When my maternal grandmother was bought for 5 silver dollars by the Lau family patriarch, Lau Kah tii, she had in her small possession an ox bone comb, which her poor father presented to her as a small parting gift.
My Ngie ma was one person who never let any "gifT" Get lost. Most of her treasures she was able to keep almost for life. I remember she would never allow any needle to get lost because she feared that needles may crawl into our blood system. (This folk belief frightened me so much that I would never let a needle get lost.)
At her tender age, she realised that it was an awesome gift, for her health and for her. She was to tell us later over and over again, that ox horn was used in Chinese herbal medicine. It helped improve quality of the blood and the quality of her hair. She always had long hair, which she tied at first in pig tails and later when she got married, in a bun.
We did not know then that ox horn was made from keratin, the same material as our hair.
Her special comb was not only beneficial for her hair but also for her scalp. We noticed that she combed her hair with her special gift all the time.
She said that the comb had helped her prevent any baldness, and it helped spread natural oils. she also used very little hair oil in her life. Whenever any of us became sick, she would use her magic comb to scrape us (kaw sah) and we would be well in no time. However after she was very sick we forgot all about her comb. After she passed away we wondered where her comb disappeared to.
Because of her I bought one in Singapore (a product of Fujian) and later I bought several in Fuzhou on my first visit to that lovely city. They just make such sentimental gifts.
Does your family have an ox horn comb? All visitors today to Fuzhou/Minqing would buy something made of ox horn e.g. ear cleaner, comb, back scratcher, kaw sah panel,etc.
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