Product Recall: Lee Press-On Nails
Kate and Doree dig their nails into the surprising history of Lee Press-Ons: the connection between dentistry and acrylics, the rise, fall, and rise again of press-ons, and the glamor and status of long nails.
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Transcript
Kate: Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Kate Spencer.
Doree: And I'm Doree Shafrir.
Kate: And we are not experts.
Doree: We're not, we're two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.
Kate: I do like to talk about serums and I like to put them on my face. But today we're bringing you Product Recall, which is a weekly episode where we dig deeper into the history of an iconic product and its impact.
Doree: We are taking requests. You can call or text us at (781) 591-0390, and you can email us at Forever35podcast@gmail.com on our website Forever35podcast.com. We have links to everything we mentioned on the show, so any commercials or ads or sources, all of that is on our website. So just go check it out. And yeah,
Kate: It's fun to see the old ads that come along with some of these products, whether it's a print ad or something made in the eighties, even in the aughts to see how times have changed is truly fascinating,
Doree: Truly fascinating.
Kate: So Doree, what are we discussing today?
Doree: Well, Kate, we are talking about Lee Press on Nails today.
Kate: Oh boy. Okay. An item I've been purchasing or having in my life since I was a child.
Doree: Well, they don't really exist anymore,
Kate: But the Press on nail exists.
Doree: The press on nail exists, but Lee Press on Nails themselves do not exist. But the Press on Nail itself has had a very interesting Renaissance.
Kate: Its had a Resurgence, if you will.
Doree: It has had a resurgence and kind of a rebranding, which we will get into as well. So Kate, you just mentioned commercials.
Kate: I love a commercial. Doree. I can't lie.
Doree: If you were alive and watching television in the 1980s, it was hard to avoid Lee Press on Nails commercials. And I want to start by playing one that ran the year that Lee Press on Nails launched in 1985.
Commercial: These are the amazing Lee Press on nails. They press on in seconds, no glue, no mess, simply press on Lee Supers stick tabs, then press on Lee. Press on nails. That's all easy on, easy off. Use them again and again. They just won't break or split polish, and they're nearly impossible to chip. So press on Lee. Press on nails in natural and lengths and a variety of sizes for a quick, easy fit press on.
Kate: So watching this gives me chills in the way that it did when I think I first saw these ads when I was a kid.
Doree: Go on.
Kate: I have short nail beds and weak nails. I've talked about that on this podcast, and I have coveted long, strong nails my entire life, meaning as a child, even as a little kid, I understood that my nails were not like, the pretty ones. Yes. And so yes, I remember this feeling of like, oh my God, this makes it so easy. I watching the person put the little sticky nail onto their nail. I viscerally remember what it's like to do that the way that feels, how the nails actually don't stick on. I mean, all of it, Doree. All of it.
Doree: Okay, so this is really interesting because yes, I think you're right. Lee Press On Nails was definitely appealing to this idea of this is what an elegant, beautiful feminine hand looks like. Long, Perfectly shaped, polished nails. But there's also in this commercial, and like I said, this commercial was playing in 1985, the year that these launched. And there is, there's an educational element of this commercial. They're introducing the concept of Press on Nails, and they're saying there's no glue. This is how you put them on, assuming that people are not familiar with the idea of Press on Nails yet. So that was just kind of an interesting note for me. So these launched in April, 1985, and the company that launched them was called Lee Pharmaceuticals.
Kate: I've never heard of them Beyond Nails.
Doree: Well, their specialty was Nails.
Kate: Okay.
Doree: So they had, prior to launching Lee Press on Nails, they had developed a number of different nail products that strengthened your nails. That lengthened your nails. But their breakthrough product was the Press on Nails. So much so that the year they launched, their sales increased almost 50%.
Kate: Wow.
Doree: And I found an article from 1986 talking about the company and Lee Press on Nails. And in the fiscal year 1985, that ended in September, their sales were just over 12 million. And that was, the nails had launched in April. So that was only five months of sales. So the president of the company said that he expected that in 1986, the sales were going to top 50 million.
Kate: Oh my God.
