Pond's

And the man behind the brand is...
Theron Pond

Pond’s Cold Cream has been the leading facial cleanser in America for almost 100 years, one of the longest runs of commercial success for any product. Unfortunately for its discoverer, his career was not nearly so long.

Theron T. Pond worked as a chemist in Utica, New York selling drugs from his apothecary shop. In his spare time he worked in a small lab in the back of the store with an extract he obtained from the bark of a witch hazel shrub, known to alleviate pain from wounds. After distilling the extract he combined it with pure grain alcohol and aged it in oaken barrels for up to five years.

Pond’s Extract drew raves from local physicians and in 1849 he formed the T.T. Pond Company with two partners from Utica. By 1852 illness forced Pond to sell all interests to his partners and he died shortly afterwards, never to profit from the company that bore his name.