L'Oréal Business Story
Eugène Paul Louis Schueller was born in Paris in 1881. He was an excellent student and worked in his parents pastry shop in the evenings. After finishing his baccalaureate degree, he entered the Institute of Applied Chemistry in 1900. He once again succeeded brilliantly and finished first in his class. Following his graduation in 1904, he took a position as a laboratory assistant at the Sorbonne. He was mapping out a career as a university researcher. One day, the owner of a large barber shop visited Schueller's lab. The man was seeking help on developing a synthetic hair dye. At the time, hair dyes were not widely used by French women because most of the concoctions were toxic and irritated the scalp. Seeing a good business opportunity, Schueller agreed to become the barber's technical advisor. Schueller was an ambitious young man, but he hated the idea of working under someone else's orders. So, he soon cut ties with the barber and struck out on his own. He began exper...