St. Ives Laboratories, Inc. is founded in Chatsworth, California. From the beginning, the brand touts its "Swiss formula" and its herb and plant extracts.

For years, St. Ives wasn't actually the best-known maker of apricot scrubs. That was Aapri, which was the preferred scrub of the 1980s.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, St. Ives was the preeminent apricot scrub, sold at drugstores for much cheaper than Aapri and in ubiquitous orange tubs. (Cheryl worked at a Walgreens in college and witnessed this size regularly sell out.)

With the product still on the rise, St. Ives introduces an "ultra gentle" apricot scrub for sensitive skin types.

As early as 2001, reviews appear on Internet forums like Makeup Alley calling out the "damaging" apricot scrub. One reviewer writes: "This was the worst stuff I ever put on my face. All I can say is ouch! The crushed apricot pits really hurt my face. I couldn't believe how much it made me break out too. I just had a completely horrible experience with this stuff."

In commercials, St. Ives touts its multi-purpose array of products, including a "Blemish and Blackhead Control" scrub, a "Gentle" apricot scrub, an anti-aging "Renew and Firm" scrub, and the "Invigorating" original.

Backlash continues online. "I did my Aesthetics course in 2005, and we were vehemently warned against St Ives and other rough abrasives," one woman writes on Reddit. Then again, some people disparage it as a scrub yet praise it as an acne treatment, as seen in a 2007 makeup forum.

St. Ives Apricot Scrub earns its first Readers' Choice Award from Allure magazine, which it goes on to win eight more times.

Unilever acquires St. Ives' parent company Alberto Culver Company for $3.7 billion.

"Cheap Apricot Facial Scrub is Mauling Your Face" reads a blog headline from Birchbox, whose staffers "have beef with cheap apricot exfoliators (one brand in particular)."

More experts are coming out against the apricot scrub and its abrasive walnut shells. "These nuts are pretty jagged and can actually cause tiny tears on the surface of your skin," facialist Zdenka Sutton tells TotalBeauty.com.

Several US states propose bans on plastic microbeads due to their threat on the environment. In response, some people, including dermatologists, reconsider St. Ives as a natural alternative. NYC derm Dr. Debra Jaliman recommends it on the Huffington Post in 2014.

Dermatologists tell New York magazine's The Cut that apricot scrubs like St. Ives are the most detrimental. “When you scrub skin with abrasive scrubs, they put micro-tears into skin," said one doctor. "They make your skin more vulnerable to environmental damage, pollution, and sun damage.”

A Slate article draws the world's attention to the deep hatred of St. Ives scrub on r/SkincareAddiction, an active skincare subreddit. Among the quotes include a user calling it “St. Ives Devil Scrub” and another who says reference to the scrub “is on par with uttering Voldermort's name.”

Then again, some people see St. Ives' old age as a testament to its quality. In Allure's November issue, Gigi Hadid says it's her go-to face scrub — "It's been around because it's the best."

Two defendants bring a lawsuit against Unilever, saying that St. Ives scrub packaging misrepresents the product by saying “dermatologist tested" without acknowledging whether dermatologists actually recommended it. The case could become a class action suit.