Mildred Dixon turned her childhood talent for hairstyling into a beauty school that has trained generations of aspiring professionals in Chicago. Nearly 60 years after founding the institution, she has passed its leadership to her granddaughter, Panache Perkins, who is now carrying on the family legacy while preparing the school for a new chapter at its latest location on Roosevelt Road. She discovered her talent for hairstyling when she was just 10 years old. By the time she was 12 or 13, she had already built a loyal clientele. She attended school during the day, styled clients’ hair on weekends, and continued working until 11 p.m. or midnight on most evenings. Even without a professional license, she was already teaching others how to do hair. Her passion for both hairstyling and education eventually led her to open Mildred’s Beauty College in 1966.
Her influence soon extended beyond the classroom. According to Rolling Out, Dixon became the first Black woman in Illinois to operate a chain of beauty salons inside a department store. Her Discount Beauty salons were located in Goldblatt’s, while her hairstyling career brought her opportunities to work with entertainers such as Aretha Franklin, Eartha Kitt, and Cicely Tyson. She also styled Tyson’s hair for the film Hoodlum and held a contract with Columbia Records. Perkins is now writing a book about her grandmother’s career, focusing on the obstacles she overcame as a Black woman building a business during the 1960s.
Perkins grew up surrounded by her grandmother’s work and earned the nickname “shop baby” because she spent so much time at the salons and beauty school. She learned the importance of responsibility by sweeping floors, cleaning tools, and watching Dixon teach students. However, she initially pursued a different career path and enrolled in law school. Her plans changed when Dixon and Perkins’ aunt were both diagnosed with breast cancer. Perkins stepped away from her legal studies to care for them and help manage the family business. Although her aunt later died after the cancer returned, Dixon recovered, and Perkins continued working with the school. She eventually realized that teaching hairstyling brought her greater fulfillment than pursuing a legal career.
Now leading Your School of Beauty Culture, Perkins is preserving her grandmother’s traditional teaching methods while introducing her own ideas. Students learn foundational techniques such as finger waves and roller sets, along with skills for working with different hair textures. The curriculum also teaches them to make their own hair products and understand the ingredients they use on clients. In addition to cosmetology and barbering, the school offers hair braiding courses that cover loc installation and maintenance, reattachments, sew-ins, and other techniques. Perkins reported a 90% graduation and state board passing rate for cosmetology, 100% for hair braiding and 83% for barbering.
Dixon has expressed great pride in her granddaughter for leaving law school to help care for her and preserve the institution she spent decades building. Perkins is now putting her own stamp on the school as it moves into a new space at 600 West Roosevelt Road in Chicago. The institution previously operated at 4141 West Madison Street and 116 East Pershing Road before relocating to its current home on the second floor of the Roosevelt Road building. The school is celebrating the move with a grand opening scheduled for 11 a.m., featuring food and entertainment. The new location marks another milestone for the family-run institution as it continues Dixon’s mission of preparing future generations of beauty professionals.