Paying tribute to Dr. Joe L. Dudley Sr., the founder of Dudley Products Inc. and his impact on Black haircare and beauty.
Dr. Joe L. Dudley, Sr./Facebook
One of the trailblazers in Black haircare and beauty products has passed away. Established in 1967 as Dudley Products Inc., the founder Dr. Joe L. Dudley Sr, has passed away at the age of 86. Three generations of Dudley family members have worked at Dudley Beauty Corp. and his legacy will continue to live on.
The family released this statement about the loss:
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our hero, Dr. Joe L. Dudley, Sr. Our hearts are broken. However, we smile knowing the thousands of lives that he touched and changed. Heaven has gained a dynamic salesperson and humanitarian. We love you! We will forever remember and live by your mantra, I AM, I CAN & I WILL!” – The Dudley Family.
Joe Louis Dudley Sr. was born in Aurora, North Carolina, the fifth of 11 children. When he was in the first grade, he was mistakenly labeled as being mentally retarded because of a speech impediment. He had twice been held back by the time he reached the eleventh grade.[2] However, Dudley persevered in his education, eventually gaining a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 1957, Dudley was living in Brooklyn, New York. He invested $10 in a Fuller Products sales kit in 1957,[3] and began selling hair care products door to door in African American neighborhoods. In 1960 he met Eunice Mosley, who was also selling Fuller products on a door-to-door basis. They married the following year.
The Dudleys settled in Greensboro, where they opened a Fuller distributorship. When there was a shortage of Fuller products in 1969, they began manufacturing and selling their own line under the Dudley Products label. Unlike many hair and skin care providers, Dudley chose to market his product line directly to salons rather than to retailers.
At the request of company founder S.B. Fuller, Dudley moved to Chicago, Illinois, and took over Fuller Products in 1976. They consolidated the company with their operations in 1980, keeping the Dudley Products brand name. Dudley moved the company back to Greensboro in 1984.[2] As of December 2003, with annual revenues of $30 million, the company offers 400 hair and skin care products. It also operates the Dudley Cosmetology University, with locations in North Carolina and two schools in Zimbabwe.
Dudley and his company were featured in Chris Rock’s 2009 documentary Good Hair; the company is one of only a handful of African-American-owned companies manufacturing hair products for the African-American community.
His daughter, Ursula Dudley said his legacy will forever remain and it all started with 10 dollars and a passion to start a business.
“The most important piece is where he started and that’s in Brooklyn, New York, with Mr. SP Fuller and Fuller products, and he took $10, bought a sales kit, and his life changed, ever since then,” said Ursula Dudley Oglesby, Joe Dudley Sr.’s daughter.
Joe Dudley, Sr. and his wife, Eunice, founded Dudley Hair Care in 1967.
The couple decided to open a business in Greensboro after going to college at North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T).
“The next big thing, of course, was meeting my mother. The two of them formed a partnership and a marriage at the same time and then moved to Greensboro to start their own distributorship. We started selling products in beauty salons and barber shops as well and things really started booming,” said Oglesby.
In 1976, Dudley and his wife moved to Chicago with their kids so their father could become president of Fuller Products and understand the manufacturing side of the business.
After that, the family moved back to Greensboro and that’s where things began booming.
The company grew and now distributes hair and personal care products all around the world.
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