L'Oreal

The L'Oréal Group Euronext: FR0000120321, headquartered in the Paris suburb of Clichy, France, is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. more...

Home
Bath & Body
Dietary Supplements,...
Hair Care
Hair Removal
Health Care
Makeup
Massage
Medical, Special Needs
Nail
Natural Therapies
Oral Care
Skin Care
Acne, Blemish Control
Anti-Aging Products
Ahava
Aloette
Arbonne
Nutrimin C
Other
Sets
Avon
Clinical Line
Other Product Lines
Retroactive Line
Ultimate Line
Eye Treatments
Face Creams
Facial Peels
Laser Systems
Line, Wrinkle Correctors
Other
Repair Creams, Lotions
Serums
BeautiControl
Bliss
Cellex-C
Chanel
Christian Dior
Clarins
Clinique
Eye Treatments
Face Creams
Firming Creams, Lotions
Other Products
DDF
Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Grant
Erno Laszlo
Estée Lauder
Future Perfect
Other
Perfectionist
Resilience
Eye Treatments
Face Creams
Night Repair
Other Products
Serums
Skin Refinisher
Freeze 24/7
Gatineau
Guerlain
Isomers
Jafra
Kiehl's
Kinerase
L'Oreal
La Prairie
Lancôme
Eye Treatments
Face Creams
Other Products
Wrinkle Treatments
Mary Kay
Day Solutions
Eye Treatments
Facial Cleansers
Facial Moisturizers
Night Solutions
Other Products
Sets, Kits
MD Formulations
Murad
N.V. Perricone, M.D.
Natura Bisse
Neutrogena
Obagi
Oil of Olay
Other
Regenerist
Total Effects
Origins
Other Brands
Philosophy
Principal Secret
ReVive
Serious Skin Care
Eye Cream
Other
Serums
Shiseido
Signature Club A
Skinceuticals
Strivectin
Wei East
Z. Bigatti
Blotting Papers
Cleansers
Exfoliators, Scrubs
Eye Masks
Lightening Cream
Makeup Remover
Masks, Peels
Men's Skin Care
Microdermabrasion
Moisturizers
Night Cream
Other Items
Samples, Trial Size
Sets, Kits
Sun Care
Toners, Astringents
Vision Care

L'Oréal has developed activities in the field of cosmetics, concentrating on hair color, skin care, sun protection, make-up, perfumes and hair care. L'Oréal is active in the dermatological and pharmaceutical fields. L'Oréal is also the top nanotechnology patent-holder in the United States. The CEO of L'Oreal SA is Jean-Paul Agon.

L'Oréal is a listed company, but the founder's daughter Liliane Bettencourt, who is one of the richest people in the world, and the Swiss food company Nestlé each control over a quarter of the shares and voting rights.

History

In 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed an innovative hair-color formula. He called his improved hair dye Auréole. With that, the history of L’Oréal began. Eugène Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products, which he then sold to Parisian hairdressers.

In 1909, Schueller registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (\"Safe Hair Dye Company of France\"), the future L’Oréal. The guiding principles of the company that would become L’Oréal were put into place from the start: research and innovation in the interest of beauty.

During the early twentieth century, Schueller provided financial support and held meetings for La Cagoule at L’Oréal headquarters. La Cagoule was a violent French fascist-leaning and anti-communist group. L'Oréal hired several members of the group as executives after World War II.

In 1920, the small company employed three chemists. By 1950, the research teams were 100 strong; that number reached 1,000 by 1984 and is nearly 2,000 today.

L’Oréal got its start in the hair-color business, but the company soon branched out into other cleansing and beauty products. L’Oréal now markets over 500 brands and many thousands of individual products in all sectors of the beauty business: hair color, permanents, styling aids, body and skin care, cleansers and fragrances. They are found in all distribution channels, from hair salons and perfumeries to hyper - and supermarkets, health/beauty outlets, pharmacies and direct mail.

L’Oréal has five worldwide research and development centers: two in France: Aulnay and Chevilly; one in the U.S.: Clark, New Jersey; one in Japan: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture; and in 2005, one was established in China, Shanghai.

L’Oréal purchased Synthélabo in 1973 to pursue its ambitions in the pharmaceutical field. Synthélabo merged with Sanofi in 1999 to become Sanofi-Synthélabo. Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis in 2004 to become Sanofi-Aventis.

Read more at Wikipedia.org