The Maybelline Story Blog

Maybelline was first named Lash-Brow-Ine in 1915, here is it's history, by James Bennett for Cosmetics and Skin

Lash-Brow-Ine

Cosmetics and Skin

Anyone who talks about the origins of Maybelline usually starts with Maybelline’s founder, Tom Lyle Williams, watching his sister Mabel applying burnt cork mixed into petroleum jelly to her eyebrows and lashes after she singed them on the stove. The story goes on to describe how Tom Lyle created an eyelash and eyebrow preparation (using a chemistry set) and a business (after borrowing some money from his brother Noel). However, the product he eventually sold through mail-order was developed by Park-Davies not his chemistry set and the business used to sell it was called Maybell Laboratories not Maybelline.

Maybell Laboratories

The product Tom Lyle got from Park-Davis was a scented cream made of white petroleum with oils to provide sheen. He marketed it through his mail-order business as ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’ a name he selected because of its similarity with other eyelash and eyebrow products already on the market such as ‘Eye-Brow-Ine’ and ‘Lashneen’. The business he started to sell Lash-Brow-Ine he named Maybell Laboratories.

Tom Lyle called Lash-Brow-Ine an eyebrow and eyelash growth promoter. Applying Lash-Brow-Ine to eyelashes and eyebrows would have made them appear darker and thicker but would not have stimulated them to grow. However, a long held belief that oils and petrolatum would stimulate hair growth would have given his claim substance in the minds of many potential buyers. Clearly there was demand as sales reached over $100,000 by 1920.

Tom Lyle registered the name ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’ as a trademark in 1917 but by 1921 it was no longer used in advertising. It had been replaced with ‘Maybelline’, a word Tom Lyle reputedly created by combining his sister’s name (Mabel) with the ‘ine’ of Vaseline. The reason usually given for the change was that the original name proved to be a mouthful. However, this simple explanation is not the whole truth.

In 1920 Tom Lyle was taken to court to settle a trademark dispute with Benjamin Ansehl, the founder of ‘Lashbrow Laboratories’. The outcome of the case was that Maybell Laboratories trademark for Lash-Brow-Ine was invalidated and Tom Lyle was given a court order to remove and destroy any references to Lash-Brow-Ine from that day onward.

Lashbrow Laboratories

Lashbrow Laboratories was started by Benjamin Ansehl in St Louis in 1912. It also made an eyebrow and eyelash growth promoter marketed as ‘Lashbrow’. The similarity between the names Lashbrow and Lash-Brow-Ine was the cause of the trademark dispute.

According to court records Lashbrow consisted of petrolatum, beeswax and powdered willow charcoal. It may have been made to a recipe similar to the one given below:

Vaseline yellow 56
Beeswax 4
Lampblack 40

The mixture of ‘vaseline’ and beeswax is melted by being placed in a warm mortar, and the lampblack is well ground in. The preparation is stored in small pots.

Redgrove & Foan, 1930, pp. 67-68

‘Lashbrow’ was marketed as promoting the growth of eyebrows and eyelashes rather than as a mascara. The product sold well enough for Ansehl to extend sales at the end of 1912 to the rest of the United States through Meyer Bros., a wholesale drug company.

Maybelline

In 1917 Tom Lyle developed a new product for darkening and lengthening eyelashes he called ‘Maybelline’. This product was an early version of what would be later known as cake mascara although Williams did not refer to it as such. It was a mixture of sodium stearate soap and pigment mixed together, extruded into strips, stamped and dried and was applied with a small brush that was first wet before being rubbed over the cake.

Why did Williams call the new product ‘Maybelline’? This was a new line and perhaps after all ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’ was hard to say. However, cake mascara is not vaseline based so that part of the story cannot be true.