Doree: So it was such a huge hit. And the history of the company is kind of interesting. The father of the president of the company was a man named Henry L. Lee, and in 1952, he had founded a company called Epoxy Light. And
Kate: Why is that familiar?
Doree: I mean, epoxy, I think is probably a familiar term to you, and I think it's just something that refers to things that bind things together.
Kate: Right.
Doree: And he invented something to encapsulate Electric Motors. Then in the sixties, he starts experimenting with dental compounds that also use similar materials. So when you have a crown put on, sure, you need something to bind it to your tooth. So you need something very strong. So et cetera. And then in 1971, he starts Lee Pharmaceuticals, but things like Don't go great for him in the dental realm.
Kate: Oh no.
Doree: Within a few years the sales kind of dry up. They still, they're still doing some sales, but it's like it's not so great. So in 1975, they realize, well, we can use some of this technology that we've developed for dental stuff on nails.
Kate: So wait, just to pause. Yes. So they're like, oh, helping teeth doesn't work. Let's take advantage. Let's turn to the beauty industry to make money.
Doree: Well, yeah, because they're experts in glue, essentially,
Kate: What can we glue onto people's bodies that will make us a shit ton of money.
Doree: Basically. So in 1975, they introduce a product called Lee Nails, which is kind of a predecessor of the Press On Nails. It's an acrylic nail, lengthener and mender. And they start running ads in Vogue. They run monthly ads in Vogue, and they call it the first paint on nail lengthening system ever formulated exclusively for the human fingernail. This is the result of 10 years of biomedical research on the compatibility of special polymers with the human body.
Kate: So much sciencey lingo. Lingo In that
Doree: Yes, alot of sciencey lingo, they say that they don't use a chemical called methylate, which is toxic, essentially.
Kate: Okay, good.
Doree: And you could only it, at least at first, you could only get it at beauty salons. It had to be applied at beauty salons.
Kate: So in reading this,
Doree: Yes.
Kate: And kind of read, hearing the lingo, do we feel like this is the kind of thing that we often see where big fancy sciencey words are used to convince people like me to be like, oh, I'll buy this. This sounds important and fancy.
Doree: Well, Yes, but also I think what is interesting about nails in particular is you do see the results immediately.
Kate: Yeah. It's almost,
Doree: It's makeup in the, it's not
Kate: Totally,
Doree: a Skincare product is different because you're supposed to kind of wait for results,
Kate: But this, it's instantaneous.
Doree: Exactly. So they keep kind of innovating In the nail space in 1979, they introduce Lee Fancy Fingers, nail Tips, which is a glue on nail tip kit. They launch an instant nail glue. They also develop a very strong marketing and distribution network in discount and drugstore chains. And Ron Lee, who Henry's son, he refers to their specialty as the distressed category products designed to alleviate the body's distress. So a broken nail. Fixing Things.
Kate: oh my Goodness.
Doree: He really Takes us to an extreme because they launch a diet pill in 1981.
Kate: Oh boy, here we go.
Doree: Does gangbusters business for six months and then just stop selling. So they get rid of that. They also release later that year a skin cream for dark spots. It also fails. They released in 1982, a high fashion nail tip kit, which is a more exotic version, fancy Fingers. Then they have Penny Pinchers in 1984, which is a budget line of nail extension products. So it's almost like they're, they're circling this idea of the press on nail. Right?
Kate: Theyre really throwing all the spaghetti at the wall. They're just,
Doree: Yes, they really are. And when they launch their press on nails, they almost immediately claim more than 80% of the press on market and ask,
Kate: Is there a press on market before this?
Doree: So there was a product called True Nail that was a press on nail that launched before Lee, it is very hard to find any information about this company, Probably because they were so quickly eclipsed by Lee Press On Nails. I was able to find a listing for a set of true nail nails on eBay, and that was kind of the only indication that I found that this company even existed. They're mentioned briefly, fat Mascara did an episode on Fake Nails a couple years ago, and they mentioned True Nails briefly, but they don't include any links to any information and really just mention them in passing. But a lot of copycats spring up as soon as they launch, but they're the dominant ones in the industry. So we're going to take a short break and then we will discuss how they came to Dominance.
