Hans Schwarzkopf (1874,
Danzig – 12 February 1921,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
) was a German
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
,
entrepreneur, and
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
. He was the founder of the Schwarzkopf haircare brand, now owned by the
Henkel
AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organi ...
brand.
Life
Hans Schwarzkopf studied
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and in 1898 opened a "paint, drug and perfume shop" on Passauer Strasse in
Berlin-Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
.
A customer in the
UK had seen a
shampoo
Shampoo () is a hair care product, typically in the form of a viscous liquid, that is used for cleaning hair. Less commonly, shampoo is available in solid bar format. Shampoo is used by applying it to wet hair, massaging the product into the ...
in powder form and wanted him to order it for her. Schwarzkopf put the customer off several times, until at some point she stopped requesting it. He then came up with the idea of developing such a product himself. After several years of development, Schwarzkopf launched a powdered shampoo in 1904. It cost 20
pfennig
The 'pfennig' (; . 'pfennigs' or ; symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former German coin or note, which was the official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valuable coin during the Middle Ages, i ...
s per bag (for one treatment), was dissolved in water, and proved to be superior to all hair-washing soaps available at the time in terms of convenience. The "shampoo with the black head" became the first branded hair cosmetic product in Germany. Due to the success, Schwarzkopf gave up his drugstore in the same year and concentrated on production and marketing.
After Schwarzkopf died, his wife Martha Schwarzkopf took over the management of the company and ran it until 1935, when she handed it over to her three sons. Open to innovation, she founded the "Schwarzkopf Hair Research Center" in 1927.
In the same year, the company developed the first mass produced liquid shampoo.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
* The Schwarzkopf brand on Henkel 's website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarzkopf, Hans
German inventors
1874 births
1921 deaths
People from Berlin