Combs vs Knives: r/EDC's 'Is Everyone Bald?' Thread Asks Why Nobody Carries a Comb

Some of the best EDC threads start as genuine questions and end as community self-owns. This week's entry on r/EDC asks a question that has apparently been nagging at one member for a while: is almost every person here bald or something? His evidence is observational — out of 20 pocket dumps, only one or two people carry combs. People are clearly more ready to carry a knife than a comb, and he wants to know whether that makes everyone bald or just means comb carry is dead.

The thread is a perfect slice of EDC culture, because the answer is mostly about what the hobby values. Pocket dumps are curated snapshots of identity, and knives, lights, and multitools signal preparedness and capability in a way a comb never will. A comb reads as vanity maintenance; a knife reads as readiness. The bald joke writes itself, and the comments delivered it in force — along with a genuinely reasonable defense of combs as useful tools from the members who do carry them.

There is also a real generational shift hiding in the joke. The pocket-comb era peaked with the mid-century carry crowd, and its decline tracks with shorter hairstyles, fewer workplace dress codes, and the migration of grooming tools from pockets to bathrooms. For a subreddit built around the deliberate choice of what rides in your pockets every day, the near-total absence of the comb is a cultural data point disguised as a meme.

The responses split between bald members embracing the stereotype, comb-carriers defending the practice, and the practical crowd noting that a $10 comb weighs nothing and keeps you from looking like you just woke up. A handful of commenters pointed out that if the goal is genuine utility, the comb might actually get more daily use than half the gear in the average dump.

In the end, nobody solved the comb question — but the thread reminded everyone that EDC is as much about community and humor as it is about gear, and that the funniest posts are often the ones that hold a mirror up to the hobby.