"Seasoning" a New Wooden Comb?

[katsrevenge]

I very recently acquired a 'New Image' wooden comb. The package said it was maple and rosewood..the tines are light and there is indeed a red stripe of wood at the top. It's dual sided too.

I spent about an hour sanding down the tines, wet it to remove the dust, dried it really fast..and then spent some more time smoothing the finish out.

It works great in my hair. I love how it doesn't poof it really. But, the comb feels almost dry in my hair. I've read a few times that people season these things. What is the best thing to do this with?

[owlathena]

I'm interested in this too! I sanded down a wooden hair fork last year

[furnival]

I very recently acquired a 'New Image' wooden comb. The package said it was maple and rosewood..the tines are light and there is indeed a red stripe of wood at the top. It's dual sided too.

I spent about an hour sanding down the tines, wet it to remove the dust, dried it really fast..and then spent some more time smoothing the finish out.

It works great in my hair. I love how it doesn't poof it really. But, the comb feels almost dry in my hair. I've read a few times that people season these things. What is the best thing to do this with?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'season'. Seasoning wood is usually done before it is worked, to make sure it is completely dry and stable. It is done by leaving the unworked piece in a dry environment with a stable temperature for a few months.
If you do wet your wooden comb, it's best to let it dry slowly to minimise the chances of splitting. It's best not to get it wet, if it is bare wood.
I oil my wooden combs and hairsticks regularly with olive or coconut oil. It does darken the colour of the wood though. There are various other ways of finishing, if this is the sort of thing you mean... Hope that helps! :p

[Snippety]

I bought a wooden comb from Ric Carpenter's site....

....as a total aside I just went to put a link and noticed that Ric's beautiful site has disappeared due to no fault of his own ! http://www.combmaker.net/index.html
I feel so sorry for him ! His comb is one of the best things I have ever bought, and because he didn't have paypal set up when I bought the comb, he trusted me to send dollars from England in the post *after* he had sent me the comb !! Poor chap :(......

Anyhow, his lovely white oak comb came with a little bottle of the most beautiful smelling stuff called "Williamsville Wax". It contains beeswax, lemon oil and other natural oils (states no silicones, no detergents, no turpentines). I clean my comb and rub this in every three or four months and it's kept it wonderfully smooth and prevented the wood from drying out. The distributors on the bottle are R D Mandeville, Sacramento, CA 95605 (800)453-4781.

[supbanana]

I just use whatever oil I happened to use on my hair that day, usually olive oil. It hasn't hurt the comb and the comb stays moisturized, for lack of a better word.

[katsrevenge]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'season'. Seasoning wood is usually done before it is worked, to make sure it is completely dry and stable. It is done by leaving the unworked piece in a dry environment with a stable temperature for a few months.
If you do wet your wooden comb, it's best to let it dry slowly to minimise the chances of splitting. It's best not to get it wet, if it is bare wood.
I oil my wooden combs and hairsticks regularly with olive or coconut oil. It does darken the colour of the wood though. There are various other ways of finishing, if this is the sort of thing you mean... Hope that helps! :p

I wasn't sure if 'season' was quite the right word since I know about how they age wood... but I was thinking about the process of seasoning a new cast iron pot. It made sense in my head! :D

I wet it by holding it in the sink stream for a second, just long enough to rinse off the dust. It wasn't soaked by any means!

In between the tines was pretty rough and I had to basically remove whatever finish it had to bare wood to sand it smooth. It just felt dry.

Earlier today I oiled my hair. I did use the comb afterwards and the oil on my hair did coat the comb and now it too feels a bit silky in the hair. It's good to know that is is acceptable. I don't care if it darkens..just that it is a pleasure to use.