One of the most iconic names in the beauty industry may not be on the tip of your tongue, but it is most certainly on the tip of your nails. Sally Hansen, the creator of the nail care products that bears her name, is not as well-known as Coco Chanel, Estée Lauder, Helena Rubinstein or Elizabeth Arden and that’s a shame, insists Jeremy Lowenstein, vice president, global marketing, Sally Hansen at Coty.

 
“She deserves the same recognition as the others. Sally Hansen is truly iconic,” explains Lowenstein. “These are brands that were founded by real pioneers of the same generation. They went above and beyond the norm and played the same roles in creating companies that men did.”

 
Lowenstein should know. He began his career with Aveda and worked at Estée Lauder for more than three years before joining Coty in 2007, where he’s been involved with the Sally Hansen brand for a number of years before assuming his present role more than three years ago. Yet, while anyone and everyone at Estée Lauder knew their founder’s story inside and out, the same couldn’t be said of Sally Hansen.


“There were people working on the brand who weren’t even sure Sally Hansen was a real person,” recalled Lowenstein. “I wanted to know who Sally Hansen was; it became my passion.”

 
So passionate, in fact, that Lowenstein began his search on his own; hiring investigative journalists to help him with his quest—which turned out to be even more daunting than Lowenstein imagined. For the record, there are 49,120 women with the name Sally Hansen, which the team managed to whittle down to a more “manageable” 14,000.

 
“I thought it would be hard, but not as hard as this,” admitted Lowenstein. “We ran into a lot of dead ends. Just when we thought that we’d found her and then discovered that it wasn’t her.”

 
The quest took a turn for the better after the publication of an obituary of a former Sally Hansen Cosmetics factory worker that put Lowenstein and his team in touch with two of Sally Hansen’s living relatives, which led to a trove of photographs, marriage certificates (Sally was married three times) and other documentation. What they discovered has proved to be inspirational to Lowenstein and ultimately, he hopes, the brand as well.
 
 
Hard as Nails
 
Sally Finney was born in 1907 and in 1935, she acquired her parents' cosmetic store, “La Finné” and converted it into “House of Hollywood,” an umbrella company of brands and products that included cosmetics, hair care and fragrances. Six years later, House of Hollywood went national and the offices were moved to New York, where she formed Sally Hansen, Inc. In 1957, she trademarked “Hard As Nails,” the nail strengthening treatment that, 60 years later, remains the best-selling product in the brand’s lineup.

 
But Hansen was much more than nails, or even cosmetics. In addition to her beauty business, she served as the first female chair of the California Cosmetics Association, as well as a Los Angeles Times’ beauty columnist with nearly 100 articles to her credit under the banner “Your Candid Mirror.” In her column, Hansen dished on manicures, pedicures and everything in between including heartfelt columns about tolerance and other subjects that still ring true today.


Entrepreneur and columnist only scratches the surface, however. Lowenstein marvels at all that Hansen accomplished before her death from cancer in 1963. She was a dancer, choreographer, socialite and animal advocate, and most importantly, the founder of the long-running cosmetics company that went from being privately-held, to getting snapped up by Maradel Products Inc (later Del Laboratories) to finally finding a home at Coty in 2007. Now, with Sally Hansen’s history confirmed, the Coty executive said it is time to celebrate the creator of one of its iconic brands in the months and years to come.
 

“There was so much depth to her, she was ahead of her time,” explained Lowenstein. “She followed her dream (and) created a brand that transcends time!”