"I believe in hard work. It keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit."Helena Rubinstein, born December 25, 1870 and died (on your birthday), April 1, 1965 was a Polish cosmetics industrialist, founder of Helena Rubinstein Incorporated, which made her one of the world's richest women. She was born Chaja Rubinstein, the eldest of eight children, and the daughter of a common shopkeeper in Krakow, Poland. Wikipedia tells me that Chaja arrived in Australia in 1894, with no money and little English. But her stylish clothes and milky complexion made her popular among the town ladies and she soon found enthusiasm for the jars of beauty cream in her luggage. Seizing the opportunity, she began to make her own.
Her uncle was a shopkeeper in Western Victoria, home to some 75 million sheep that produced some of the finest wool in the land, secreting abundant grease in the process. This sheep grease (lanolin) became a key ingredient in her initial beauty potions and lotions.
Be sure to read the rest of the rags to riches story on the links provided.
Women power,
Dad