A name change

Williams advertised extensively, particularly in film magazines such as ‘Photoplay’. In 1920, while the court case was running, advertisements were taken out for Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline. In one version the two products are clearly differentiated by suggesting that Lash-Brow-Ine should be applied at night to ‘nourish and promote growth’, while Maybelline makes lashes and eyebrows ‘longer, thicker and more luxuriant’. However, the advertising copy for that year is not consistent and in another advertisement the two products appear to be equivalent:

Just a wee touch of the little brush over your eyelashes and eyebrows with Lash-Brow-Ine and you will find a new beauty in your eyes. For Maybelline instantly furnishes that delicate touch of darker color so necessary to eyelashes and eyebrows while they are gently invigorated by the little brush.

1920 Maybell Laboratories Advertisement - 1920 [September] Viola Dana endorsement for ‘Lash- Brow-Ine’ and ‘Maybelline’.

The lack of consistency in the advertising in 1920 probably reflects the uncertainty generated by the court case. However, it is clear that Lash-Brow-Ine was not renamed Maybelline simply because it was hard to say. Tom Lyle was probably hoping to maintain both products on the market as Lash-Brow-Ine had been a good earner and 1920 was not the best time to lose it. The world was in the middle of a post-war depression that would run through to 1922 so times were tough and as Maybelline was more expensive – it sold for 75 cents compared to 50 cents for Lash-Brow-Ine – there may have been concerns about potential sales. However, the court case forced Tom Lyle’s hand and Lash-Brow-Ine soon disappeared.

In 1923, Maybell Laboratories was renamed Maybelline and concentrated operations on eye make-up. The business flourished, helped by the continued use of extensive advertising and Tom Lyle’s shrewd use of actresses as role models. A liquid form of Maybelline was made available and sales of the “solid form” and “waterproof liquid form” of Maybelline did well, eventually finding their way onto the toilet counters of drug, variety and department stores.

See also Maybelline

19th April 2010

Sources

Poucher, W. A. (1932) Perfumes, cosmetics and soaps, Vols. 1-2 (4th ed.). London: Chapman and Hall.

Quirk, J. R. (1920) Photoplay magazine. Chicago, Ill.: Photoplay Publishing Co.

Redgrove, H. S. & Foan, G. A. (1930). Paint, powder and patches: A handbook of make-up for stage and carnival. London: William Heinemann.

The United States Trade-Mark Association. (1921). The trade-mark reporter. Volume 10. New York: Author.

Williams, S. & Youngs, B. (2010). The Maybelline story and the spirited family dynasty behind it. Florida: Bettie Youngs Books Publishing.

1920 [April-May] Ethyl Clayton endorsement for ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’.1920 [December] Ethyl Clayton endorsement Lash-Brow-Ine and other cosmetics. Note the Maybelline box in the background and the interchange of Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline in the copy.

Copyright © 2011 James Bennett

email: cosmeticsandskin@gmail.com

Vogues in beauty come and go then crop up again in the never-ceasing search for something new.

—G. Vail (1947)

email: cosmeticsandskin@gmail.com

NICHE MAGAZINE'S Scrumptious Spring Issue features author Sharrie Williams column.

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MAYBELLINE HISTORY BY JAMES BENNETT FOR COSMETICS AND SKIN

The rise of Maybelline from a small mail-order firm to a global cosmetics business is impressive. Despite the fact that the company is now called Maybelline New York, its early fortunes, like those of Max Factor and the Westmore Brothers, were tied with the growing motion picture business in California.

Tom Lyle Williams

Known by those close to him as Tom Lyle, the founder of Maybelline was entrepreneurial, hard working, prepared to take advice and loyal to friends and family. His good looks and ability to get on with people were undoubtedly of great assistance. In 1912, aged 16, he moved from Morganfield, Illinois to Chicago and got a job with Montgomery Ward, a long running mail-order catalogue business. After experimenting on his own with a variety of mail-order ventures he left Montgomery Ward in 1914 to concentrate on his own business. By then he had already met and started a long-term relationship with Emery Shaver [1903-1964] who joined him in the venture. The following year he wired his sister Mabel to come to Chicago to help with the business.

