Editing Comb (section)

==Uses ==
[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Woman Combing Her Hair (1865).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] – Woman Combing Her Hair (1865)]]

Combs can be used for many purposes. Historically, their main purpose was securing long hair in place, decorating the hair, matting sections of hair for [[dreadlocks]], or keeping a [[kippah]] or skullcap in place. In Spain, a ''[[Peineta (comb)|peineta]]'' is a large decorative comb used to keep a [[mantilla]] in place.<ref name="auto"/>

In industry and craft, combs are used in separating cotton fibres from seeds and other debris (the [[cotton gin]], a mechanized version of the comb, is one of the machines that ushered in the [[Industrial Revolution]]). A comb is used to distribute colors in [[paper marbling]] to make the swirling colour patterns in comb-marbled paper.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kY92BMFNFjUC|title = Marbled Paper: Its History, Techniques, and Patterns: with Special Reference to the Relationship of Marbling to Bookbinding in Europe and the Western World|last = Wolfe|first = Richard J.|year = 1990|publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn = 9780812281880|language = en}}</ref>

Combs are also a tool used by police investigators to collect hair and dandruff samples that can be used in ascertaining dead or living persons' identities, as well as their state of health and toxicological profiles.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZY0AAAAIAAJ|title = Practical Instruction in Police Work and Detective Science: A Course of Instruction ... Containing Lecture-lessons for Law Enforcement Officers and Others|last1 = O'Sullivan|first1 = Frank Dalton|last2 = Wright|first2 = Walter Edward|year = 1940|publisher = American Police Review Publishing Company|language = en}}</ref>

===Hygiene===
Sharing combs is a common cause of [[parasite|parasitic]] infections much like sharing a hat, as one user can leave a comb with eggs or live parasites, facilitating the transmission of [[Louse|lice]], [[flea]]s, [[mite]]s, [[fungi]], and other undesirables. Siblings are also more likely to pass on nits to each other if they share a comb.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5Y_sA6A83wC|title = All You Wanted To Know About Hair Care|last1 = Sinha|first1 = Meenakshi|last2 = Rajgopal|first2 = Reena|last3 = Banerjee|first3 = Suchismita|year = 2012|publisher = Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn = 9788120791022|language = en}}</ref>

===Making music===
{{main|Comb and paper}}

Stringing a plant's leaf or a piece of paper over one side of the comb and humming with cropped lips on the opposite side dramatically increases the high-frequency harmonic content of the hum produced by the human voice box, and the resulting spread sound spectrum can be modulated by changing the resonating frequency of the oral cavity.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fVrIoX5kQt8C|title = The Everything Lawn Care Book: From Seed to Soil, Mowing to Fertilizing – hundreds of Tips for Growing a Beautiful Lawn|last = Green|first = Douglas|year = 2001|publisher = Adams Media|isbn = 9781580624879|page = 23|language = en}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This was the inspiration for the [[kazoo]], a [[membranophone]].

The comb is also a [[lamellophone]]. Comb teeth have [[harmonic]] qualities of their own, determined by their shape, length, and material. A comb with teeth of unequal length, capable of producing different notes when picked, eventually evolved into the [[thumb piano]]<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4CeFAC5MdxwC|title = The Cambridge History of American Music|last = Nicholls|first = David|year = 1998|publisher = Cambridge University Press|isbn = 9780521454292|language = en}}</ref> and [[music box]].<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ckw5AQAAIAAJ|title = Cylinder musical box technology: including makers, types, dating, and music|last = Bulleid|first = Henry Anthony Vaughan|year = 1994|publisher = Almar Press|isbn = 9780930256227|language = en|access-date = 2016-03-07|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161223064347/https://books.google.com/books?id=ckw5AQAAIAAJ|archive-date = 2016-12-23|url-status = live}}</ref>