Did Madame Walker steal Annie Pope’s (aka Annie Turnbo Malone) formula for the Wonderful Hair Grower?
No. Madame Walker’s competitors –specifically Annie Pope and her agents- promulgated this lie in order to harm Madame’s business. This unsubstantiated rumor has been kept alive thanks to the efforts of none other than A’Lelia P. Bundles who claims to be related to Madame Walker! There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that Madame Walker ever made any effort to steal Annie Pope’s formula. Keep in mind, a formula is not a list of ingredients; a formula is like a recipe wherein you must have not only the ingredients, you must know how much of each ingredient to use and how to mix those ingredients. You must also know at what temperature to heat the ingredients, how long to heat, and how much stirring in needed and at what rate. Also Madame had other products besides her Wonderful Hair Grower. How did she formulate her other products? The historical letters written by Madame Walker tell a quite different story regarding her competitive relationship with Annie Pope which is detailed in the