Kate: Oh my goodness.
Doree: Okay. We are back. By the way, just as an aside, I got this article that I referred to earlier about the history of Lee Press on Nails and Lee Pharmaceuticals from 1986 ran in the financial publication, Barrons.
Kate: Oh, my dad loves the Barons.
Doree: I'm Sure your dad loves a Barons. And I just, as a funny side note, I always like to Google the writers of these old articles just to be like, where are they now? And the writer of the story from 1986, her name is Lauren Rubin. She is still at Barons.
Kate: What?
Doree: She is still at Barons. She is now the senior managing editor.
Kate: Congrats to her, because longevity in any industry is toughed.
Doree: I know. I was like, is that Lauren?
Kate: especially journalist. Oh my God, are you, let's hope somebody gets this episode to Lauren and we tell her, we say hats off to you.
Doree: Yes, yes. Salute. Salute. Lauren. Her article is also very funny because it was basically, it was basically this company is doomed. All they do is press on nails and it's going to be a passing fad.
Kate: And is she, I mean, she's like not right. She's like right and wrong. Right,
Doree: Totally. Okay. So part of the reason that Lee Press on Nails became so successful so quickly is because they spend a shit ton of money on TV advertising.
Kate: Oh, baby.
Doree: To the point where it is almost 50% of the product sales, they are pouring back into advertising.
Kate: Oh my God.
Doree: And the commercials become almost like a punchline because they run so often. You'll see these articles, they'll be like, I couldn't sleep turned on the tv. And they were 50 commercials for Lee Press on Nails.
Kate: Oh my God.
Doree: It's stuff like that. It just becomes this signifier that everyone is familiar with because you could not escape their commercials.
Kate: Wow.
Doree: And in 1986, they are the country's 85th largest broadcast advertiser, which is bananas considering the size of the company. It's a relatively tiny company. So they're like, they're eclipsing Fortune 500. You know what I mean? They're just like,
Kate: yeah, that's wild. Yeah.
Doree: Blanketing the country. And he also bec the Ron Lee, who I mentioned before. Oh, sorry. He was actually, I guess his title was Vice President of Marketing. I found another, was this from the same article? Oh no. Maybe it was the same article. He is known as a buyer of last resort who pays very little for airtime. So it says, Lee's approach is to put bargain ads on television any time of day, and to overcome off targeting by efficiencies and frequencies. So basically, you know how most advertisers would be like, okay, I want to advertise on this program that is for teenagers, and it's a product for teenagers. Ron's like, I don't care. Don't care.
Kate: Yeah. He's like a full on chaos agent. Essent.
Doree: He's like, put this on anything.
Kate: I Don't even admire that. In a weird way,
Doree: He was just blanketed. I don't care who the demographics of this show are, we're just going to flood the zone here.
Kate: So interesting.
Doree: And so they do try to innovate within the realm of the press on nails. So we're going to play another commercial. This was for their product launch of Active Length Nails. Because if you remember in that first commercial that we watched, they came in two lengths. It was glamor and
Kate: A little bit shorter than glamor.
Doree: Something like that. But if you watch the commercial, they're very long. They're long.
Kate: They're daggers.
Doree: Yes. Okay. So in 1986, they launch an active nail product.
Commercial: Even if you believe you'd never wear Lee Press on nails, because of all the things you do, you'll want to try these active length Lee Press on nails, active length for active hands, as easy to put on as natural length Lee Press on nails, but designed for a more active way of life, flattering as glamor length. Lee Press on nails, but in a length that beautifies really active hands, the nails active women have been asking for active length. Lee press on nails, press on in seconds without glue or mess. Just a Lee adhesive tab delicately beautiful. Yet so sturdy. You use them over and over and they take your favorite color polish so well that they're almost impossible to chip. So press on Lee. Press on nails available in glamor length, natural length. And at last active length, Lee Press on nails, all in a variety of sizes for a quick, easy fit, active women press on.
Doree: So it was glamor length, natural length, and now active length, which to me, still look pretty long.
Kate: But they're all very long.
