Years ago, I realized the value of guasa in pain relief after purchasing my first guasa board from Elken which was made from buffalo horn. It was light and portable, hence I often carry it around to my office or during my travels. It is good to relief tensed and stiff muscles.
Then years ago, when I was in BigC in Northern Thailand, one of a temporary stall sold guadsa tools made from buffalo horns and stones. And through other stalls, I managed to have a little collection:
But over the years, I find that it is not easy to locate sellers who sells guasa tools made from buffalo horns which is better and more durable than the inexpensive wooden variants. Those made from horns are also smooth and easier to clean and sterilize.
Recently while going through a marketplace, I managed to locate a stall selling the guasa board. Well, this is made from yak horn instead of buffalo horn.
I am quite happy as the lady could converse in English and she was able to explain to me the different uses. I have labeled the section in the picture above.
Group 1: These guadsa boards are made from stone. They are used for the face and smaller surface of the body like fingers. You need to be careful as they may break when they fall to the ground.
Group 2: Yak horn guadsa board- to be used on larger surface of the body like back, shoulders, thighs and calves. I bought one for 200 baht and it is okay, I was still able to use it to guadsa my fingers and at the back of my neck.
Group 3: The direct horn itself- personally I have one for many years and I find it useful when you are doing scrapping and certain angles.
In case you are also searching for this, I have asked her for her contact details- she only have Line and no Facebook page.
Line: ohouiis
Tel: 0635162689
Note: To my knowledge, the animals are not killed specifically just for the horns to make the guasa boards. It is not the same as the case of elephants where poaches would hunt them down and kill them just for the horns. A guadsa board is not so expensive that someone would want to go through all the trouble to kill the large animal (like buffalo or yak) just to get its horn. Usually, the animals are killed for their meat and in the horns are sourced and used to make the guasa board.