You’ve probably seen a Lucky Tiger Hair Tonic glass bottle in an antique shop in the midwest (or beyond). But what do you know about Lucky Tiger?
Well… It’s a product that got its start in Kansas City. The full company name was the Lucky Tiger Dandruff Company. Lucky Tiger was created in the basement of Benjamin Clarke, a scientist/barber, and was seemingly good for whatever ailed your hair. Today, the brand has been reborn in Milwaukee.
Presuming it was originally made in Clarke’s basement when called the Lucky Tiger Dandruff Co., by the 1950’s the company had changed its name to Lucky Tiger Manufacturing Co. and the magical hair serum was made at in an industrial building located at 2901 Fairmont Avenue. The building still exists near 29th & Southwest Blvd. (At some point it was also called the Lucky Tiger Remedy Co.!)
Lucky Tiger also came in bigger containers such as this tin:
Here are a few black and white ads for Lucky Tiger from circa 1919 issues of The Journeyman Barber as well as a color ad from a 1951 copy of Popular Science:
