This is how the current cosmetics was born: the stories of overcoming behind the big firms

A few days before the celebration of March 8, Women's Day, it is a good time to review history and learn about the beginnings of the cosmetics business. It is a sector designed by and for women since they were themselves the pioneers of an industry that today generates millions of profits around the world.

If we look back we will realize that the first cosmetic brands were born from the mind and work of a group of visionaries and entrepreneurs who championed the empowerment of women. If today women have difficulties in obtaining equal treatment in the world of work, let us imagine what it must have been like for these figures who had to live during the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th.

They were not only pioneering businesswomen, but they changed the mentality of a society. The woman began to think about taking care of herself, putting on makeup and combing her hair to feel comfortable with herself and not just to please her partners. In addition, it meant a complete change in the reputation of a series of products that, until the arrival of these first brands, were frowned upon and related to "little-living" women.

Today in Vozpópuli we are going to give a history class because the beginnings of cosmetics are also worth telling and vindicating. You will also be able to discover the interesting stories that exist behind the great firms that are now world-renowned, that you can find in any cosmetics store and that, possibly, you have on your dressing table.

From daughter of slaves to being America's first millionairess

Recently, Netflix has launched Madame CJ Walker back into stardom thanks to A Self-Made Woman. It is a miniseries starring Octavia Spencer that gives life to her heroine, an unknown to the Spanish market but a pillar in the world of beauty in the United States. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, which calls for the importance and equality of the black community in America, her figure once again becomes important as a source of inspiration.

A true visionary in the world of cosmetics, Madame CJ Walker had to fight many barriers: a woman of color, a defender of free love and a champion of the integration of women in the world of work. We are going to talk about a new story in which a problem becomes a business opportunity and it was through her alopecia that this woman discovered a cosmetic that made her the first millionaire woman in the United States.

But let's start the story at the beginning. The daughter of slave parents, Sarah Breedlove, which is her real name, was orphaned at the age of seven and married when she was only 14. Far from having a peaceful family life, six years later she was abandoned by her husband after a relationship loaded with mistreatment. Faced with this stressful situation, alone and with a two-year-old daughter, she began to lose an alarming amount of hair.

Breedlove decided to start a new life in Saint Louis where she began working hand washing clothes for wealthy families. In this new city she met Annie Turnbo Malone, a manufacturer of curly hair products for whom she started working in exchange for receiving an ointment with which she discovered how her hair became stronger again.

Taking herself as a guinea pig, Madame CJ Walker began to investigate how she could perfect the results of her boss's products by working with natural products and ingredients in her own kitchen. In this homemade and personal way, "Wonderful Hair Gromer" was born, the first cosmetic designed specifically for black women.

Her product became what today we would call 'top sales' and allowed her to create an empire from nothing that came to have more than 25,000 employees throughout the country. Empathetic and generous, and turned into a millionaire, CJ Walker dedicated her last years of life to social causes and defending the role of women of color in the labor market since she was aware that freedom for women would only come after her incorporation to work. This impressive life, full of ups and downs, took its toll on her at the age of 51 when she died of a heart attack, leaving for posterity a story of tenacity, struggle and overcoming.

Elizabeth Arden: the power of red lips

At the beginning of the 20th century, Elizabeth Arden came to the world of cosmetics to completely change the rules that existed until then regarding makeup, since she is responsible for the fact that women wear makeup because they want to, not to please others. Your partners.

This absolute change in reputation is the result of strong marketing campaigns in which Elizabeth Arden defined the makeup that a lady should wear. It was only a matter of time before women began to pack their beauty salons in order to show off the new fashion aesthetic. For the first time, the fact of putting on lipstick was not something frowned upon and associated with prostitutes, but lipstick could live freely in a woman's handbag and be used in the dressing table of any upmarket restaurant.

