L'Oréal was born from the kitchen of a newly graduated chemist's home: Eugène Schueller

In 1907, Frenchman Eugène Schueller graduated from the university he studied in Paris as a chemist. Then he built a small laboratory in the kitchen of his house. He was here every night doing all sorts of hair dye experiments. His goal was to produce a hair dye that looked completely natural.

He used to pour the hair dyes he produced at home into small bottles and tried to persuade them by visiting the hairdressers in the city one by one. He was also successful in his tactics. He sold the paints he produced so well that he opened his own company with the money he saved from the paints he made in his home laboratory and laid the first building blocks of the L'Oreal brand.

Schueller's business was going well, but since women didn't dye their hair often at that time, he had to raise awareness about dyeing their hair safely. Schueller, on the other hand, was following a very professional path. At that time, a fashion magazine called "la coiffure de paris" was a popular magazine in every women's hairdresser, and women were reading this magazine while waiting in line to get their hair done.

Then Schueller started to write articles in this journal as a chemist. The topic of the articles was 'hair dyes and dyeing techniques', which was the most crucial point for women. As the articles he wrote for the magazine were read, he began to sell more products, and in a short time he bought the entire magazine and became a magazine that vaguely praised its own products.

Schueller was still advancing in his career with very clever steps. He was aware that hairdressers were the most important factor for more sales and recognition of hair dyes. He was on good terms with them and organized various campaigns to make them happy. Thus, after a while, many of the hairdressers in France began to strongly recommend his products to women.

Then, Schueller opened a "hair dyeing academy" to promote the L'Oreal brand in the most beautiful district of Paris and appointed an aristocratic hairdresser who had worked in the palace of the Russian tsar. However, hairdressers from all over France were learning all the intricacies of hair dyeing at this elite school, and of course, they were praising the ladies who came to see that the L'Oreal brand was the best dye in the world.

By the 1920s, women began to enter the working life more and naturally to pay more attention to their care. This development was very important for Schueller and L'Oreal, they were now crossing the borders of France and sending products all over the world.

During this period, Schueller realized that the desire of dark-haired women to dye their hair blonde was increasing, and in a very short time, he launched a brand new product that lightened their hair. At that time, he took the bottle of Schueller's product and told those around him, "We will make fortunes from this tiny bottle because one day millions of women will want to dye their hair blonde."

Each time Schueller followed a professional path, it was an opportunity for the L'Oreal brand to develop and be recognized. In addition, when the paid leave law for workers was passed for the first time in France, Schueller thought that the workers going on a long summer vacation would fill the beaches, and of course, he made money with a sack of suntan oil.

One of the biggest achievements of L'oreal is that it allocates large budgets to science and R&D studies. A whole research institute was established in the early years by the instruction of the chemist Schueller and was equipped with the most modern devices. In its first year (1950), only one hundred expert chemists were working in the research department. The great importance given to science lies behind the discovery and launch of many new products by L'oreal from those times until today.

What does the name L'oreal mean? What is the origin of the name L'Oreal?

The L’Oréal name has accompanied Eugène Schueller since his very first steps in the world of Beauty. His first hair coloring was called ‘L’Auréale’ – probably a reference to ‘l’Auréole,’ a fashionable hairstyle at the start of the 20th century. But it was also a reference to the gold and the warm tints that women wanted to give their hair with colorings. It has also been whispered that the L’Oréal name is derived from the Ancient Greek word ωραίος (oreos), which means ‘beauty.’