Max Factor Cosmetics

"A woman without paint is like food without salt", at least that’s what Platus, a Roman philosopher thought. Men and women the world over have been using “cosmetics’ to enhance their beauty since as early as 10,000 B.C.

Today, a women in the United States between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five shops for cosmetics at least five times per year. She will spend on average, forty-three dollars each trip. That equates to about two hundred fifteen dollars per year. Two hundred fifteen dollars doesn’t seem like very much but when you add it up over a lifetime, it totals a whopping fifteen thousand dollars. Take that same figure of two hundred fifteen dollars per year and let’s imagine that a sixteen year old invests that amount each year into
These color pots were used to enhance the color of lips, cheeks, and foreheads.

The beginning of Hollywood also pushed the cosmetic movement forward with many women wanting to look like the actresses they idolized from the movies.
In 1914, a man by the name of Max Factor who was well known in Hollywood for his wigs, developed the first foundation that wouldn’t crack or cake. It was very popular with the movie stars both on and off set. Max factor is the one responsible for making the word makeup mainstream. He began marketing his makeup to the public in 1920, claiming anyone could look like their favorite movie star.
About the same time that Max Factor was becoming well known, another man by the name of T.L. Williams started the Maybelline Company. He developed the first formula for mascara but the idea came from his sister Mabel who mixed petroleum jelly and coal dust to enhance her eyelashes.

By 1916, eyeshadow had become an acceptable and sought after cosmetic. It was made popular by Theda Bera, a Hollywood actress and sex symbol of her time. She used the ancient eye makeup to emphasize her eyes on film. Within a few years, cosmetics were a billion dollar industry with major brands such as, Max Factor, Revlon, and Maybelline all competing for the American women’s
Many of the jobs performed by women were dirty and hard labor type jobs but they were still encouraged by advertising and society that they needed to maintain their appearance. Being glamourous was considered a duty of the American women for keeping the moral of the soldiers high. Newspapers frequently wrote about the “fears” of women losing their femininity because they were doing the work of men. These fears fueled the cosmetic industry even further as women sought to “maintain” their feminine qualities in the work