Max Factor – The Lucy Room

Lucille Ball’s Nu-Trex Wig Cleaner

Categorized under unique and unusual is this empty tin quart of Nu-Trex Wig Cleaner once owned and used by Lucille Ball. Since 1947, Nu-Trex has created shampoos, conditioners and cleaners for hair industry professionals, including products for synthetic and real wigs.

Lucy famously wore many wigs starting in 1960’s so she and longtime hairstylist Imra Kusely most likely went through many bottles of this product. The tin was part of a collection of pieces Frank Gorey kept as he assisted the estate of cleaning and clearing out items from the Beverly Hills home, after Lucille’s passing. Frank was the Ball/Arnaz/Morton family’s majordomo for over three decades.

August 21, 2025August 21, 2025 by The Lucy Room Categories: I Love Lucy, Irma Kusely, Lucille Ball, Max Factor, Personal, Television, WigTags: Beverly Hills, Cleaner, Frank Gorey, Hair, Irma Kusley, Lucille Ball, Lucille Ball Owned, Max Factor, Nu-Trex, Personal, wig Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s “FLAME” Max Factor Creme Rough Makeup

We dug into Lucille Ball’s travel cosmetics case from a previous post to share one of her creme rouges. Made by Max Factor, a preferred makeup brand, the color is called ‘FLAME’ (cue the reference to her flaming red hair). Directions say to use finger tips to apply and blend. The swirl marks made by Lucy’s can easily be seen inside of this heavily used cosmetic.

March 26, 2025March 26, 2025 by The Lucy Room Categories: Here's Lucy, I Love Lucy, Life With Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucy Ricardo, Makeup, Max Factor, Personal, Shown Worn, Television, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, The Lucy Show, The Lucy-Desi Comedy HourTags: Cosmetics, Flame, I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucille Ball Owned, Lucille Ball Worn, Makeup, Max Factor, Personal, Rouge Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Curly Red Wiglet

If a hairstyle called for a certain look or something extra, wiglets were used in addition to the regular wig. Simply pinned on the main wig these added height, shape, more curls or possible used to cover something.

This was one of Lucy’s red wiglets. Her longtime hairstylist Imra Kusely dyed it to match her hair color and the piece still retains the original curls and shape with hairspray from when it was used.

February 12, 2025February 12, 2025 by The Lucy Room Categories: Here's Lucy, I Love Lucy, Irma Kusely, Life With Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucy Ricardo, Max Factor, Personal, Shown Worn, Television, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, The Lucy Show, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, WigTags: Custom-made, I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucille Ball Owned, Lucille Ball Worn, Max Factor, Museum, Personal, Red Wig, Redhead, wig, Wiglet Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Personal Red Wig

Irma Kusely first worked with Lucille Ball in the 1940’s at MGM. Nearly a decade later they would reunite on I Love Lucy. Irma became Lucy’s hair stylist for next four decades. Kusely began her Hollywood career at Max Factor styling wigs where she learned the technique of how they were made by hand using real hair.

In the clip shown above from a 2001 Television Academy Arts & Sciences interview, Irma makes it clear about Lucy’s hair color – “It’s not red at all, it’s a golden apricot color.”

Irma’s career with Lucy spanned hundreds of appearances both on and off screen. In the early 1990’s she was asked to supply some of Lucy’s custom wigs for Universal Studio’s “Lucy: A Tribute” exhibit. This is one of those wigs, still styled and untouched since Irma did it over 30 years ago.

March 13, 2024March 13, 2024 by The Lucy Room Categories: Here's Lucy, I Love Lucy, Irma Kusely, Life With Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucy Ricardo, Max Factor, MGM, Personal, Shown Worn, Television, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, The Lucy Show, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, WigTags: Custom Made, I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, Lucille Ball Owned, Lucille Ball Worn, Max Factor, MGM, Museum, Personal, Red Wig, Redhead, Universal Studios, wig Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Red ‘Du Barry Was A Lady’ Wig

After signing with MGM, Lucille Ball’s first film at the studio was 1943’s Du Barry Was a Lady. At the time Lucy’s hair was close to her natural color, a mousey-brown and since it was going to be shot in Technicolor a change needed to be made so her look would pop more on screen. MGM’s hair stylist, Sydney Guilaroff decided to dye her hair a vibrant red/orange. Along with her porcelain skin, blue eyes and red lips, the new hair color made her look sensational on and off camera. She remained a redhead for the rest of her life.

This was the wig Lucille wore in the movie. Considered a “3/4 fall” it was attached to the crown of her head providing long locks while her real hair was made in an updo. The interior lace has two labels sewn onto it – a Max Factor Studios label and a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer label with 493 written in blue. This number matches that found on the original black wig box. The box has a label affixed detailing the color (tech. red) size and performer who it was created for. Also included is the original wig stock record card with all this information and production number. The wig would be reused in 1967 by actress ‘S. Yarnell’ as written on the card however this may actually be Celeste Yarnall of Star Trek fame.

February 6, 2023August 29, 2024 by The Lucy Room Categories: Film Worn, Lucille Ball, Max Factor, MGM, Movie, Shown Worn, WigTags: Du Barry Was a Lady, Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball Worn, Max Factor, MGM, Red Skelton, Redhead, Screen Worn, wig Leave a comment

Lucille Ball’s Blonde Wig from Here’s Lucy

Lucille Ball’s blonde wig worn on Here’s Lucy in the show entitled “Lucy and Jack Benny’s Biography” from Season 3, episode #11 and originally aired on November 23, 1970. (Synopsis: Harry sends Lucy to Jack Benny’s house to write down his biography. Throughout the series of flashbacks we meet many of the women in Jack’s life whom are all played by Lucy.)

Lucy portraying blonde bombshell, “Lola,” wears this Max Factor Studios wig in the ‘fifth chapter’ of the show. The laced sides and front high quality wig was originally styled by Irma Kusely, and it is possible Lucy wore it more than once in other skits. This item was acquired from the estate of Frank Gorey who was the Ball/Arnaz/Morton family’s majordomo for over three decades.

November 5, 2022August 29, 2024 by The Lucy Room Categories: Here's Lucy, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Max Factor, Shown Worn, Television, WigTags: blonde, Here's Lucy, jack benny, Lucille Ball Owned, Lucille Ball Worn, Max Factor, Screen Worn, wig Leave a comment