Maybell Laboratories

In 1915 Tom Lyle watched his sister Mabel fix her singed eyebrows using a mixture of Vaseline, ash and coal dust, a trick she apparently got from ‘Photoplay’ magazine. Seeing an opportunity for a product to sell through his mail-order business he used a chemistry set to produce a mixture containing petrolatum (Vaseline), carbon black, cottonseed oil, and safflower oil that he hoped he could sell. Unfortunately, when Mabel applied it to her lashes it ran into her eyes and stung them badly.

Undaunted, Tom Lyle sought professional advice and commissioned Parke-Davis, a wholesale drug manufacturer, to make a suitable product for sale. The result was a scented cream consisting of refined white petrolatum along with several oils to add sheen. It did not contain any colouring agent but it seemed to ‘brighten the eyes’ (Williams & Youngs, 2010, p. 22). He called the product ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’, selecting the name partly because of its similarity with other eyelash and eyebrow products already on the market; a decision that would result in difficulties later.

Lash-Brow-Ine was to be packed into small aluminium containers and sold through mail-order in two sizes, at fifty cents and one dollar. Using money he got from his brother Noel to get this new venture off the ground, Tom Lyle acquired product and packaging and placed an advertisement for Lash-Brow-Ine in ‘Photoplay’ in 1916. As cash came in, it was used to place advertisements in other magazines such as the ‘Pictorial Review’, the ‘Deliniator’, and the ‘Saturday Evening Post’ and so the business grew (Williams & Youngs, 2010, p. 25).

Right: 1916 The first advertisement placed for Lash-Brow-Ine in Photoplay magazine.

Advertising for the Lash-Brow-Ine claimed that it ‘nourished and promoted the growth of eyelashes and eyebrows’. Tom Lyle was canny enough to suggest that you needed to use “two to three small boxes before any marked improvement is noted”, thereby ensuring a number of sales before dissatisfaction might set in. Pamphlet material that came with the product also suggested it could be used to cure baldness. Although we would now consider these claims to be untrue, at the time it was commonly believed that substances like Vaseline, olive oil and lanolin would stimulate hair growth.

How to use “LASH-BROW-INE”
Take a little “LASH-BROW-INE” on the tip of the finger and rub gently over the Brows and Lashes, always rubbing in the direction in which the hair grows. Be sure to rub well into the roots, and then take a soft cloth and wipe around the Brows and Lashes, leaving the “LASH-BROW-INE” only where you wish the hair to grow. To produce the very best results the very tip end of the Lashes should be clipped every two months. The clipping should be done by another person, using small manicure scissors, so as only to clip the tip ends. The Eyebrows should never be clipped.

(Lash-Brow-Ine pamphlet.)

Maybelline

In 1917, again with the assistance of Parke-Davis, Maybell Laboratories began production and sale of a cake eyelash and eyebrow beautifier. The exact composition of this product is unknown but it was most likely a sodium stearate based cake mascara known earlier also as ‘water cosmetique’ or ‘mascaro’.

Mascara

Maybelline introduced eye shadow and eyeliner to their product lines in 1929. This meant that the original Maybelline was now only for eyelashes and it was renamed ‘Maybelline Eyelash Darkener’ and then reformulated in 1931. In 1933 ‘eyelash darkener’ began to be referred to as mascara, a process that was completed by 1935. This was rather late in the day as Helena Rubinstein, Dorothy Gray, Marie Earle and others had been using the term for years. The adoption of mascara by Maybelline may have been to help separate its products from those associated with the ‘Lash Lure’ dye scandal of 1933.

