When and why did pocket combs get so expensive? Until a few years ago, couldn’t you buy one for well under a dollar (US)? I just bought one at my local grocery store and it cost $2.35.
What you are up against is a simple case of supply and demand.
I hope this helps.
The combination of improved methods of hair replacement surgery and the success of Rogaine in preventing hair loss have driven the demand for combs and other hair-arranging devices through the roof just as the competition for the raw materials needed to make them are at their most constricted.
Most combs made today (and since the early 1940s, if memory serves) are made from the resinous sap of the “unbreakable” tree (Willisera badmovica), which grows only in the rain forests of South America.
As I’m sure you are aware, the rain forests have been severely depleted by deforestation of late. One of the hardest-hit species of tree is the unbreakable, which, you might be surprised to learn, cuts down quite easily if you heat up the chainsaw a bit first. The trick, then, is to cut down two or three less valuable trees to get the teeth warm, then take down an unbreakable before they can cool off.
The sap of the unbreakable tree has other uses, as you might imagine, many of which have a much higher profit margins.
You might want to look up my head-shaving poll thread for info on other alternatives.
Check the dollar stores and such–I seem to recall getting a whole bag of combs there for a dollar. Keep one for yourself, sell the rest for $2.30 each, and make a tidy profit.
Boink has the right idea. A bag of assorted combs goes for a couple bucks. In this assortment will be at least 5 or so of the normal pocket sized combs, as well as a couple teasing/ratting combs, barber combs, an afro pick or two and at least one of what I like to call “Barbarino” combs – the big 70’s kind that stuck way out of your back pocket.
I think the reason just one costs so much is that combs aren’t a high turnover item; most comb-users have one comb they use for several years before it gets lost or one of the teeth breaks (“unbreakable” my eye.) Also, how widespread is comb use? The only person I know who uses a comb is my husband. Everyone else uses a brush or nothing at all (in the case of crew cuts, etc.)