Alberto-Culver was an American

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

with international sales whose principal business was manufacturing hair and skin beauty care products under such brands as

Alberto VO5 Alberto-Culver was an American corporation with international sales whose principal business was manufacturing hair and skin beauty care products under such brands as Alberto VO5, Andrew Collnge, St. Ives (skin care products), TRESemmé, FDS ...

, Andrew Collnge, St. Ives (skin care products), TRESemmé, FDS,

Consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

Nexxus Alberto-Culver was an American corporation with international sales whose principal business was manufacturing hair and skin beauty care products under such brands as Alberto VO5, Andrew Collnge, St. Ives (skin care products), TRESemmé, FDS, ...

, Toni, and

White Rain White Rain is an American brand of body wash and hair care products owned by International Wholesale. It was introduced as a shampoo in 1952 by Alberto-Culver. Ownership history The Gillette Company sold the White Rain brand to Florida-based ...

. It was a manufacturer in the multicultural beauty care market with such brands as Soft & Beautiful, Just For Me, Motions, and TCB."Our Story"
- Alberto-Culver release It was purchased by

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

in 2010.

History

The company originated as a Los Angeles beauty supply house with some proprietary products founded by Blaine Culver. The house chemist was named Alberto hence the name Alberto-Culver. Alberto-Culver was purchased and reorganized in 1955 by

Leonard H. Lavin Leonard H. Lavin (October 29, 1919 – August 2, 2017) was an American businessman, racehorse owner and breeder, and philanthropist, who, in 1955 founded the Alberto-Culver Company.

for $400,000. Lavin was an entrepreneur and manufacturer's representative for various other companies. The newly created company was then moved to

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and a hundred other products were dropped and the company focused on Alberto VO5 shampoo and hairdressing. In 1958, Alberto VO5 Hairdressing became the number one brand in its category. Lavin and his wife Bernice guided the company's growth until 1994 when they turned it over to a second family generation. Until his death in 2017, Lavin remained a director of Alberto-Culver; his daughter Carol Lavin Bernick is the company's executive chairman. In 2005, the Alberto-Culver company bought out Nexxus, a salon hair care company established in 1979. In 2006, the company sought to sell its salon distribution business, which includes

Sally Beauty Supply Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. is an American international specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies with revenues of more than United States dollar, $ 3.9 billion annually. Through the Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Sys ...

stores and Beauty Systems Group, to

Regis Corporation Regis Corporation is an American operator of hair salons. As of August 2021, it has 5,563 franchised and 276 company-owned salons. Its headquarters are in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota. The primary trade names Regis salons operates under are SmartS ...

. It later terminated the agreement and on November 10, 2006, shareholders voted to spin off Sally Beauty. The company's 2007 sales were reported at US$1.54 billion. In October 2008, Alberto Culver announced it had closed the transaction to acquire the worldwide rights and trademarks to the

Noxzema Noxzema ( ) is a brand of skin cleanser marketed by Unilever. Since 1914, it was sold in a small cobalt blue jar; but is now sold in a blue plastic jar. Noxzema contains camphor, menthol, phenol and eucalyptus, among other ingredients. Original ...

skin care brand from

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

, which includes the existing business in the United States, Canada and parts of Latin America. Procter & Gamble will continue to operate its existing Noxzema shave care, antiperspirant/deodorant, body wash and body soap business in portions of Western Europe. The UK head office is in Leatherhead, Unilever House and used to be in

Chineham Chineham ( ) is a civil parish on the outskirts of Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. It is situated about northeast of central Basingstoke, just north of the A33 road between Basingstoke and Reading. Demography Population The population of ...

, Basingstoke, and the company has a manufacturing plant in Swansea, Wales, where all UK products are produced and also those for some European countries.

Acquisition

Alberto-Culver was purchased by consumer goods company

on September 27, 2010 for US$3.7 billion. The terms of the acquisition required Unilever to divest selected hair care brands and its entire food business in the USA to other companies to satisfy antitrust concerns (in the late 1990s, Unilever had purchased Alberto-Culver's historic Chicago rival,

Helene Curtis Helene Curtis Industries, Inc. was an American cosmetics and beauty parlor products firm based in Chicago. The company acquired a hair-coloring line through the acquisition of a competitor business. Later the retailer diversified into the field of p ...

). The U.S. food business was bought by

B&G Foods B&G Foods is an American branded foods holding company based in Parsippany, New Jersey. The company was formed in 1996 to acquire Bloch & Guggenheimer, a Manhattan-based producer of pickles, relish and condiments which had been founded in 1889. ...

, and the U.S. rights to VO5, Rave, and

Coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

were sold to High Ridge Brands. (Unilever owns these brands in the rest of the world.) With the reduction in American brands, Unilever closed the former Alberto Culver plant in 2013, laying off 600 workers.

Community

Alberto Culver was known for its support of health care, medical research, education and women in the workplace. It did not test its products on animals and stated this on its product packaging.

References

External links

Alberto-Culver Official siteAlberto-Culver's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission"Alberto-Culver quarterly profit rises"
Monday April 28, 2008, Reuters {{Unilever Manufacturing companies established in 1955 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2010 Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Defunct companies based in Illinois Cosmetics companies of the United States Melrose Park, Illinois Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Unilever companies 1955 establishments in California 2010 disestablishments in Illinois 2010 mergers and acquisitions