Again, Arden's business success is accompanied by a social sentiment. We are talking about the time of the suffragettes, women who demonstrated demanding their right to vote. In support of her gender, the businesswoman decided to give all those who gathered to claim their rights on Fifth Avenue in New York a red lipstick. In a short time, this cosmetic became a symbol of feminine power.

Estée Lauder: Any woman can be beautiful

The daughter of a Hungarian mother and a Czechoslovakian father, Estée Lauder was born in 1906 in the New York neighborhood of Queens and became another visionary in the world of beauty who, together with her husband, managed to create and direct one of the most innovative and prestigious companies in the sector.

"No one has ever been successful without taking risks... You have to be able to recognize the moment and take advantage of it without delay", was one of her mottos. Seeking that success, she soon realized that a change in her surname was necessary to make it more commercial, transforming the original 'Lauter' into the now mythical 'Lauder' in the 1930s.

His passion for beauty, and his belief in the power that could accompany him, led him to create four skin care products that were true to his business philosophy that he summed up with phrases like "any woman can be beautiful" or " You should never underestimate a woman for being beautiful."

The beginning of her empire began in beauty salons where she convinced future clients of hers by demonstrating her products while they were imprisoned under dryers. She was also a pioneer in a basic marketing tool that is still used today, which consists of giving away free samples of cosmetics so that women are convinced of the results of her products before she buys them.

"I never dreamed of success. I worked to get there," commented Estée Lauder, who in 1946 finally decided to create her own brand, which she named after her, consisting of a line of beauty products . The great revolution would come just four years later when she launched the perfume 'Youth Dew', a bath oil that could also be used as a fragrance. However, her most famous product is the night serum, an innovation that is still in full swing today and one unit is sold every 8 seconds around the world.

Among her goals is also to be the first American woman to be decorated with the Legion of Honor in 1978 and to be the only woman in the list of "The 20 most influential commercial geniuses of the 20th century" that Time magazine published in 1998.

After taking her company public, Estée Lauder decided to retire from it in 1995 and died in 2004 at the age of 97… a figure that is the best publicity for a beauty care firm.

Helena Rubinstein: a product for every type of woman

Chaja Rubinstein, known worldwide as Helena, founded a cosmetics company that made her one of the richest women in the world, allowing her to pursue philanthropy and her passion as an art collector.

Her beginnings take us back to a family of humble origins. She was born in 1872 in the Jewish quarter of Krakow and was the eldest of eight children. Interested in studying medicine, her parents decide to send her to live with relatives in Australia at the end of the century. In her luggage, her mother did not hesitate to include twelve jars of facial cream created following her family recipe... she did not know that she was changing the course of the history of cosmetics.

Arriving in Melbourne, Ella Chaja discovered how her fair, radiant and flawless skin was the envy of all her neighbors. Her secret was the cream that accompanied her from Europe and that she decided to start selling to her acquaintances. In this curious way she was born the first cream of hers, which she named Valaze. Her local success convinced him to take the step of advertising in the newspapers to make her known throughout the country and in just two years she had already generated a profit of 24,000 dollars.

Her next step was the opening of her first beauty center in Melbourne in 1905 but she soon felt the need to train in the sector and she decided to leave the salon in the hands of her sister to travel through Europe. Back in her native continent, she learned about the different types of skin from dermatologists and she opened a new center in Paris, but the outbreak of the First World War made her move to the United States where she finally created the great company her.

During the 1930s, Helena Rubinstein could already boast of being one of the richest women in America and in the 1950s her empire consisted of 40,000 workers and 14 cosmetic factories. Her jealousy did not take long to arrive and her great rivalry with Elizabeth Arden is known, of which we have already spoken, with a history full of attacks, transfers of workers and theft of formulas of her products.

Among her innovations, you should know that she was the creator of the brush that incorporates mascara and the inventor of the 'waterproof' mascara that she created for the national synchronized swimming team in 1939. “There are no ugly women, only lazy women! ”, is one of the famous mottos of this famous pioneer of cosmetics.