Historical Introduction
Since the dawn of time; in primitive communities and in the jungle, man has tried throughout history to treat his diseases and select his medicines from herbs and other sources, and over the years he developed therapeutic acumen bit by bit using the plant, animal, and mineral sources and everything possible surrounding him for remedy purposes driven by the instinct of Survival and that was in various civilizations such as Chinese, Babylon, Greek, Egyptian, Ptolemaic, Romanian and Arabian civilization.
one generation after another, he developed his medicine manufacturing till the pharmaceutical science bloomed and was demarcated from medical science in the eighth century AD in the civilized world particularly in Baghdad, and then gradually the pharmaceutical science spread around Europe under the terminology of chemistry and the profession of chemists.
This development carried on in Europe century after century until the European pharmacopeia emerged which classified medicines and their uses, specifications, methods of analysis, and doses such as the British pharmacopeia in 1618, French pharmacopeia in 1639, and the American pharmacopeia In 1820.
As for Cosmetics which is another form of pharmaceutical preparations; it has a long history of more than 7000 years and existed in all the communities on earth such as the Egyptian Iraqi, Indian, Chinese and Romanian ones, the methods of preparation developed generation after generation and its industry merged with other industries such as herbal, perfumery and extracts industry of various origins until the nineteenth century which was the century of the birth of the modern cosmetics in its specialized and professional form that presented the establishment for its industrial modern shape nowadays.
The cosmetics industry has developed in Europe, America, and Japan, people have become increasingly aware of its importance and they developed a culture of beautification and outer appearance care, manufacturers also started to show great care in choosing the most appropriate and safest materials for production of such products in order to protect consumers from any harm or poisoning caused by the use of inappropriate materials.
In the nineteenth century, large, organized, and scientifically oriented companies emerged in the cosmetics industry which elevated the attractiveness of their products whether for skin, hair, face, or personal care increasing its appeal to consumers, and to name a few of the aforementioned companies as below :
| Company | Country | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Guerlain | France | 1828 |
| Rimmel | UK | 1834 |
| Procter & Gamble P&G (personal care products) | USA | 1837 |
| Shiseido | Japan | 1872 |
| Henkel(Personal care products) | Germany | 1876 |
| Wella | Germany | 1880 |
| Hudnut | USA | 1880 |
| Beiersdorf“Nivea-Labello-Eucerin”(Personal care products) | Germany | 1882 |
| Avon | USA | 1886 |
| Kao | Japan | 1887 |
| Colgate-Palmolive (Personal care products) | USA | 1806 |
Some of the brands that went popular back then were American brands such as Pond’s healing [pond’s extract] “USA 1846”
Which were associated with huge advertising campaigns and later became known as Pond’s Cream also the Famous American Vaseline Brand
We will get back to these 2 brands later on.
In the 20th century, there were many milestones for the development of the cosmetic industry and personal care products, makeup products gradually spread and their forms began to develop at an accelerated pace, one example worth mentioning is Mum; a famous deodorant which was first invented in 1888 in Philadelphia, it was introduced to the market as an ointment/cream in a small jar, later developing in 1952 into a roll-on form and then into an aerosol (spray) from in 1965.
An example of the development of makeup products is Max Factor firstly founded in Los Angeles in 1909.
Around the same time, France has offered many outstanding products in the same field, and most of the long-standing make-up companies have emerged from 1920 to 1930.
An important milestone for the cosmetics industry in the 20th century was the introduction of L’Oréal; a French pioneer company founded in 1909 in Paris to its sun protectant product for the first time in 1936, one other milestone in the 20th century is the market penetration of skin whitening products and hair straightening products for curly hair, made initially for African Americans, later in the 1970’s the concept developed entailing five American companies which emerged and specialized in the manufacturing of makeup products and personal care products specifically for African Americans
The 20th century witnessed the establishment of hundreds of prestigious and leading beauty products companies which significantly enriched the industry such as:
| Company | Country | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Eucerin | Germany | 1902 |
| Garnier | France | 1904 |
| L'oreal | France | 1909 |
| Chanel | France | 1910 |
| Weleda | Switzerland | 1921 |
| Unilever(Personal Care) | UK | 1929 |
| Clairol | USA | 1931 |
| Vichy | France | 1931 |
| Revlon | USA | 1932 |
| Lancôme | France | 1935 |
| Estee lauder | USA | 1946 |
| Kosè | Japan | 1948 |
| Olay | USA | 1952 |
| Biotherm | France | 1952 |
| Clarins | France | 1954 |
| Dove(Personal Care) | USA | 1957 |
| Pierre Fabre | France | 1962 |
| Oriflame | Sweden | 1967 |
| Clinique | USA | 1968 |
| Armani | Italy | 1975 |
| Bioderma | France | 1977 |
| Uriage | France | 1992 |
By the 21st century, the dynamics of marketing and distribution of cosmetics have already changed in terms of the use of the Internet and e-marketing vastly rather than traditional distribution channels along with the development of manufacturing technology and the development of new techniques for new raw materials extraction and new unique ingredients adding to that the increase of the global demand for this industry making it one of the hugest industries in the world and can be safely claimed as one of the most important pillars of the economy of many countries with a global market size approaching 500 billion USD in 2019