Doree: They're all quite long. But what was funny to me about this commercial is they open with a quad, the screen is divided into four quadrants, and there's female identified hands doing various tasks, playing the piano, Re-potting a plant,
Kate: sewing,
Doree: Sewing. And none of them look especially comfortable.
Kate: No. Cause they're balancing nails that are sticking onto their nails.
Doree: Right? It, yeah. When the woman was playing the piano, I wasn't like, wow, she looks like she's really, she looked very cautious playing the piano.
Kate: I know. The person tying the kid was like, yeah. Oh, very slowly. And we should also note, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that every hand that we've seen in an ad is a white skinned Hand. Right?
Doree: Yes.
Kate: Which I think is important to note because there's so much a cultural appropriation, racism, totally. Misogyny that goes along with nails.
Doree: Totally. And yeah, I mean, there's a lot tied up in all of that. For sure. For sure.
Kate: Also, just the idea that are the people with the glamor or the natural length nails not acting? What are they just walking around their hands? Like dangling, not using them. If you have hands, you use them in some way, right? Presumably.
Doree: Totally.
Kate: I'm not, I'm making ableist assumptions, but you know what I'm saying, if you've got a hand, it's going to be part of your day.
Doree: Yes. But I mean, this seemed very clear to me that someone had done some market research and found, that's a good point, Doree. That's something like the main thing holding back a certain population of women from getting press on nails was that they didn't see them as compatible with their lifestyles.
Kate: Right.
Doree: And so whether that was because they worked on sewing machines or they played the piano or whatever, they designed these active length nails. So the other thing that they were really also trying to emphasize was the color range now, which was interesting to me because it seemed like at first they were saying, you can paint them whatever color you want and they won't chip. So what seems to me what happened was people didn't want to do that extra step. They were just like, I just want to put the nails on and be done with it. So then they introduce nails in a range of shades. So we're going to watch one more commercial if you'll indulge me.
Kate: Oh my God. This is heaven on earth for me. Okay. Indulging right now.
Commercial: Now brilliant nail colors for today's new fashions, lead press on nails in 18 deep, rich, dimensional colors. Cotton candy, sample it opal, miss mysterious leave press on nails 18 great nail colors, you just press on with undreamed of ease, desert mold, love, Fiesta lively sugar plum, quarterly, a piece of tabs and 20 leaf press on nails for a perfect fit, leave press on nails 18 sensational fashion colors, press on
Doree: Now. Kate, I saw your face as you were watching this commercial.
Kate: My biggest cringe moment was the person gently caressing a pile of sand. Because I could think about was the sand's going to get stuck onto the little adhesive leftovers from those press on nails? Like You weren't building a sandcastle in your press on nails. No. Those things popped off so easily.
Doree: No, no. You were not doing that for sure. I really appreciated the echo of each color.
Kate: Yes. With a man's voice.
Doree: With a man's voice. Yeah. That commercial to me feels so eighties. Like quintessential eighties.
Kate: So eighties. The music, the, the music, the editing.
Doree: Yes. Okay. Before we take a break, I do just want to show one more commercial.
Kate: You have fun with these commercials on this one, Doree.
Doree: Oh, they're very fun.
Kate: I bet. Okay. I'm enjoying myself.
Doree: And this was another, so this was 1988, and this was another attempt by Lee to expand the consumer for the press on nail. And that was the launch of Ms. Lee Press on Nails.
Kate: And this is when a young Kate Spencer really gets influenced. I bet.
Doree: Oh yeah.
Commercial: Ms. Lee, press on nails. The team size switch means Miss Leaf press on nails color. Wow. Instant. Oh yeah. Just peachy. Key bubble gum. Awesome. Fresh grape. Me. Now It's Ms. Lee Press on Nails made for smaller hands, easy to put on as regularly press on nails, and with four extra nails, 24 and all for a more Perfectly beautiful fit, son, at your fingertips, Ms. Lee, press on nails. Press on.
Kate: Oh boy.
Doree: What went through your head as you were watching that?
