MAKING COMBS FOR EVE.

New Use For Skimmed Milk.

WORLD SUPPLIED BY ABERDEEN

A long and interesting connection with the Aberdeen Comb Works will come to an end this month with the retirement of Mr John Morrison, 13 Beechgrove Terrace.

Mr Morrison has been engaged – mainly on the commercial side – with the Aberdeen Combworks all his life, entering the office practically from school, 52 years ago, and carrying out with marked success during these last 30 years the duties of secretary to the firm.

He has seen the comb industry and Aberdeen in the heyday of its fame, when fashion decreed that women’s hair should be adorned with combs of various shapes and sizes.

These were the days when the Aberdeen Combworks supplied the whole country, indeed one may say, supplied the world – for Aberdeen was the principal export centre in Scotland.

Comb-making then was a comparatively little known industry. 

In these days of the “shingle” and the “bob” it is intensely interesting to think that these combs might have found a resting place in the heads of great and royal personages throughout the world.

Such things as the immense curved comb used for the back of the head, which helped to set off the headgear of a bygone age, have long disappeared in the mists of forgetfulness, and the industry has had to face the menace of the new era in coiffure.

But in the opinion of Mr Morrison, for all the “bobbing” and “shingling” in the world, Eve cannot live without a comb, even if that comb be of considerably less dimensions than those which belonged to the Victorian era. And so the Coma industry, somewhat attenuated perhaps, goes on, performing a necessary function in Eve’s domain. 

Mr Morrison told a “Press and Journal” representative last night that core making was considered a highly skilled craft. At one time the works in Aberdeen, then under Messrs. S.R. Stewart and Co., employed 900 men. Combs in those days were all made of horn, which was imported from Australia and South America.

Horn Combs are still made, said Mr Morrison, but scarcity of horn led to the introduction and perfecting of a material known in the trade as keronyx.

A girl would be rather intrigued if she knew that her comb is really made from skimmed milk, for it Is skimmed milk made into a powder that is the basis of the manufacturer of this new substance.

We made this substance ourselves at our place in Berryden, explained Mr Morrison, and it is taken to our works at Hutcheon Street where the comb-making process is completed.

No flowing tresses.

Time was, Mr Morrison declared, when the ladies’ dressing combs had to be strong, for it was a different matter combing a woman’s here. Nowadays, girls do not have to sort out long flowing tresses.

Mr Morrison was first cashier to Messrs. S.R. Stewart and Co.,  and when they made their business into a limited liability company, about 30 years ago, he was appointed secretary.  the Firm became known as the Aberdeen Combworks Company Limited.

The firm was established by John Stewart of Banchory, over 100 years ago, said Mr Morrison, and the high traditions of the business had been carried on by the family ever since. The fourth generation of the family is now in the business.

Source : Press and Journal 2nd April 1930