Eugène Schueller
French nazi pharmacist and entrepreneur, founder of L'Oréal (1881–1957)
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Key Takeaways
- Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (20 March 1881 – 23 August 1957) was a French chemist and entrepreneur who was the founder of L'Oréal, a leading company in cosmetics and beauty.
- He graduated in 1904 from the Institut de Chimie Appliquée de Paris (now Chimie ParisTech) and became a laboratory assistant under Victor Auger (father of Pierre Victor Auger) at Sorbonne.
- Schueller developed an innovative hair-color formula in 1907, which he called Oréale .
- In 1909, he registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (French Company of Inoffensive Hair Dyes), the future L'Oréal.
- In 1936, the social reforms led by Léon Blum in France suddenly created a vacation industry, and the sales of L'Oréal's sunscreen (Ambre Solaire) skyrocketed.
Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (20 March 1881 – 23 August 1957) was a French chemist and entrepreneur who was the founder of L'Oréal, a leading company in cosmetics and beauty.
Founding of L'Oréal
Schueller was of Alsatian origin. He graduated in 1904 from the Institut de Chimie Appliquée de Paris (now Chimie ParisTech) and became a laboratory assistant under Victor Auger (father of Pierre Victor Auger) at Sorbonne. A barber asked him to develop a new hair dye, but Schueller took this opportunity to lead his own research shop.
Schueller developed an innovative hair-color formula in 1907, which he called Oréale. He formulated and manufactured his own products, and sold them to Parisian hairdressers.
In 1909, he registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (French Company of Inoffensive Hair Dyes), the future L'Oréal. In his production unit, he developed the concept of proportional salary. In 1936, the social reforms led by Léon Blum in France suddenly created a vacation industry, and the sales of L'Oréal's sunscreen (Ambre Solaire) skyrocketed.
Support for fascism
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, antisemitic and anti-communist group whose leader formed a political party Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire (MSR, Social Revolutionary Movement) which in Occupied France supported the Vichy collaboration with the conquerors from Nazi Germany.
In La révolution de l’économie (1941), he wrote:
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