L'Oréal (hair dyes)



L'Oréal logo 1909
L'Oréal logo 1909
Original name: "L'Auréale"

Name: "L'Oréal"

Categories: Beauty, Fashion

Subcategory: Hair dyes

Inventor: Eugène Schueller

First producer: Société Française des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France, founded by Eugène Schueller on July 30, 1909)

Invented in: 1907 (patent granted on March 24, 1908) - Paris, France

Production start: 1909 - 3 Rue d'Alger, Paris, France

Features: In 1907 Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, created the first synthetic hair dye: L'Oréal, a blend of harmless chemical compounds. The dyes was an outstanding breakthrough at the time, providing a subtle range of colors in contrast to other methods on the market, which use henna or mineral salts but produce a bright, somewhat artificial look. Eugène Schueller registered two names for his product: "Black and Gold", a logical brand name for a hair colorant with black representing the spectrum of dark shades and gold the warm tones - a brand name which was however never used; "L'Auréale", a name inspired by a hairstyle in fashion at the time called "L'Auréole" from the Latin "aureola", a luminous halo. A few months later the name was simplified to "L'Oréal".

Interesting facts: In 1909, Eugène Schueller founded the company that will later become L'Oréal: Société Française des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux. L'Oréal hair dyes obtained a great success, even beyond the borders of France, breaking new ground in Italy in 1910, Austria in 1911 and the Netherlands in 1913, even reaching as far afield as the United States, Canada, the UK and Brazil. The small company founded by Eugène Schueller in 1909 has become the number one cosmetic group in the world.

Slogan (1909): «L'Oréal rendant aux cheveux leur couleur et leur vigueur» - "L'Oréal makes the hair color and vigor"

Property: L'Oréal

Producer website: http://www.loreal.com

Eugène Schueller in 1907
Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (Paris, March 20, 1881 - Aug. 23, 1957), the French chemist and entrepreneur who invented L'Oréal hair dye, and founded the company. Photo taken in his kitchen, then transformed into a laboratory, 1907.

L'Oréal ad 1909
L'Oréal advertisement (1909): "L'Oréal rendant aux cheveux leur couleur et leur vigueur" (L'Oréal makes the hair color and vigor)

L'Oréal ad 1910
L'Oréal, hair-coloring school advertisement (1910): "L'Ecole de Teinture L'Oréal" (L'Oréal hair-coloring school). Eugène Schueller sets up a hair-coloring school on Rue du Louvre in Paris, which he personally oversees, using a former hair stylist from the Russian Court to demonstrate his ideas.

L'Oréal ad 1911
L'Oréal advertisement (1911) from La Parfumerie moderne, Paris. "Si vous voulez vendre des Teintures pour Cheveux (...) Une seule marque: L'Oréal" (If you want to sell Hair Dyes ... A single brand: L'Oreal).

L'Oréal ad 1914
L'Oréal advertisement (Feb. 14, 1914) by M. Lancelevée, from L'illustration, Paris. "Ne vous désolez pas!... en 30 minutes L'Oréal vous rendra la couleur et la jeunesse de votre chevelure" (Don't worry!... in 30 minutes L'Oréal will make the hair color and youth).

L'Oréal ad 1915
L'Oréal advertisement (May 1, 1915) by Fromentgérald Pary, from L'illustration, Paris. "L'Oréal teint bien sans danger en toutes nuances" (L'Oréal colors good without damage in all shades).

L'Oréal 100th Anniversary
L'Oréal celebrates 100 years (1909-2009) announcing the roll-out of 100 citizen projects around the world