A woman named, Madam CJ Walker, first introduced the Hot Comb to the “black” community in the early 1900s. The hair comb was first used to improve hair straightening of African-American women’s hair.

It is often mistaken that Madam CJ Walker invented the hot comb, however she was only the liaison between the African-American women who purchased the product and Annie Malone, the woman who studied hair, and the effects this product would have. 

Before the hot comb, during the time of slavery, women would use knifes and cloths with butter to try and maintain their hair. These items damaged their hair, along with other chemicals African-American women would use to do their hair. 

The hot comb is used by, placing the metal comb on a heated surface to heat the comb. Once the comb is hot enough, to nearly burn your hands, with a cloth you hold the edge and brush the hair by tiny little pieces at a time. When the hot comb was first introduced it was entirely made of metal, with time, the edge of the comb was made of wood so women can actually be able to hold it without burning themselves, however it was only seconds before the wood would heat up and be too hot to hold.

With time the hot comb later evolved into a hair flat iron that is used today by women of every ethnicity. There are also still hot combs being made today, except now they are made of ceramic, so woman’s hair is not burned off or damaged, and the edge of the comb is extremely protected for women to no longer burn themselves by holding the comb. 

I am not African or of African-decent so I do not feel comfortable answering if they would be able to comfortably live without the hot comb, however from the research I have done, I believe they would not have been able to. The hot comb was a symbolic tool essential to African women. The hot comb gave them self-esstem and confidence to feel better about themselves. I believe the hot comb helped empower women to feel beautiful and more valuable to society, especially because it was first introduced in the time of slavery. 

The hot comb is a piece of societal culture because it was first introduced to French woman, but made the largest impact on African-American women. Once women of every race noticed the impact the hot comb was taking, they too decided to use the product. The hot comb can also be a piece of reflective culture because it was essential to African-American women during the time of slavery. During the difficult time of slavery, women shared the same characteristics of not knowing how to comb their hair. Because African-American women tend to have thick, curly, coarse hair that breaks easily, some believed it was best to use the hot comb so they can easily comb it different ways, while others believed the hot comb took culture away from the African-American women because they should instead embrace their beautiful curly hair. Lastly, the hot comb is also a piece of expressive culture because women were able to feel better about themselves, as they found a new way to take care of their hair and they felt better about themselves, and expressing their culture in a new way.