Beauty Across Time: Part 3
1872: Shiseido, one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world, is founded by Yushin Fukuhara as Japan's first Western-style pharmacy (Shiseido Cosmetics [America] Ltd. would later be founded in 1965). Innovative Styling Options, also known as ISO, Zotos, Helene Curtis, Joico, Goldwell, and KMS are a few of Shiseido's current holdings.1873: To fix a limp wave in his mother's hair, French hairdresser Marcel Grateau develops a method of waving hair with a curling iron, now known as a “Marcel” iron.
1875: To remove a patient's infected eyelash, St. Louis ophthalmologist Dr. Charles Michel develops a machine using direct current to cause a chemical reaction inside the follicle. After the errant eyelash never grows back, Michel dubs the procedure “electrolysis."
1877: Colgate Dental Cream, the first toothpaste in a tube, is introduced to the U.S. market.
1870’s: Levi Strauss and a Nevada tailor join forces to patent an idea the tailor had for putting rivets on stress points of workman's “waist-high overalls,” now known as jeans. Levi Strauss uses the stronger denim fabric and cotton duck, putting his own name on the product. Later the duck fabric would be dropped as consumers found denim more comfortable, particularly after washing—creating the faded bloom on the indigo blue dyeing that we all love.
1878: The English company Lever Brothers creates Lifebuoy and sells it as an antiseptic soap.
1878: Robert A. Chesebrough patents Vaseline petroleum jelly.
Coming tomorrow: Gettin' Wiggy With It
