Leo Gerstenzang

Leo Gerstenzang (June 3, 1892 – 1 October, 1973), also known as 'Waxy McGee', was Polish born American who in 1923 invented the cotton swab or Q-Tips.[1] His product, which he named "Baby Gays", went on to become one of the most widely sold brand names, where "Q" as in "Q-tip" stood for quality. There are many anecdotes about how Mr. Gerstenzang came to create this invention. One goes like this:

"One day in 1923, Leo Gerstenzang found himself watching his wife applying cotton wads to toothpicks in an attempt to reach hard-to-clean areas. Gerstenzang, inspired, soon produced a one-piece cotton swab."[2]

Gerstenzang was born in Warsaw. He emigrated to Chicago, Illinois in 1912. From 1918 to 1919, he returned to Europe as a representative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In 1919, he was still living in Chicago, and became a naturalized US citizen there on September 29, 1919. By 1921, he had moved to New York City.

He founded a company, called the Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Company, to market his new product. In 1926, he changed the name of the product from Baby Gays to Q-Tips Baby Gays, with the Q standing for "quality". Eventually the Baby Gays part was dropped and the product was simply called Q-Tips.


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