Review (4/5): Nice enough, I guess
While this comb is definitely a step above the hunk of plastic that you can buy at the drug store, I find that in person it doesn't seem to quite live up to the hype of its online description.
I realize that when using natural materials like wood, that each item will be unique. I also understand that different lighting during photography, and differing display settings can obviously make an item seem different in its picture from the how it appears in person. Compared to the obviously professionally taken photograph on the item's page, (which I will just assume was also digitally enhanced to be more appealing,) the item I received is *literally* rather lackluster... The wood in the picture appears to be a rich, burnished gold... In person it's kind of a sickly gray-ish green, and while it is polished smooth, it doesn't seem to be very thoroughly varnished. In the photo, the teeth of the comb appear to have a slightly variegated color (as would natural horn material,) but the teeth on the one I received are thoroughly, completely and uniformly black through and through, which leads me to my next criticism... Because of the uniformity of color, I highly doubt that this was machined from a piece of natural horn... I'm fairly sure from the look and feel of it that this is some kind of plastic... Solid, fairly durable plastic... but nonetheless, still plastic.
Despite my issues with the aesthetics of this comb, it actually does work very well for me. I have very thick, curly hair that I keep longer than most men do (picture James Franco about 10 years ago on the poster for the movie Tristan and Isolde...) so the extra heft and grip of this comb are helpful when I'm trying to tame the mane, and the rounded handle fits in the palm of my hand well. This works very well for de-tangling my hair when I towel-dry my hair out of the shower.
Since this isn't just a cheapie $1 comb from the drugstore, I guess I was hoping for something just a tiny bit nicer than this. Obviously expenses have to be kept down to mass produce anything, and it's probably unreasonable of me to expect this to be constructed of seasoned wood... But since the wood is obviously still somewhat green, I kind of fear that using and keeping this in the relatively humid environs of a bathroom (even if the wood itself never actually gets wet,) will end up with this thing warping and coming apart before I get too much use out of it.
As things stand, I think it's a useful item (although I wish it were slightly larger,) and unlike the huge purple comb that I used to have sitting in my bathroom, this has a much more understated and masculine look to it. Maybe it will grow on me as time goes by... After all, it doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to do a job, and it does that job fairly well. If it had looked more like the photos, I would definitely be in love with it. Aesthetics aside, it's decent enough... so... four stars.