For absolute safety in darkening your lashes use genuine, harmless Maybelline.
Non-smarting, tear-proof Maybelline is NOT a DYE, but a pure and highly refined mascara for instantly darkening and beautifying the eyelashes.
For over sixteen years millions of women have used Maybelline mascara with perfect safety and most gratifying results

(Maybelline advertisement, 1934)

Respectability and quality

The early 1930s was a difficult time for Maybelline but from adversity came strength. American production of toiletries and cosmetics declined from $193 million in 1929 to $97 million in 1933 and the number of companies almost halved from 815 to 490 (Jones, 2010, p. 109). The companies most at risk were those at the lower, mass-market end, which included Maybelline. As well as the general economic difficulties caused by the depression, eye make-up came under attack because of its associations with flappers and the perceived immorality of the movie industry of the 1920s. Then in 1933 the Lash Lure scandal caused a temporary sales drop in all mascaras.

In 1931, in an attempt to improve sales, Maybelline introduced a ten-cent trial ‘purse size’ that could be ordered through a mail-coupon. This was so successful that it was eventually made available through point of sale outlets as well. Moves were also made to improve sales distribution, particularly outside of the Chicago area, and packaging and display cartons were redesigned to make them more visible.

The use of movie stars remained an important part of the Maybelline advertising strategy but, in the 1930s, endorsements were more sober in tone and there was an increased use of models rather than actresses in the before and after shots. This reflected the position of the motion picture industry which adopted self-censorship in 1934 in the form of the Production Code. In that year Maybelline added radio to its advertising arsenal when ‘The Maybelline Hour’ began broadcasting on WFNT out of Chicago (Williams & Youngs, 2010, p. 134).

Maybelline, along with a number of other mascaras, received favourable reports in the widely read book ‘Skin deep: The truth about beauty aids‘ published in 1934. However, given that the Lash Lure scare of 1933 had hurt sales, Maybelline sought to protect itself from questions regarding the quality of its products by obtaining the ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval’ which was placed prominently in most advertisements for the rest of the decade. Phrases like ‘contains no dye’, ‘absolutely harmless’ and ‘perfect safety’ were also inserted liberally in advertising copy.

Product packaging was also upgraded as part of the drive towards associating Maybelline with quality. Gold metal vanity cases were introduced for the solid mascara and in 1936 a new cream mascara was introduced in dainty zipper bags; the liquid mascara seems to have disappeared from the product line at the same time. These upgrades in products and packaging and the more sober tone in advertising were to make Maybelline products more acceptable to middle America and the department stores in which many of them now made their cosmetic purchases. Given that the 1934 cosmetic survey by ‘Woman’s Home Companion’ did not include eyeshadow, mascara and eye pencil as they were not considered important, anything that fostered sales to middle America would be to the company’s benefit.

Maybelline’s fortunes were dramatically improved when Harold Ragland joined the company in 1933 and assumed control of sales and promotion. Under his more professional direction the company closed down the mail-order business, fixed many of its distribution problems and opened up new avenues for sales through chain and department stores. Ragland also made the ten-cent ‘purse size’ more widely available and introduced a new form of display card that could be hung prominently to attract the customer’s attention. The original cards used an image of the Maybell Girl but these were soon replaced thereby closing the last symbolic links with the old Maybell Laboratories.

Above: One of the original display cards introduced by Harold Ragland. The Maybell girl was soon replaced with a more contemporary image. The eye shadow product is missing.

By 1934 the cash flow was strong enough to allow Tom Lyle to start buying up other mascara businesses as they came on the market, thereby solidifying Maybelline‘s dominance in eye make-up in the American market. The 1930s also saw Maybelline expand into Canada and Europe (Williams & Youngs, 2010, p. 260). South America was added after the war and other countries followed giving Maybelline a global reach. At home, although there was increased competition from the majors, figures indicated that Maybelline still had about 75% of the American mascara market in 1947.

Corporatisation and sale

After its incorporation in 1954 the company saw two decades of continuous growth and expansion, with sales reaching $25 million in 1966 (Williams & Young, 2010, p. 304). During this time the company remained firmly fixed on eye products, including mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, eyebrow pencils, eyelash curlers and eyebrow tweezers.

