division of procter & gamble begun in 1931 by americans lawrence and joan gelb after discovering hair coloring preparations while traveling in france . 1 the company was widely recognized in its home country the united states for its miss clairol home hair coloring kit introduced in 1956 . by 1959 clairol was considered the leading company in the u.s. hair coloring industry . in 2004 clairol registered annual sales worth approximately us 1.6 billion from the sale of its hair products . 2 as of 2014 clairol manufactures hair coloring products sold under the brand names natural instincts nice n easy and perfect lights . 3 contents 1 products 2 corporate timeline 3 industry makeover 4 advertising history 5 additional slogans 6 popular references 7 references 8 external links products edit the clairol hair coloring line includes permanent hair color semi permanent hair color highlighting and blonding products . as of 2014 clairol s hair color products are sold under the following brands nice n easy natural instincts perfect lights balsam herbal essences the company s website includes a link to discontinued products . 3 corporate timeline edit 1931 lawrence m. gelb and wife joan discover clairol a hair coloring preparation while traveling in france . they co found the clairol company and import the product to u.s. salons . 1949 miss clairol hair color bath launched the first one step hair color product for professional salon use 1956 miss clairol hair color bath the first at home permanent hair color debuts . 1959 pharmaceutical company bristol myers squibb purchases clairol from the gelbs . sons richard l. and bruce fill executive positions at the company . 1960 luis quinga born in quito ecuador is hired as international master mechanics ambassador forever changing the face of clairol . 1965 clairol launches nice n easy the first shampoo in hair color with the slogan the closer he gets the better you look . 1967 richard gelb becomes president of bristol myers squibb . 1972 1993 gelb becomes ceo of bristol myers squibb . 2001 procter & gamble purchases clairol division from bristol myers squibb . 2003 procter & gamble acquires wella for its p & g professional care division continuing its expansion into the professional sector of the hair care products business . 2007 p & g beauty announces it will close its stamford conn. site . plant operations in stamford s cove neighborhood will be split between massachusetts and mexico by 2010 with administrative offices in cincinnati . industry makeover edit in 1949 the single step miss clairol hair color bath was introduced to the u.s. beauty industry . when clairol sales representatives gave a live demonstration of miss clairol at the international beauty show in new york city thousands of hairdressers and beauticians gathered to watch . bruce gelb son of lawrence and joan and a former clairol executive described the scene in a new yorker article they were astonished . this was to the world of hair color what computers were to the world of adding machines . the sales guys had to bring buckets of water and do the rinsing off in front of everyone because the hairdressers in the crowd were convinced we were doing something to the models behind the scenes . 4 in 1956 after two decades of selling the company s hair tint to beauty salons clairol launched an at home version of miss clairol hair color bath and became a household name . the successful advertising campaign used to promote the new version of the product used the catchphrase does she or doesn t she only her hairdresser knows for sure . within six years of miss clairol s launch 70 percent of women were coloring their hair . citation needed in 1957 the gelbs sold their company to bristol myers . sons bruce and richard l. gelb filled executive positions at the pharmaceutical company ; richard became chief executive officer in 1972 . bristol myers merged with squibb corporation to form bristol myers squibb and richard gelb remained the merged company s ceo until 1993 . procter & gamble purchased the clairol division from bristol myers squibb in 2001 for 4.95 billion . advertising history edit clairol s one step home hair color was a breakthrough in the beauty industry as was its advertising campaign . clairol hired the advertising firm foote cone & belding which assigned the account to a junior copywriter shirley polykoff the only female copywriter at the firm . polykoff s future mother in law inspired the does she or doesn t she slogan . after meeting polykoff for the first time she took her son aside and asked him about the true color of his girlfriend s hair . does she color her hair or doesn t she the embarrassed polykoff could imagine her mother in law to be asking . although polykoff did color her hair the practice was not something to which women openly admitted during the depression when her future mother in law first asked the question . in 1956 when polykoff was assigned the clairol campaign hair dye was still considered something not used by genteel women . to counter the stigma of hair color and create a wholesome sentimental image for clairol early print ads some of which were shot by fashion photographers richard avedon and irving penn featured girl next door models accompanied by children with hair the same color . does she or doesn t she became an effective slogan within six years 70 percent of all adult women were coloring their hair and clairol s sales increased fourfold . in 1967 polykoff was inducted into the advertising hall of fame . the company s if i ve only one life to live let me live it as a blonde slogan was recorded for the ad campaign by actress rosemary rice . 5 the company achieved notoriety in the late 1990s and early 2000s for its ads for clairol herbal essences shampoo . said as a totally organic experience the ads often featured women washing their hair and making sounds similar to those of someone having an orgasm . additional slogans edit clairol continued to market its hair color products with advertising slogans . as early as 1956 and during the 1960s ads for lady clairol asked is it true blondes have more fun ; those for loving care asked what would your husband do if suddenly you looked ten years younger when the company introduced nice n easy the first at home shampoo in hair color women were told the closer he gets the better you look . radiantly red was advertised with some lucky girls are born red . others catch up . clairol s does she or doesn t she legacy continues ; it was one of the brand campaigns featured in 2008 s the real men and women of madison avenue and their impact on american culture exhibit at the new york public library s science industry and business library . popular references edit according to writer malcolm gladwell clairol captured the feminist sensibilities of the day with a shampoo in hair color and memorable advertising slogans . author of social psychology bestsellers the tipping point and blink gladwell wrote in true colors a 1999 new yorker history of hair dye in writing the history of women in the postwar era did we forget something important did we leave out hair . 4 references edit http www.clairolpro.com about sherrow victoria 2006 . encyclopedia of hair a cultural history 1st ed . . greenwood publishing group . p. 84 . isbn 0 313 33145 6 . a b staff 2012 . all products . clairol . procter & gamble . retrieved 18 may 2012 . a b malcolm gladwell march 22 1999 . true colors . new yorker article reprint . archived from the original on september 25 2012 . obituary rosemary rice merrell 87 started in tv and radio . new canaan advertiser . 2012 08 21 . retrieved 2012 08 26 . external links edit clairol hair color v t e procter & gamble people norman r. augustine clarence gamble james gamble a.g. lafley lynn morley martin james mcnerney william procter william cooper procter john f. smith jr. ralph snyderman meg whitman ernesto zedillo brands always ambi pur ariel aussie bold bounty braun camay charmin cheer clairol covergirl crest blend a med dawn dayquil daz downy dreft eukanuba fairy febreze gain gillette gillette mach3 gleem head & shoulders herbal essences iams ivory joy luvs max factor metamucil mr. clean nice n easy nyquil olay old spice oral b pampers pantene pepto bismol puffs safeguard secret sk ii scope swiffer tampax tide vicks wella more ... related arbora & ausonia joint venture baltimore plant beinggirl chemicals decision earth hankook p & g mdvip pg tips port ivory pringles procter & gamble co. v. ohim tyneside retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title clairol & oldid 723119985 categories hairdressingprocter & gamble brandscompanies based in fairfield county connecticutamerican companies established in 1931hidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages italiano edit links this page was last modified on 1 june 2016 at 04 01 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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