Most people who’ve heard of her will tell you one or two things: She was the first black millionairess, and she invented the world’s first hair-straightening formula and/or the hot comb.

The comb has an auto-shutoff feature that turns the straightening comb off after 30 minutes. Jodhaira Rodriguez is a multimedia content creator at Consumer Reports. Before joining CR, she tested ...

The video clip of the “straightening comb” brought it all back. The sharp, iron edge scraping into my soft scalp. The smell of burning hair, mixed with greasy pomade. Oh, the dreaded hot comb!