He was born Francis Factor in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Max Factor, a Polish immigrant. Known as "Frank," his family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1908 where he began working in the family business while still a boy.
While his father wanted to reserve the product for film use, Frank Factor was open to the commercial possibilities and began developing lighter shades.
At the time the company was only able to produce enough to meet studio demand which until production could be increased delayed commercial release until 1937.
After his father's death in 1938,[2] Frank Factor at the urging of his family legally changed his name to Max Factor, Jr. and as president expanded the still private cosmetics firm, along with members of the immediate family. He was heavily involved with the development of new products, particularly "Tru-Color" released in 1940 as the first smear-proof lipstick.
Max Factor, Jr. was married in 1933 to Mildred “Milly” Cohen with whom he remained for thirty-seven years until her death in 1970.[3] The couple raced Thoroughbred horses for many years.
Max Factor, Jr., died in 1996 of heart failure in Los Angeles, California, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
His most notable clients were Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Judy Garland, all of whom became regular visitors at his salons.
In 1918, he developed his 'colour harmony' face powder range, which allowed him to create make up for each individual based on their skin tones, due to the wide range of shades on offer.
Creating false eyelashes, the eyebrow pencil, lip gloss, and pancake make up, Factor created a whole new language for screen cosmetics.
He died on 30 August 1938 at the age of 59.
His son Frank took the name Max Factor JR and continued to be involved with the company until the 1970s, seeing the company create make up shades for US Marines during the second world war, offer male products such as shampoo and aftershave and launch its first female fragrance in 1955.
In the 1970s, the third generation of Factors rose to senior positions but wanted to focus on their own interests, leading the firm to first be bought by Revlon and then Proctor & Gamble in 1991.
Credited as the father of modern make up
It was in 1927 that Max Factor introduced his first cosmetics to be sold to non-theatrical consumers.
Another key development in the make up world was the invention of waterproof mascara for the film 'Mare Nostrum' in 1926.
By the 1920s, Max's sons were heavily involved in the business with Davis working as general manager and Frank helping his father to develop new products.
As his local fame spread, actors from the emerging film industry also came to Max for make-up advice.
Max Factor travelled to the United Sates in 1902 and took his family to the St. Louis World's Fair.
They never returned.
Thus, the motion picture industry, then beginning in Hollywood, beckoned. He settled in Los Angeles with his family in 1909 and got a job with the Pantages Theatre.
By 1914, he was perfecting make up for the movies.
He formed flexible greasepaint, which was the first make up created for film.
Born Max Faktor in Lodz, Poland during the 1870s, Max Factor is often called the father of modern makeup.
With 10 children, the Faktor parents could not afford formal education for their children, so at the age of eight Max was placed in an apprenticeship to a pharmacist.
Years of mixing potions for the pharmacy instilled in Max a fascination with cosmetics.
Eventually, Max Factor opened his own shop in a suburb of Moscow, selling hand-made rouges, creams, fragrances, and wigs.
In 1904, Max Factor and his family moved to the United States.
Factor dreamin
Max Faktor was now Max Factor, the name given to him at Ellis Island by immigration officials.
In 1914, Max Factor created a makeup specifically for movie-actors that, unlike theatrical makeup, would not crack or cake.
Soon movie stars were filing through Max Factor's makeup studio, eager to sample the "flexible greasepaint" while producers sought Factor's human hair wigs.
Max Factor introduced a line of cosmetics to the public in the 1920s.