Function

• Also called a pressing comb or straightening comb, the hot comb is a metal comb that is heated on either a range top or burner to a temperature between 300 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit. By pulling the heated comb through the hair, the pressure applied during the combing process breaks down the hair fiber's biochemical bonds. As the temperature diminishes, the bonds reconnect and keep the hair straight. Typically, the hair remains straight from one to two weeks or until it comes into contact with moisture or humidity.
  
  

Cultural Significance

• Though originally used by French women in Europe during the mid-19th century, the hot comb would become the foundation of the black beautician industry starting in the early 1900s. Hot combs were a significant improvement from older methods used by African-Americans during and after slavery to straighten hair, which ranged from heated butter knives and cloths, to axle grease and homemade lye. Today, hot combs are still predominantly used in black salons as a means for straightening hair without chemicals.
  
  

Early Contributors

• In 1872, Marcel Grateau was one of the first hairdressers to use the hot comb as a way to create new wave styles for his clientele in Paris. However, Madam C.J. Walker, an entrepreneur and the first self-made African-American millionaire, would revolutionize the black hair industry by introducing the "shampoo-press-and-curl" Walker system. The kit, which was given to trained agents who sold Walker's products, included a hot comb. As a result, Walker is often credited with introducing the hot comb to black women.
  
  

Misconceptions

• It is commonly believed that Madam C.J. Walker invented the hot comb. However, the tool was actually first used by the French around the year 1845. Women in Paris had been using hot combs to replicate the straight styles worn by ancient Egyptians. Also, hot combs were sold in Sears and Bloomingdale catalogs to the American public as early as the 1880s. In 1900, Walker received a patent for the hot comb, which she redesigned with wide-spaced teeth that would accommodate thick hair of various textures. As of today, the inventor of the hot comb is still unknown.
  
  

Medical Concerns

• In 1968, Philip LoPresti, M.D., Christopher M. Papa, M.D., and Albert M. Kligman released a study that stated hot combs had caused inflammation and scarring on the scalps of mostly black women. Labeled "hot comb alopecia," they claimed that the condition was caused by the combined use of petrolatum and excessive heat from hot combs, leading to burning and scarring along the crown of the scalp. In 1992, dermatologists Leonard C. Sterling and Purnima Sau revisited the theory by surveying 10 black women suffering from scarring alopecia. Renaming the condition follicular degeneration syndrome (FDS), they concluded that there was little evidence supporting the use of hot combs as the cause of the disease.