Man, I know we all had at least one person in our family who had a Jheri Curl. I’m California and although I didn’t have one, my dad did. Well, according t the L. A. Times, the man responsible for making the Jheri Curl available to the masses has passed away. Comer Cottrell, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who turned a small Los Angeles operation into a multimillion-dollar success story by catering to the hair care needs of African-Americans, died Friday at his home in Plano, Texas. He was 82.
His death from natural causes was confirmed by his son-in-law, Eric Brown.
With $600 and a broken typewriter, Cottrell opened Pro-Line Corp. in downtown Los Angeles in 1970. It was not the first black hair care company but it became one of the largest with the Curly Kit, an at-home hair relaxer that made the loose, gleaming Jheri curl — a style popularized by celebrities such as Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson — available at a fraction of the salon price. Did you have a Jheri Curl? Take our poll below.
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