Who founded The Maybelline Company in Chicago in 1915?

Who founded The Maybelline Company in Chicago in 1915? The answer is Thomas Lyle Williams.

Thomas Lyle Williams founded The Maybelline Company in Chicago in 1915. He was inspired by his sister Mabel, whom he observed darkening her eyelashes with a homemade mixture involving petroleum jelly and coal dust. Williams adapted the idea into a commercial eye beautifier.

The company’s early product was called Lash-Brow-Ine, and Williams later renamed the brand Maybelline in honor of Mabel. In 1917, the company introduced Maybelline Cake Mascara, a solid cake product that helped make everyday eye cosmetics more practical for a mass market.

Maybelline remained an independent American cosmetics company for decades before changing ownership several times. It was acquired by L’Oréal in 1996 and is now widely known as Maybelline New York. A common mix-up is confusing Williams with Max Factor: both shaped cosmetics history, but Factor founded a different company in 1909.