Max Factor was a Polish makeup entrepreneur who moved to the US and opened a cosmetics shop in Los Angeles. He developed new makeup products for the film industry, and his company went on to produce iconic products. The company is now owned by Procter and Gamble.
Max Factor was an innovative makeup entrepreneur who had his heyday during the heyday of the Hollywood movie studio system. He was born Max Faktor in 1877 in Lodz, Poland, and began working as a wig and beautician apprentice when he was only 9 years old. When she was still a teenager he moved to Berlin to work for a hairdresser named Anton.
Later, when he was 14, Factor moved to Moscow to work as a beautician for the Imperial Russian Grand Opera and later did his four-year compulsory service in the Russian Army. When he was discharged, he opened his own cosmetics shop in R’azan, Russia. A member of the theater company stopped by on his way to a performance for the imperial family and invited Factor over.
The Russian imperial court was great for her business, but the courtiers had tight control over her life. She married secretly and fathered three children. In 1903 he fled Russia with his family and went to St. Louis, Missouri. Along the way, the spelling of his name was changed from “Faktor” to “Factor”. His wife died a few years after his arrival in the United States.
Factor remarried two more times before moving his family to California to take advantage of the burgeoning film business. He opened a wig and cosmetics shop in Los Angeles. Inspired to find a new type of makeup after noticing that the type used by actors cracked and looked bad on film, he developed a new makeup base that quickly became popular with silent film stars.
After initial success, he developed a series of products suited to the film studio system, including false eyelashes, nail polish and Pan-Cake makeup, which is still in production today. He was in demand as a make-up artist and developed Clara Bow’s bee-tinged lips and Joan Crawford’s lipstick ‘stain’. Factor’s Makeup Shop was the go-to shop for Hollywood actresses and served stars like Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Judy Garland and many more.
Max Factor died in 1938, but his son Frank changed his name to Max to maintain continuity in the business. The company went on to produce a number of memorable products, including the green makeup used for the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, one of the first permanent lipsticks, and the first concealer. Max Factor has had a number of memorable advertising campaigns featuring famous actresses using the company’s products.
The company went public in the early 1960s and was sold in the early 1970s. The name is now owned by Procter and Gamble and can be found in pharmacies throughout the United States. Some of Max Factor’s heirs are still in the cosmetics business. His great-nephews Dean and Davis Factor created the popular Smashbox makeup line.
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