WEB PAGE NO.2802 17th July 2021 BRYLCREEM 1ST PICTURE: Original Brylcreem Jar

2nd PICTURE: 1950’s Brylcreem advert

3RD PICTURE The Pink Stuff

4th PICTURE Brylcreem Jar today

|One for the lads today What's the story? Keeping quiffs neatly in place since 1928, Brylcreem is an iconic product of men's hair styling. Founded in Birmingham by County Chemicals, it was created as hair cream that was originally only sold to barbers. Men flocked to Brylcreem in droves to recreate that clean, smart hairstyle that was the fashion at the time. And that not-a-hair-out-of-place look remained the fashion for another couple of decades - rather handy for Brylcreem. In fact, a brief history of Brylcreem is like a brief history of men's haircuts. During World War II, members of the RAF were known as Brylcreem Boys thanks to their tidily done dos. The 1950s saw an even further increase with Brylcreem becoming the most dominant product in men's hairstyling. Brylcreem must have been thanking their lucky stars that the super-styled Teddy Boy look was so popular. Slick hairstyles lasted until the early 60s when Brylcreem's luck began to run out. What Happened? Well it's down in part to The Beatles and other such popular music groups of the time who wore their hair much longer and much less-perfectly styled. With this, the demand for styling creams fell and so did Brylcreem's profits. Despite efforts to convince the masses that Brylcreem could still be used on these styles, sales declined and continued to do so into the 70s. Big hair equalled big problems for Brylcreem. The 80s and 90s saw a slight renaissance when the brand tried to reinvent itself for the youth market. In 1997, David Beckham became the face of Brylcreem and showed that it wasn't just for those neat hairstyles of a different era. And now? The original cream is still available in the same packaging it's been in since the 60s plus a few other waxes and gels too. People may still think of it as a product of a certain time but it has embraced the 21st century with social media campaigns and sharp adverts to appeal to the 16-30 market. A good example of this would be their 2007 Effortless campaign where the public were invited to send in clips of effortless little tricks around the house, and the accompanying musician recruited from MySpace. But the history:- In 1895 a small chemist shop was opened in the High Street Coleshill trading under the name of the "County Chemical Company" the founder specialised in oils and lubricants mainly for the car and cycle industries along with puncture repair kits but from 1896 he was trying to develope a grease free hair product for men based on the American lanollin hair gel. The lubricant side of the business was so successful that his hair project was put on hold. The majority of trading was by mail order and distribution points were set up in London, Bristol and Manchester to meet demand. Having out-grown his Coleshill premises by 1905 the company moved to Bradford Street in Birmingham. Production of lubricants continued along with the addition of cleaning products and by 1910 Golf Balls, with the trade name of "Chemico Bob" were being manufactured. It was probably around this time that the company name changed to "Chemico". With the advent of war, production was shifted to aid the war effort with emphasis again on oils and lubricants but with the addition of Body Armour and Gas Bombs (the first ever gas bomb used by the allies was made by Chemico). After the war, production returned to normal and not a lot happened but in 1928 the founders dream of a hair product finally came true when the company chemists invented "Brylcreem" and to the surprise of the company sale were phenomenal throughout the world. In 1931 another well know product was invented by the Chemico Company. It was a household cleaning paste which was sold under the brand name of "The Pink Stuff". Production at the company now concentrated on these two products until 1939 when demand for Brylcreem was so great that the company was struggling to meet it's targets. Having been made an offer, the company decided to sell Brylcreem. During the 1930’s the demand escalated beyond all dreams and in 1939 a very generous offer was made by Beecham Trust Ltd. and the product was sold to them so that the product could reach its full potential. At that time sales were 400 gross bottles per day. In 1940 the Germans seemed to get their own back when the Bradford Street factory was bombed during a raid on Birmingham. A quick purchase of a new factory was made on Stratford Rd in Shirley where production continued with the "Pink Stuff" and other cleaning products right through until 1988. The company was then subjected to a management buyout and the factory in Shirley closed. Production was moved to new premises on Cranmore Industrial Estate, Solihull where they still trade today. You Write: From Martin in New Zealand Hello;is the below item any good to you?From Martin Stanswood ex Court Lane now living in New Zealand.I remember one lass wrote upside down in my 1957/8 year book.Any chance of being able to trace her is she is still alive?I did my first year in Court Lane and then went to Portsmouth Technical High School in 1959. =================================== A very interesting item below in colour.It is 1940 and London is being bombed without mercy by the german air farce.Brave British ,Commonwealth and allied spitfire fighter pilots are doing their best against near impossible odds to shoot down the german aircraft;they are "the few" to whom so much was owed. But life goes on as normal as possible in the form of the posh London fashion show of 1940.And talking of posh do listen to the female commentator accent.Many of the lady models must have been praying for the safe return of their men folk.And a few of them were about to be conscripted into the Womans Land Army to replace the farm men in food production.Their fashion world was about to be replaced by spud digging ! Do look at the below YouTube search.Any frock ideas gals? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqvtZoP7bc8 Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com