Kate: I was thinking about how many, now we've done, I think this is our 18th product recall episode, maybe 17th. I don't know. We're somewhere down the road here. And so many of these start out as products for adults. And then when they're like, well, we've tapped that market, who else can we turn to girls? And so that depresses me and makes me angry. And then I just think about how that's still going on today, just in more advanced, less obvious ways. It's not like my kids are immune from this. They experienced this nonstop.
Doree: Yeah. Yeah.
Kate: And also I wanted those nails. I was the target audience. a dream.
Doree: Totally. So the mid to late eighties were really the heyday of these press on nails. I also just, sorry, I just want to note that I misspoke earlier when I read the quote about Ron Lee being the buyer of last resort. That was actually from an advertising trade journal that was not from the Barons article.
Kate: Okay. Okay.
Doree: Alright. We are going to take another break, and then we're going to come back and talk about the demise, I guess, of Lee Press on Nails and the recent resurgence of interest in Press on Nails. So, okay, we are back by the nineties, so we're not talking that long because this product launched in 1985, But By the early nineties, they have really become a signifier of low class.
Kate: Well, because I feel like the are, it's really when the acrylic nail kind of has its moment in the sun. It's, at least in my opinion, that is when acrylics were, it was kicking on. They were popping off. I mean, they still are, but we were really all kind of tapped in.
Doree: I mean, one thing that I didn't really go into is that acrylics were invented in the fifties and in the late seventies was when the professional salon, liquid and powder system, that is now how acrylics are applied. That was invented in the late seventies by Dr. Stewart Nordstrom, who is also the founder of C N D, which is still around, still a nail brand. No, I think that part of it was that you could tell that they were press on nails.
Kate: Totally.
Doree: So
Kate: I see what you're saying.
Doree: There was a 1994 article about Tanya Harding where they quote someone saying, she's in desperate need of a manicure. She looks like she's wearing Lee Press on nails.
Kate: So the classism is just
Doree: The classism is rampant because I, we don't need to get into all of the conversations around Tanya Harding, but I mean, so much of it was, and I'm just quoting the rhetoric of the time, but she was essentially portrayed as trailer trash. She was portrayed as very low class as opposed to the Princess Nancy Kerrigan. And so to see Lee Press on nails become associated with someone like Tanya Harding to me that just says, this is who they had now become associated with. Maybe it means you can't afford to go to a salon and get a manicure or get acrylics put on. All you can afford are Lee Press on nails. They just look tacky. That's kind of all of the discussions around Lee Press on nails after the early nineties. This is the conversation and people stop buying them and they don't. And press on nails don't come back until pretty much until, because people stop going to nail salons. So there's an article in the Wall Street Journal in 2021 that says, Press ons reputation for being cheap and undeniably tacky together with changing nail trends eventually caused them to fall out of favor. So it was just kind of taken as a given that press ons were tacky. But When nail salons were closed down during lockdown, people still wanted to do your nail, do their nails. And that was when Olive June launched their home manicure kit, and then they launched a line of press on nails and olive and June. I would say their target demographic is very upscale. They're an upscale nail nail brand. And you start seeing all of these very cool brands launching Press on Nails, and it's like, it's totally different from the way Lee Press on nails look. And they actually do come. You can get Press on Nails in short, actually, short nail lengths. Now I have done Press on Nails. They are very different than they were in the eighties. I've done a press on pedicure,
Kate: yeah, that's when that really blew my mind when you did press on toenails.
Doree: Yes. I mean, I thought it was amazing. So yeah, so now Press On Nails have reentered the lexicon in a very different way than they did initially,
Kate: And now they're all the rage,
Doree: They are all the rage.
Kate: Well, because, they stay on longer.
Doree: They stay on, they're easy to apply. They come in a gajillion colors and patterns and finishes. You can get matte, you can get glossy, you can get nail art. It goes on and on. And it means, first of all, you don't have to go to the salon. And second of all, you don't have to worry about messing up your manicure,
Kate: Which Is what the point was that Lee was trying to make in the eighties.
Doree: Exactly. Exactly.
Kate: But It actually came true.
Doree: There's a company called Color Camp that used, I mean, I first knew them because they had a small salon not far from my house, and it was a very cool salon. And then they basically shut down and relaunch during Covid again with these at-home manicure kits. And now they're basically known for their press on nails
Kate: I've Bought them.
