalled outings with the family including sleepovers and awakening to “big Sunday breakfasts with the best ever homemade biscuits.”
Pearson said her mother knew what it took to be successful.
“When we were at the shop it was all business. Once I came to the shop with my son and she reminded me of the no children allowed policy. I only had one client, and it was her grandson, but she made me get a baby sitter.”
The daughter also had to rent space at the shop like everyone else.
“I learned she was just preparing me for the future, to learn the business from the ground up,” she said. “In her latter years we became close friends.”
Mrs. Brown also leaves to mourn daughters Linda Guess of Hawaii and Rita Tatum of Akron. Funeral services will be held at noon Thursday at Catavolos Funeral Home, 3653 W. Market St., Akron. The family will receive friends from 11 a.m. to noon. Internment will he held in Rose Hill Burial Park.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098.