White Plains, NY
800.431.2610
www.combe.com

Sales: $252 million

In May, Combe Inc. joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s How2Recycle program, in which members use a standardized label on-package to communicate to consumers how to recycle or properly dispose of product packaging.

“We are pleased to use the consumer-friendly How2Recycle labels on our packaging to help our consumers recycle our packaging correctly. It is an important part of Combe’s sustainability efforts,” said Tim Williams, senior vice president of operations and manufacturing.

Combe’s Just for Men brand is possibly the most well known men’s hair coloring product in the world.

Unfortunately, the brand has found itself in a class action suit.  Garnett Davis filed a suit in February in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Combe Inc., citing product liability, negligence, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligent representation and fraud. A St. Louis-based law firm is representing Davis.

White Plains, NY
914.461.4000
www.combe.com

Sales: $255 million (estimated).

Beards have been big of late, and that’s good news for Combe and its Just For Men line, which also offers products to keep grey whiskers at bay. In fact, the brand is the title sponsor (again) of the US National  Beard and Moustache Championships, which will take place in Brooklyn, NY on Nov. 7, 2015.

“We wanted to know how men feel about their facial hair because our mission at Just For Men is to help them feel confident about their look — whether that look includes gray or not,” Ralph Marburger, Just For Men brand director, said last year about the 2014 competition, which the brand also sponsored. “With the Just For Men World Beard and Moustache Championships about to prove who has the world’s finest beard or ‘stache, we felt now was the perfect time to celebrate the power of facial hair.”

And even if the hipster-driven facial trend trend has hit its peak, don’t count Combe out. The company’s roster also includes Lectric Shave and Williams Mug Shaving Soap, so consumers can continue to buy Combe’s products.

Privately held by the Combe family, founder Ivan B. Combe’s granddaughter and her husband are now steering the ship following Chris Combe’s retirement last year.

In March, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) awarded the Ivan D. Combe Lifetime Achievement Award to Christopher B. Combe. According to CHPA president and CEO Scott Melville, one of Chris Combe’s greatest accomplishments “was expanding Combe Incorporated’s international market. He took the company global before ‘going global’ was a thing, and today international sales represent 40% of the overall business.”

White Plains, NY
914-461-4000
www.combe.com

Sales: $250 million (estimated).

If it’s a product you use, but want to keep on the Q-T, chances are Combe sells it. The company is home to some of the self-professed “most personal personal care products in the world.” Its stable includes Just for Men and Vagisil as well as Aqua Vela, Brylcreem, Lectric Shave, and Sea Bond.

Several Just for Men SKUs feature AirActiv Technology, which Combe describes as the first and only oxygen-activated formula that can’t over-color, preserving the natural variations in your hair.

Christopher B. Combe, who is chairman of the company his father started in 1949, currently sits on the board of directors of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA). He serves along side Zan Guerry, chief executive officer of Chattem and leaders from other well-known OTC healthcare firms.

But according to sources, Akshay Shetty and his wife Keech Combe Shetty—daughter of the CEO—have taken on larger leadership roles in the day-to-day running of the company.

White Plains, NY
800.873.7400
www.combe.com
Sales: $250 million (estimated).

Combe has been in the personal care industry for more than 60 years. Founded by Ivan D. Combe in 1949, the business is now run by the next generation in the family business, Christopher B. Combe. Its products are touted to solve “problems of every day life, from the world’s number one men’s hair color to the world’s fastest-growing feminine hygiene brand to the world’s best-selling alternative to denture pastes…It’s a simple idea that has made our brands household words globally for over 50 years.”

One of the brand’s latest innovations for the year was Just for Men Autostop, a “no mixing, no mess, radically easy to use” SKU. The formulation is ammonia and peroxide free, works in 10 minutes and comes in five shades, according to the company.

White Plains, NY

800.873.7400

www.combe.com

Sales: $250 million

The company that Ivan D. Combe founded in 1949 is evolving, as it shed several brands during the past year.In January it completed the sale of its cough and cold and skin care businesses—including brands such as Cepacol, Lanacane, Scalpicin, LiceMD, and Hemoal brands—to Reckitt Benckiser Inc., and found a new home for Odor-Eaters at Blistex.

At the time of the disposal, chairman and CEO Christopher B. Combe, said, “We are very proud of our divested businesses and are excited about the future of these brands.More importantly, these divestitures enable us to increase our company-wide focus on our largest global brands. Our retained brands have strong growth opportunities around the world supported by positive demographic shifts, our leadership positions in these categories, and a pipeline of innovative and potentially game-changing new products.”

Brands left in the fold include some of Combe’s most-well known grooming products like Just For Men, AquaVelva, Grecian 5 and Lectric Shave, as well as Sea-Bond denture adhesive and Johnson’s Foot Soap.