Doree: Yeah. If you go to their website, it's their big thing. It says Press on nails, not quite, get a high quality manicure without ever stepping foot in a salon. No one will know their press ons.
Kate: Oh, see.
Doree: Which is interesting. And these are expensive. These are expensive press ons. Some of these, I'm looking at ones that are $58 for a set that's expensive.
Kate: If I recall, stuff might have changed. But when I did Color Camp, they sent you a kit and you were getting personalized nails so that you fitted your nails and then sent back what you wanted. And then they sent you a kit that is curated specifically to your hand, your shape, your nail bed size, all that stuff. I just know I ordered them and they were gorgeous. And then I couldn't get them off. And this has been a real, I actually find the current press on nails of today kind of terrifying because they can be kind of hard to remove you soak your hand and then use your little stick to get 'em off. But they kind of hurt sometimes.
Doree: Oh, I see. Okay. After use our try on kit, we keep your sizes on file to make reordering a breeze. Breeze. Got it.
Kate: Yep.
Doree: Yeah, our team of artists makes every set of nails to order using the highest quality gel products. So these are fancy press ons. It's very interesting.
Kate: And I bet this continues to be a moneymaking industry right now.
Doree: Oh, a thousand percent. I mean, on the other end of the spectrum, I have gotten dashing Diva Press on nails. And first of all, they're always on sale, but their regular price are seven to $9 for a set.
Kate: I'm trying to remember the press on nails that my kids love, press on nails. Now they have, and they have the same, seem to have the same relationship to their hands that I have to my hands Impress is the ones that they grab at Target.
Doree: Yes, yes, yes.
Kate: And I have actually tried these. I remember trying, I grabbed Press on Nails. This was wait long before Covid, possibly in the 2014 kind of time. And I remember seeing a new brand at, maybe it was later, but I remember try putting them on and being shocked at how good and how real they looked and how people could not tell that they were Press on nails. Because I do remember that was Press On Nails in the eighties looked like fake nails.
Doree: Yes, yes. And I think now they don't,
Kate: No, the technology, the Press on Nail technology has advanced.
Doree: Yeah, yeah. It's so interesting.
Kate: And so Lee is just gone.
Doree: Yeah, they did this weird reverse merger with a company called Ron Motor Group. So now they are, which is a global zero emission hydrogen fuel cell automaker.
Kate: Oh.
Doree: So yeah, they basically don't exist. And they were a LA area company. They were in South Elmont, I believe.
Kate: It's wild to me. It's interesting to me too, because so many of the companies we've covered have these historic lengths of existence. Some of them are a hundred years old, that for something to be such a huge success and then just crumble is really interesting. We haven't seen that quite as much.
Doree: Well, it makes me wonder whether they had spurned takeover offers. It shocks me that L'Oreal or any of these big companies never tried to buy them because they had such a huge hit. So who knows, maybe they wanted to remain independent. But yeah,
Kate: It's possible. It was not demand that changed, but poor management.
Doree: Yeah, it's hard. I mean, it's hard to say.
Kate: It's hard to say. I don't. Wow.
Doree: Huh. Well, Kate, it's been really fun to get to talk about Press on Nails with you. It's making me want to get some more.
Kate: I will say too, I did, I'm pretty sure I saw your feet with your fake press on toenails and they looked extremely real.
Doree: Yeah. Oh, I know.
Kate: Right? Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen you love a product as much as those fake toenails.
Doree: Well, and I've talked about this before, but I did the press on pedicure at a time when I was getting over the, I was still recovering from the whole nail fungus issue.
Kate: Yes. Yeah.
Doree: So my toe toenails looked kind of gross. And I couldn't even get a manicure because the polish wouldn't really cover up the texture. But I was like, oh, press on nails, we'll cover up the texture. And they did.
Kate: Well, what an invention.
Doree: What invention
Kate: Ugh. Doree, thank you for this journey.
Doree: Youre so Welcome.
Kate: People have pressed on nail stories to share. We would love to hear them.
Doree: Yeah, please share them. All right. Bye everyone.