The Maybelline Story

Maybelline lifts Women’s Spirits in 1915.

By Sharrie Williams · Written December 2011 · 2 min read

Lash-Brow-Ine was introduced in 1915, at a time when women, were fighting to be recognized as individuals.

Maybelline lifts Women’s Spirits in 1915.

Vogue magazine cover, Christmas, 1915, depicting
the image of an ideal lady.

Maybelline lifts Women’s Spirits in 1915.

Everyone looked alike, no real individuality in 1915. The world was still very Victorian Age.

Maybelline lifts Women’s Spirits in 1915.

 Than, D W Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, proved extremely controversial, with its negative depiction of Black Americans and their supporters, and its positive portrayal of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan, as well as women being abused.



Click on this video to view some of the most controversial themes in D W Griffith’s 1915 Birth of a Nation.


In 1915 a course of events led to change – a parting of the Red Sea, that cleared the the way for Maybelline, to be born and women to have a voice.

January 12 House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women right to vote



February 8 “Birth of a Nation” opens at Clune’s Auditorium in LA.





May 7 Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost





October 9 Louis Kaufmans “Unchastened Woman,” premieres in New York City





October 23 25,000 women march in New York City, demanding right to vote
December 4 Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County Ga





December 16 Albert Einstein publishes the General Theory of Relativity




LASH-BROW-INE IS BORN!!!!



Maybelline lifts Women’s Spirits in 1915.





Tom Lyle Williams, formed Maybell Laboratories and Lash-Brow-Ine’s first little ad, appeared in The Police Gazette magazine.


From the looks of what was going on at the time, you’d think there would be a slim chance for Lash-Brow-Ine, to be accepted, but women were ripe for expressing themselves, and the product took off way beyond Tom Lyle, Noel and Mabel’s greatest expectations.


Read the whole wonderful saga, in The Maybelline Story. Signed copies with Hedy Lamarr make-up bag will be available very soon.

Coming soon · Next from Sharrie Williams

Maybe She’s Born With It

The next chapter of the Maybelline family story. Get a text the day it’s out.

Where it began: The Maybelline Story — Amazon · Ebook · Signed copy