Leopold Deigner sen. (1896 – 1975)

Kammfabrik Deigner

1908: With twelve years, after completion of primary school, the German-Hungarian serves  a three-year apprenticeship in Óbuda (Alt-Ofen). From his master Mr Komáromi he learns the traditional horn comb-making. In the same company he takes both his journeyman and his master’s examination successfully. Until military service, he continues to work in the workshop of his master.

1918/1919: Leopold Deigner returns home after the end of World War I. He starts his own comb factory in Törökbálint (Großturwall), a suburb of Budapest.

1920: In Budaörs (Wudersch), also a suburb of Budapest, Leopold Deigner buys a building site in order to first build a workshop and one year later a house.

1946: After World War II the Deigner Family is affected by the expulsion of Germans from Hungary. They are relocated to Cleebronn in southwestern Germany. Quickly they manage to build up their own comb factory.

Elisabeth Totzl, Katharina Dußle
and Theresia Wöhr

1975: Even after the death of Leopold Deigner the Kammfabrik Deigner (comb factory) remains a family business. The three daughters, Elisabeth Totzl, who completed – as the first woman ever – a three-year horn comb-making apprenticeship back in Hungary, Katharina Dußle and Theresia Wöhr continue the company.

1987: The television station WDR visited the comb factory in Cleebronn to film the factual story, “Hornkamm” (horn comb) for the show “Die Sendung mit der Maus“. In the broadcast of 1988 Elisabeth Totzl, Katharina Dußle, Theresia Wöhr and her son Lothar Wöhr show,  according to the individual production steps, how a horn comb is formed.

Theresia Wöhr and Lothar Wöhr

Hornverarbeitung Wöhr

1993: Theresia Wöhr and Lothar Wöhr continue the family tradition in Cleebronn. From 2000, Lothar Wöhr is the sole manager of the company Hornverarbeitung Wöhr.

Lothar Wöhr, Teresa Thomas and Jason Thomas

Hornverarbeitung Thohr

2008: Teresa Thomas (daughter of Lothar Wöhr) and Jason Thomas acquire the new headquarters of the company Hornverarbeitung in Widdern. After more than 9 decades of corporate history, the continued existence of the company is assured by Teresa and Jason Thomas, who are learning the traditional craft from Lothar Wöhr. In addition to horn combs a broad range of exclusive utensils, accessories, care items and jewelry made of horn and other natural materials are offered. Also customized products are part of the repertoire.

2014: From now on the products are distributed under the new name “THOHR” (THOmas & wöHR).

Horn already found its use in the early history of mankind, and especially nowadays it is, with growing mountains of waste, through its biological nature, a substance for the future.

For four generations, we process the byproduct (Horn) of South American an African beef cattle, into utensil, accessories, jewelry, and care items.

It requires a high degree of skill and experience to deal properly with this unique material. Even behind apparently unspectacular end products, there is often put a considerable effort into it until completion.

Horns are very different. For example, the horns of German cattle are too small to work with. And between the appropriate larger horns, there are quite a few differences, on the basis of which one can not produce a specific item from each horn. This means that you already have to know if a raw horn is ideally suited for the planned project.

Horn always fascinates through the beautiful, individual grains that characterize each item into an impressive unicum. The natural color spectrum includes: white, yellow, orange, green, brown, gray, black and transparent tones in all combinations. Even tortoiseshell appearances are possible.

Horn is excellent for jewelry, because firstly it possesses an unusually low weight, which favors larger pieces of jewelry, and secondly it adapts very quickly to the body temperature, although it never gets so cold, for example like stone. Therefore, the wearing comfort is a significant advantage.

Another aspect relates especially to those who suffer from allergies, because in these cases, horn provides as a wonderful alternative since it mainly consists of keratin. Keratin is a protein that is the main component of the skin, hair, fingernails and toenails of human beings.

Horn combs are balm for head and hair. They maintain all natural, without chemicals, by absorbing excess fat of the scalp and give this to the dry hair, especially to the hair ends. Whether one tends more to dry or oily hair, the horn comb equalizes, if used daily, the natural fat content and creates a healthy, glamorous hair. In addition, the horn comb prevents, by its antistatic feature, the hair from being electrostatically charged by combing. Horn combs are both gentle on the scalp and to the hair.

Care Instructions

Protect your horn products against, for example, to dry air, excessive heat, direct sunlight, etc. as well as long-lasting, strong moisture.

It is fine to comb wet hair with a horn comb, also it can occasionally be cleaned with water and, for example, shampoo. However, do not allow the comb to lie in the water for an extended period of time. It would be best if you dry it after it has become wet. You can maintain and protect your horn comb by oiling it, from time to time with, for example, burdock root hair oil.