The company started as a wig store in Downtown El Paso in 1968, and expanded into the hair appliance business in 1975 by first supplying hair salons with hair dryers and curling irons. In 1980, the company's founder, Jerry Rubin, entered into a successful licensing agreement with Vidal Sassoon. Since then, the company's growth has come through years of acquiring rights to use well-known global brands in the health and home, housewares, beauty and nutritional supplements categories, or by acquiring brands and companies outright. Those transactions have made Helen of Troy a force in the personal-care products market.