Florence E. Wall

Florence Emeline Wall (1893 – October 2, 1988) was one of the first women to be recognized as a cosmetic chemist and the first woman to receive the medal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, in 1956. She was recognized then as "the foremost authority on this branch of education". She was inducted into the Cosmetology Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair in 1965.

Education Wall graduated from St. Elizabeth's College in Convent Station, N.J., in 1913. She received bachelor's degrees in both Arts and Education, with honors in English and Chemistry. Initially a teacher, she was able to enter the chemical profession as men went to fight in World War I and women entered business and industry. Her reports made clear that chemists at the plant routinely used protective laboratory equipment and procedures which were not utilized by dial painters. She later testified and wrote about her work at the plant.

Within a year, she had joined the Seydel Manufacturing Company, where she worked on the distillation of benzyl acetate and other benzoic acid derivatives. After examining a sample of her work, the U. S. Chemical Warfare Service asked her to supervise large-scale production of benzyl acetate and benzyl benzoate at the Fellows Medical Manufacturing Company, for coating military aircraft. After the plant closed at the end of the war, she worked briefly in 1919 for Ricketts Laboratory and then for the U. S. Motor Fuel Corporation on catalysts for gasoline. She was fired after reporting falsification of results at the plant and recommending that the pilot program there be terminated. she was soon made the head of library research and technical advice. and developed curricula for beauty and cosmetology schools such as the Notox Institute and the Marinello Schools of Beauty, which were purchased by Inetco. She coined the term "canitics" when asked to write a text about the art and science of hair dyeing. Eventually Florence published 5 books, including Canitics: The Art and Science of Hair Dyeing, The Principles and Practice of Beauty Culture and a biography of chemist Charles Herty, and more than 300 articles and the status of women chemists. She wrote articles for the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology and the World Book Encyclopedia, she took further classes at the School of Education at New York University, creating her own program of self-study in issues relating to cosmetology. She was the first person to present a paper on cosmetics to the American Chemical Society. She was also active in the Women's Advertising Club of New York. She was the first woman to receive the medal.

She was inducted into the Cosmetology Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair in 1965.