Matador

Matador is a German line of professional hard rubber combs for hairdressers and barbers. The combs are cut and finished by hand from ebonite, a vulcanised natural rubber, and the line is owned and produced by the New-York Hamburger Gummi-Waaren Compagnie AG (NYH AG), the Lüneburg manufacturer behind the Hercules Sägemann comb family [1]. Matador has no independent website or social presence of its own; it reaches the market entirely through NYH AG's portfolio and a network of professional salon and barber suppliers across Europe.

The brand began in Austria. Matador combs were originally made by Semperit in Vienna, and in 2000 NYH AG acquired the Matador hard rubber comb production from Semperit and moved manufacturing to Germany [1]. Because the line trades as a heritage product rather than a consumer beauty brand, much of what is publicly recorded about it comes from distributor copy and from the history of its parent company.

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

Matador's modern home is NYH AG, founded in 1871 in the Barmbek district of Hamburg by Conrad Poppenhusen and Heinrich Wilhelm Maurien [5][9]. The company is among the older German firms organised as a joint-stock company and specialises in moulded hard rubber, soft rubber and plastic parts. German Wikipedia lists Matador, alongside Hercules Sägemann and Triumph, among the company's brands [9]. Since 2009 NYH AG has been based in Lüneburg, where it employs roughly 130 to 140 people.

The lineage stretches further back through the parent group. In 1856 H.A. Meyer and Heinrich Wilhelm Maurien established the Harburger Gummi-Kamm AG, a comb maker that NYH AG absorbed in 1930, merging the Hercules and Sägemann names into the combined Hercules Sägemann brand [5]. Matador's frequently cited "since 1856" heritage refers to this predecessor rather than to Matador as a distinct brand. The year Semperit first launched Matador in Austria is not documented in available public sources, and the line's founders are likewise unrecorded.

This gap produces a dating conflict worth stating plainly. Trade copy repeats that "Matador combs have been loved by professionals since 1856" [12], a date that belongs to the Harburger Gummi-Kamm predecessor; the current parent NYH AG dates to 1871 [5]; and NYH AG's ownership of Matador itself began only in 2000 [1].

According to the manufacturer, the combs are hand-sawn, hand-cut and hand-polished from 100% vulcanised natural rubber, a process its own sites describe as running to more than 40 work steps. Distributor descriptions give different figures for that process — variously 19, 24 or 30 stages — most likely reflecting differing counts or copy that has drifted between resellers; the brand and manufacturer sites use the 40-plus figure [1][7]. The comb pins are formed by sawing with diamond cutters, then shaped into cone-shaped, finely polished and rounded points. The company states this construction lets the combs glide through hair without tangling, resists discoloration and acids, and tolerates heat to roughly 80°C [7].

The Matador range is broad. UK trade sources describe some forty lines, each aimed at a particular cutting or styling task, with the saw-cut teeth presented as reducing drag and friction during use. Recurring products include the No.1 Master Barber Comb, the MC2 Barber Comb, the Graduation Comb 2614/7 and the MasterPiece 2639/8; at least one retailer also lists Matador professional latex gloves, indicating the line extends beyond combs into salon accessories. All carry "Made in Germany" and are sold through professional B2B channels rather than direct to consumers.

NYH AG and its Hercules Sägemann arm frame the work around heritage craftsmanship and German manufacturing, citing values the company gives as quality, sustainability and functionality [6]. Matador is positioned squarely as a professional tool: the combs are presented as meeting the needs of hairdressing and barbering professionals, and the line is associated with traditional barbershop technique such as scissor-over-comb cutting. No formal sustainability certifications were found in the sources reviewed, despite the parent's general use of "sustainability" as a stated value.

Matador is active. As of 2026 the range remains in distribution across the United Kingdom, Sweden (through Bratt Trading), Germany and other European markets via professional salon and barber supply networks [1]. The catalogue is a stable legacy range rather than an expanding one, with no new launches identified, and the line carries no A-tier consumer beauty press coverage, consistent with its standing as a professional tool brand rather than a retail cosmetics label.