In 1958, following Helena Rubinstein’s introduction of ‘Mascara-matic’, Maybelline introduced its own wand mascara with a spiral brush, ‘Magic Mascara’. Also introduced were new self-sharpening eyeliner/eyebrow pencils and stick eye shadow. The new mascara wands would result in the decline of cake and cream forms and in 1963 Maybelline released ‘Ultra-lash’ mascara, followed soon after by ‘Ultra-Brow’, ‘Ultra-Line’, and ‘Ultra-Shadow’.

In 1967 Tom Lyle reached the age of seventy and was ready to sell. After turning down bids by Revlon and Schick he sold the company to Plough for just over $130 million in stock. The business remained named Maybelline through the merger of Plough with Scherling and the sale of Maybelline to the Wasserstein Perella investor group but it was renamed ‘Maybelline New York’ in 2001 by its current owners L’Oréal, USA.

Timeline

1915	Maybell Laboratories founded to make Lash-Brow-Ine.
1916	Advertising in Photoplay magazine begins.
1917	First real model used in advertising.
1917	Maybelline Cake eyelash and eyebrow make-up released.
1923	Maybell Laboratories renamed Maybelline.
1924	Maybelline moves to new headquarters in North Ridge Avenue Chicago.
1925	Waterproof Liquid Maybelline eye make-up introduced.
1929	Eyebrow Pencils (black and brown) and Eyeshadow(blue, black, brown and green) introduced into the product line.
1930	Violet colour added to eyeshadows.
1931	Maybelline introduces new formulation for cake eyelash darkener.
1932	10-cent mascara created for drug and variety stores.
1933	Maybelline begins to be sold direct to stores outside of the Chicago area. Mail-order began to be closed down.
1933	First use of the word mascara in Maybelline advertising.
1934	Blue colour added to mascara.
1934	The Maybelline Hour radio show starts on WFNT Chicago.
1936	Cream mascara in a waterproof zipper case released.
1951	Emerald Green mascara introduced.
1951	First TV advertising by Maybelline.
1954	Maybelline incorporated.
1955	Antiwrinkle Eye Cream introduced (withdrawn the following year).
1957	Self sharpening eyebrow and eyeliner pencil introduced.
1958	Magic Mascara with a spiral brush introduced.
1961	Fluid Eye Liner introduced.
1963	Ultra-Lash released, followed soon after by Ultra-Brow,Ultra-Line, and Ultra-Shadow.
1967	Natural Hair Lashes introduced.
1967	Maybelline acquired by Plough.
1971	Great Lash, a water-based mascara, is introduced to replace Ultra Lash.
1983	Shine Free Oil Control make-up line featuring non-comedogenic formulas introduced.
1990	Maybelline acquired by Wasserstein Perella & Co.
1991	“Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline” advertising tagline created.
1996	Maybelline acquired by L’Oréal USA.
2001	Maybelline becomes Maybelline New York.

Sources

Jones, G. (2010). Beauty imagined: A history of the global beauty industry. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

deNavarre, M. G. (1941). The chemistry and manufacture of cosmetics. Boston: D Van Nostrand Company.

Phillips, M. C. (1934). Skin deep: The truth about beauty aids. New York: Garden City Publishing.

Poucher, W. A. (1932). Perfumes, cosmetics and soaps, Vols. 1-2(4th ed.). London: Chapman and Hall.

Sharrie Williams. (2011, September). Retrieved September 3, 2011, from http://www.maybellinebook.com/

Williams, S. & Youngs, B. (2010). The Maybelline story and the spirited family dynasty behind it. Florida: Bettie Youngs Books Publishing.

REVIEW.....Maybelline Story reads like the best fiction but with real characters and plots that take us on an American dream wild ride.

From the Midwest through Chicago and Hollywood, we follow a path strewn with scandals, jealousies, triangles and betrayals. Throw in arson, a still-unsolved murder and even the Feds and Mafia and you have an exciting and bumpy journey that leaves more than one casualty in its wake. And Maybelline was along for the ride.

