Ask for It by Name!

So what’s in that “mysterious beauty fluid” advertised as “Oil of Olay”? And what’s an “olay,” anyway? A plant? A place? A small mammal? The cry of a bullfighter who spies wrinkles in the mirror?

None of the above, as far as anyone can tell. As a matter of fact, it seems that there is no such thing as an “Olay,” and that the name was just a clever marketing ploy by its inventors, especially since the mysterious moisturizer wasn’t even called “Oil of Olay” at first.

“Oil of Olay” was developed during World War II by a South African chemist named Graham Gordon Wulff to help military burn victims heal by preventing their skin from becoming dehydrated. Whether the original ingredients (glycerin, various vegetable oils, etc.) remain in Olay today is a trade secret, but at the end of the war it occurred to Wulff that the burn treatment he had invented might make a dandy beauty cream in the civilian market. He teamed up with a partner named Shaun Adams Lowe, and together they set out to market Wulff’s cream.

First, of course, they needed a name, and after some thought came up with “Oil of Ulay.” Ulay, not Olay. At first the two sold their cream door to door in South Africa. As more people bought it and asked what “Ulay” was, Wulff and Lowe realized that the mystery of their product’s name was one of its strongest selling points, and “the mysterious beauty fluid” cachet was born.

As “Oil of Ulay” sales caught on and the product was exported to Europe and the U.S., a curious adjustment of its name took place. In England it was still called “Oil of Ulay,” but in most of Europe it was sold under the name “Oil of Olaz.” Only in America was it called “Oil of Olay.” It wasn’t until 2000 that Ulay/Olay/Olaz owners Procter & Gamble decided to simplify life by changing it to “Olay” worldwide. Today Olay (they dropped the “Oil of” a few years ago) produces a wide range of beauty products.