BEHIND THE BRAND
Eugène Paul Louis SchuellerEugène Schueller was the son of two Parisian pastry shop owners. After finishing his Baccalauréat degree, the loose equivalent to two years of college, he enrolled at the Institute of Applied Chemistry and graduated first in his class in 1904. He took a job as a lab assistant at the Sorbonne after graduation and seemed to be on a path to become a university researcher. And then something happened that changed the course of his life, his fortune, and the fortune of his heirs.
The owner of a large barbershop paid Schueller a visit, looking for help in creating a synthetic hair dye. Back in the early 20th century, French women were not regularly dying their hair, mostly because the toxic dye of the time had heavy lead content that irritated the scalp. Schueller was intrigued and agreed to be the technical adviser to the barber, until he cut ties and struck out on his own, experimenting with hair dyes in a rented lab in Paris. He had a period of trial and error with the dye, but by 1909 he had a successful formula and founded the Société française de teintures inoffensives pour cheveux, the French Company of Inoffensive Hair Dyes. He soon changed the name of his fledgling company to L’Oréal, another word for “Auréale,” a popular hairstyle of the era, as well as a play on the word auréole, or “halo.” In 1909 he also registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (French Company of Inoffensive Hair Dyes), the future L'Oréal. In his production unit, he developed the concept of proportional salary. In 1936, the social reforms led by Léon Blum in France suddenly created a vacation industry, and the sales of L'Oréal's sunscreen (Ambre Solaire) skyrocketed. Liliane was born in Paris in 1922. She is the only child of L'Oréal founder Eugene Schueller and his wife, Louise. At 15, Liliane became an apprentice at L'Oréal. She labeled bottles and mixed products. In 1950, Liliane married Andre Bettencourt, the deputy chairman of L'Oréal. Their daughter Francoise was born in 1953. In 1957, when Liliane was 35, she inherited the entire L'Oréal empire when her father died. Liliane was active at L'Oréal and held a seat on the board of directors until 1995 and was Director of the Board until February 2012. Her grandson Jean-Victor took that position over. During Liliane’s years at the helm of the family company, the business expanded through acquiring other companies. Today, the company makes more than 500 brands and thousands of products including hair color, makeup, body and skincare, and perfume. It’s grown through acquiring companies including The Body Shop, Chinese beauty brand Magic Holdings, Shiseido’s Carida and Decleor brands, NYX Cosmetics, Carol’s Daughter, IT Cosmetics, and ModiFace, among others. Since 2006, Jean-Paul Agon has been the chairman and chief executive officer of L'Oréal. Eugène Schueller hats off!
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Editors Pick
Elvive Glycolic Gloss
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Lash Paradise Mascara |
Revitalift |