The characters seem larger-than-life yet somehow remain vulnerable and sympathetic This is a family that continually grasped at the shiny ring only to discover that it might be no more than their own reflections staring back, sometimes accusingly, in the mirror.

The legacy is in good hands with Ms. Williams. She's a true storyteller and writes with passion and candor while bluntly sharing her own resolve to rise above her

family's lifelong mantra of money, beauty and the search for perfection. It's a critical but tender tale of redemption that displays an understanding, compassion and love for her family. She never gave up on her dream to tell this story and literally braved fire and fury to share it with the world. It's a book that you really can't put down, a true page-turner and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

You'll never look at a Maybelline ad again without feeling a tug of empathy for these characters and the struggles and determination of one man's effort to capture beauty on a brush and change forever the color palette of the world. Amazon.com

Maybelline's Master of Perfection.

Armed with market savvy, an eye for beauty and a penchant for perfection, Tom Lyle continued to experiment boldly, introducing what would become one of the most familiar and effective ploys in advertising: “before and after” imagery. This captured the imagination of women everywhere, creating a need that he filled by placing striking cosmetic displays in dime and drug stores across America. Soon the name Maybelline came to represent more than just mascara—it meant beauty, sex appeal and self-confidence, indispensible tools for every woman’s success—however she defined it.

REVIEW...Maybelline deeply impacted everything from legendary Hollywood movie stars to every day working people's lives throughout so many generations. A

Sharrie Williams, author of the Maybelline Story has written a really wonderful book! Its an amazing story of once upon a time in America, where great desire, ambition and dreams overcome great adversity and obstacles. There is spirit, triumph mixed with tragedy as a company grows from nothing to world prominence in its industry. Written in an engaging, personal way so that as you read it, you are drawn in, and feel like you are right there with the family.

Maybelline (both the products and the story) interacted and evolved through the major cultural and dynamic historic events in American history and deeply it impacted everything from legendary Hollywood movie stars to every day working people's lives throughout so many generations. And there is an eternal verity that comes through as a constant theme: when you make a woman feel beautiful, there is a profound effect on everyone around her.

You tell the story in a compelling way that makes it come alive, and also creates new stories that grow naturally from the main one."

Larry Crandell, Santa Barbara California.

Maybelline Heir, Bill Williams 1977 Clenet # 13 is ready for its close up

CLENET TV .....click to see the original clip of 1977, Series 1 Clenet owners.

After a year and half, Bill Williams, 1977 Clenet, seemed to glow as it sped out of storage, excited to be filmed for a new Documentary.

Friday was a long day for # 13's original fabricator,
Steve Kouracos and my sister Donna and me. We were all interviewed for a Documentary, asking the question... "Why are Clenet owners still so passionate about their car after 35 years."

Alain Clenet's, neo-classic product of the Clenet Coachworks of Santa Barbara, Calif., was meant to be America's answer to the Rolls-Royce. Some of the original owners included, Rod Stewart, Wayne Newton and Ken Norton. The rock group Kiss wanted theirs in shocking pink but were turned down. My father, Bill Williams bought #13 for $28,000 and added some custom features including his initials painted on both doors and Gatsby etched glass. for more information about the Alain Clenet and his Car click here.

I will post more as the producer sends snippets to me.

Happy Saint Patricks Day, May the wind always be at your back.

Sharrie Williams will be Presenting The Maybelline Story, March 15 in Newport Beach California.

Buy a signed copy of The Maybelline Story order with PAYPAL NOW

I'm very pleased to be Presenting The Maybelline Story, for "Contacts of Orange County," March 15, at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach California. The Networking Group is made up of professional and entrepreneurial women who are leaders in their field of endeavor. Member expertise spans the arts, law, business and finance, all levels of education, community activism, intercultural exchanges, healthcare, electoral politics, publishing, and real estate. This group also is dedicated to finding balance in life and always gives back to our communities.

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The Maybelline Story -- Contacts OC Member Invite 3-15-13 by Sharrie Williams