24 x 12 x 1.75 in. Found object and acrylic on wood panel

The African comb or pick is both tool and symbol—an object shaped by necessity, memory, and care. For centuries, it has been used to form, maintain, and adorn hair, holding space for both function and meaning. Across African societies, past and present, the comb signifies status, belonging, and belief. Often encoded with ritual power, it speaks to the head as a site of thought, spirit, and identity.

To comb the hair is also to comb the mind—to pause, reflect, and reconsider. It is an act of order and intention, a gesture that invites clarity and a shift in perspective.

Forms of this comb continue to appear across the continent. In Ghana, the dua’afe, a wooden comb, is associated with femininity, beauty, and domestic harmony. In West African cultures including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire, long-toothed Yoruba combs are exchanged as parting gifts, offerings of friendship, and symbols of protection and good fortune. Though fewer afro combs are produced today, the form endures—carried forward in the hands and hair of people of color, holding history, resilience, and self-definition.