Entry · catalog no. 7012
hot comb
/ /hɒt koʊm/ /HOT-kohm
noun · nationwide · 1900s
✓ Verified
1.
A steel comb heated and drawn through washed, oiled hair to temporarily straighten it; also the act and ritual of pressing hair this way.
“Saturday nights meant the hot comb on the stove eye and a towel around your shoulders.”
Origin & Attribution
The heated straightening comb was in use in 19th-century France, but its place in Black American life was built by Black women entrepreneurs — Annie Malone, who patented and marketed a version, and her onetime agent Madam C.J. Walker, who widened its teeth and paired it with a full system of products for Black hair. In the early 1900s it opened doors, since straightened hair was demanded for respectable and professional settings. Walter Sammons, a Black Philadelphian, held a 1920 U.S. patent for an improved comb.
1870s
Heated straightening combs used in France
1900s-1910s
Annie Malone and Madam C.J. Walker build the Black hair-care industry around it
1920
Walter Sammons granted a U.S. patent for an improved comb
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
nationwide · 1900s
Spoken by
Black American households
$HOTCOMThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Faded126 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1900
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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Atlanta, GA
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Memphis, TN
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Citations & Sources
■
A'Lelia Bundles, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
2001
■
+ Cite a sourceIEEE Spectrum, How the Electric Hot Comb Became an Entrepreneurial Tool
2021
See also