03/23/2025
Christina Jenkins
Christina Jenkins invented the technique of the modern-day sew-in. While working for a wig manufacturer, Jenkins pioneered a new method to attach and secure commercial hair on the head. The technique she called “Hair-Weeve” was described as “interweaving strands of live hair and strands of commercial hair, with cord-like material to permanently join the strands thereto.” Unlike the previous method women used at the time, pins and grips, Jenkins’ idea provided a more seamless appearance. After filing to patent her idea in 1952, she went on tour in Europe to teach cosmetologists and stylists the technique. She later opened Christina’s HairWeeve Penthouse Salon in Cleveland, Ohio. Though her 1952 patent was overturned in 1965, when Jenkins passed in 2003, then-Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, recognized the inventor as “a pioneer in the field of cosmetology.”
“Once a process only used by entertainers and people with extreme hair loss, hair weaving has become a common practice, allowing people to appear as though they were born with thick, luxurious heads of hair. Its popularity has made the hair-weaving business a billion-dollar industry,” Jones, who died in 2008, said in a congressional statement honoring Jenkins. “Her revolutionary contributions to the field of cosmetology have helped to boost the self-esteem of men and women across the world.”
