L'Or?al was registered in 1909. The guiding principles of the company were put into place from the start: research and innovation in the interest of beauty. During the early twentieth century, company's founder Schueller provided financial support. In 1920 a small company already employed 3 chemists. By 1950, the research teams were 100 strong; that number reached 1,000 by 1984 and is nearly 2,000 today. L'Or?al got its start in the hair-color business, but the company soon branched out into l'Oreal skin care beauty products. The company now markets over 50 brands of l'Oreal cleansing gel and l'Oreal skin moisturizers and many thousands of individual products in all sectors of the beauty business. L'Oreal skin care products are found in all distribution channels, from hair salons and perfumeries to hyper- and supermarkets, health/beauty outlets, pharmacies and direct mail. L'Oreal sneaked into America's urban markets and separately bought Soft Sheen Products and Carson Products picking up 20% of the fragmented, little-understood market known as "ethnic hair care." Twenty years later l'Oreal cleansing gel and l'Oreal skin moisturizers USA had a 49% share of the $1.3 billion U.S. skin care market. Over the past 15 years l'Oreal skin care sales have compounded annually at a 12% rate to a projected $11 billion for 2000; net profits, compounding at a 15% rate, will be more than $800 million. L'OrИal combines the double-digit top-line growth of a hot technology company with the bottom-line comforts of a well-run bank. THE cosmetics giant is marketing a range of l'Oreal skin care products, which include anti-wrinkle creams such as Revitalift, as well as L'Oreal cleansing gel and l'Oreal skin moisturizers, that are said to be absorbed deeper into the skin than more traditional treatments because of the far smaller size of their particles. The cosmetic use of nanotechnology, originally employed in man-made fibres and pharmaceuticals, has led to calls from both the Royal Society and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in America for a comprehensive programme of research. They aim to discover what effect the minute particles may have if they enter cells in the human body or leach into the bloodstream. The cosmetics market is growing at about 10% a year and companies believe that nanotechnology will help to create a new generation of products. Within the next few years l'Oreal skin care may provide methods to prevent the greying of hair and even baldness. L?Or?al, the world's largest cosmetics company, is devoting much of its ?350m research budget to nanotechnology, which it believes offers great potential for slowing the effect of age on the skin. L'Oreal cleansing gel and l'Oreal skin moisturizers, described by L?Or?al as containing ?nanosomes of Pro-Retinol A?, claims to offer an ?immediate lifting effect?. Conventional skincare products form a barrier to prevent moisture loss. The miniaturised particles, by contrast, and intended to work their way through the skin's outer layers and boost production of new cells so the skin remains soft, plump and free of wrinkles, even in middle age.