Longtime employee of Wahl Clipper Corp. Bo Langley passed away Jan. 31 at the age of 67.
Langley spent 17 years with Wahl before retiring last May. Most of his time spent at the company was as director of sales and marketing for the Wahl Professional Division. In 2012, he relocated to South Carolina, where he handled Kayline by Wahl, as well as the Wahl 5-Star Series and the company’s Mexican distribution.
“He looked forward to putting his feet up and relaxing in South Carolina,” said Jim Wahl, executive vice president of Wahl Clipper Corp. “We let him do it two years earlier, which turned out to be a godsend.”
Langley and Wahl met in 1997 when Wahl was looking for someone to help with marketing. Wahl called Bennie Lowery, vice president of Sally Beauty then, and said, “I’m looking for somebody to handle a little bit of sales, but mainly internal marketing. Do you have anybody in mind?”
Heading north from Texas was Langley. He was a teddy bear of a man with a southern drawl who used to be a judge in Atlanta. It may have seemed unlikely on the surface, but Langley quickly proved to be a perfect fit for Wahl’s company—and being new to the hair-clipper industry, he brought revolutionary thinking.
“He just had so many great ideas,” Wahl stated. “He studied law. He ran a beauty store. He spoke several languages. When he got into a product that he hadn’t worked with before, his creative juices went wild and he was just excellent. When you get into something new, you don’t realize what can’t be done, so you do it. He had a dozen or more patents. He was proud to put those little Einstein stickers all over his office. The engineers loved him because he was so creative.”
Langley was hired for the job of internal marketing, but was given a license to explore. As a result, he made huge contributions that accelerated Wahl Clipper Corp. into its current position of prominence in the industry.
Langley pioneered Wahl’s 5-Star line of ethnic-oriented barber products, including the introduction of ultra close-cutting trimmers, such as the Detailer and the Hero. During the past two years, one of Langley’s jobs was to grow the 5-Star line. He communicated with stylists through social media and created buzz about how to use the products.
Langley had a keen focus on clipper-blade innovation throughout his career and was instrumental in patenting Wahl’s 6x0 blade on its Balding Clipper, which boosted sales of Wahl’s zero-overlap surgical blades on several units. He recognized crossover appeal and began to repackage products marketed to barbers for hairstylists. He also disassembled Wahl clippers in his spare time to find ways to improve the designs or develop a new tool. “He’d be so psyched about clippers he would go home and take clippers apart in the garage,” Wahl noted. “He loved getting his hands on things.”
Before retiring, Langley helped recruit Jim Wahl’s son, Lance, into the business. Langley took Lance under his wing. He mentored him on everything he knew about the industry, including the importance of personal relationships and always being yourself with customers.
Lance Wahl, director of sales and marketing for the Wahl Clipper Corp. Professional Division, added, “I learned a great deal from Bo on how to read people and help them with their goals, but at the same time always keep Wahl's best interests first and foremost. He was very competitive and knew how to repackage old-school concepts into a new marketing approach. Even though he could play the role of a good ole boy, he was one of the most intelligent and sharp-witted people I knew.”
In addition to all the ideas, Langley was also blessed with the “gift of gab.” He could strike up a good conversation with anyone and treated everyone with respect. Friends joked that even his competitors couldn’t help but like him even if he was stealing sales away.
Langley excelled at whatever he did. Rising from lawyer to judge, and climbing the ladder at such companies as Belson Products, Save-Way Beauty Supply and Wahl Clipper Corp.
“I had breakfast with him almost every morning for 15 years," commented Jim Wahl. "He was my best friend. He had so much potential. The life he lived, he lived 67 years of burning the candle at both ends. It would have taken the rest of us 134 years to do what he did. He was that good.”
Langley is survived by his wife, Michelle, five children and six grandchildren.
Memorial donations in honor of him may be sent to:
The Luther "Bo" Langley Memorial Fund
c/o Wahl Clipper Corp.
2900 Locust St.
Sterling, IL 61081 USA
Attn: Debbie Gassman
The money will be used to fund 529 plans for each of his grandchildren.
[Image courtesy of Wahl Clipper Corp.]