How Cutex Convinced Americans to Manicure and Paint Their Nails

Nail care and art is a massive industry today in the United States, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, 150 years ago, many Americans had never heard of a manicure, let alone had one. That was until a brand called Cutex changed the way Americans thought about their fingernails.
Sources:
“Women Manicures and Pedicures in Paris,” Harper’s Bazaar, Oct 13, 1877
“The Manicure,” The Brooklyn Sunday Sun, Jul 7, 1878
“Mystery of the Manicure,” The Princeton Union, Dec 9, 1880
“Beautiful Finger-Nails,” The Evening Mail, Dec 27, 1882
“A Fashion in Hands,” Harper’s Bazaar, Jun 21, 1884
“Hands and Gloves,” Harper’s Bazaar, Nov 18, 1893
“A Manicure Parlor,” Kate Jordan, Reading Times, Jun 5, 1894
“How to Be One’s Own Manicure,” Harper’s Bazaar, Jun 15, 1895
“The Manicuring Art,” Kate Jordan, Harrisburg Telegraph, Aug 28, 1896
“Manicure Multiplying,” The Scranton Tribune, Nov 4, 1897
“Cutex Makes Manicuring Easy,” Ad, The Evening World, Oct 2, 1912
“‘Ware the Manicure Say Surgeons,” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr 30, 1914
“Creating a Special Class of Salesmen to Handle Unusual Type of Customer,” Bruce Bliven, Printer’s Ink, Mar 22, 1917
“Why You Should Be Careful in Manicuring Your Nails,” Dr. Leonard Keene Hirshberg, Springfield News-Sun, November 5, 1920
“Some Things I Have Learned in Building a Business from Scratch,” Northam Warren, Printer’s Ink, Nov 9, 1922
“How We Made Our Business Worth Advertising,” Northam Warren, Printer’s Ink, Dec 1923
“Complaints Issued,” The American Perfumer, Apr 1930
“U.S. Curbs Hired Testimonials of Business Firms,” Chicago Tribune, Dec 21, 1931
“Coming-A Showdown on Paid Testimonials,” Printer’s Ink, Dec 24, 1931
“Northam Warren Will Fight Commission’s Mandate,” Advertising Age, Dec 26, 1931
“Trade Commission Spending Millions,” The Salt Lake Tribune, Aug 14, 1932
“Opens Salon to Promote Cutex Nail Polishes,” Advertising Age, Jul 15, 1935
“Northam Warren, Pioneer in Manicure Field,” Martin Kane, The American Perfumer and Essential Oil Review, Feb 1946
“Nail Enamel,” Drug and Cosmetics Industry, Apr 1959
“Chesebrough-Pond Inc. Buys Stamford Firm,” Hartford Courant, Sep 23, 1960
“Behinds the Scenes at Northam Warren,” Connecticut Industry, December 1961
“Northam Warren, 83; Nail-Polish, Innovator,” Newsday, May 16, 1962
“Celluloid Dreams: The Marketing of Cutex in America, 1916-1935,” Kate Forde, Journal of Design History, 2002
“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR Part 255, 2009
“From Puffery to Penalties: A Historical Analysis of US Masked Marketing Policy Concerns,” Ross D. Petty, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Jan 2, 2013
Nails: The Story of the Modern Manicure, Suzanne E. Shapiro, 2014
“Cutex Hooked Americans on Manicures,” Erin Blakemore, JSTOR Daily, Feb 3, 2019
“Cutex,” Cosmetics and Skin, James Bennett, Nov 26, 1919