Since 1931, ALMAY® has helped women look and feel their best with good-for-you cosmetics in the most flattering shimmers and shades—all the while staying true to its heritage of using pure, hypoallergenic ingredients.
It all began in 1930, when cosmetics were heavy and thick, and made with strong pigments and powerful chemicals. These cosmetics were too harsh for the complexion of Fanny May Woititz. She bestowed her husband, Alfred, also a professional chemist, to start experimenting with her makeup, testing and trying to figure out which ingredients were irritants. With dermatologist Dr. Marion Sulzberger, they devised a formula for cosmetics that was pure and gentle enough for Fanny May to use every day.
Combining the names of the founders, Alfred and Fanny May, Almay was established in 1931 and began to manufacture their new, gentler cosmetics for women everywhere.
Since then, Almay has been the first hypoallergenic cosmetics brand, the first brand to make 100% fragrance-free products and to disclose all ingredients used, the first brand to perform safety testing for allergy and irritation, the first brand to formulate for contact lens wearers and, you guessed it, the first brand to create cosmetic regimens for specific skin types.
In fact, Almay is so stringent that fewer than 500 of the 10,000 new ingredients available for use in cosmetics meet Almay's superior standards.
