[oconoroconor]

I own a head lice removal company and we have to remove a lot of hair from combs and some of it is really intractable or just impossible.

The combs look like this:https://www.ulta.com/terminator-metal-lice-nit-comb?productId=xlsImpprod2470053

It's all metal except for those plastic stripes on the handle.

In my search I found bleach and a slew of drain clearing products, but I thought there might be a simple concoction that would be more affordable than retail options.

I found this study about dissolving hair https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5823165/pdf/TSWJ-2009-9-692092.pdf. Unfortunately, I don't have the background to really gauge what the best option would be and would appreciate any help.

[Corribus]

Your problem is dissolving hair without dissolving the metal. Totally pulling something out iif my butt, I might look into enzymatic and/or peroxide digestion. What metal are the brushes made of?

[oconoroconor]

Supposedly, they are stainless steel, but the manufacturers where I got them from aren't the most reliable. No rust so far though.

[pcm81]

Supposedly, they are stainless steel, but the manufacturers where I got them from aren't the most reliable. No rust so far though.

try sodium hydroxide. It may not fully dissolve hair at room temperature, but hopefully it will dissolve enough to make them fall off.