What in the Heck is This Brush For?

I was standing in the hair aisle at the store the other day looking for a new brush. Not only do they have a million products now for your hair but they have a million brushes to go with it. I can not believe that the beauty industry is putting so much out there that they are even confusing me, a hairstylist for over 20 years. I came right home and decided that this would be my next article. How to decide on a hair brush, that just makes me giggle. We already have too many decisions to make without throwing this one on top. Lets just see if I can help you.

First lets talk about bristles. Most of the brushes you find in the stores that are cheap and have regular bristles, they are the ones with lots of individual, thin pieces sticking out from the brush, the bristles are made of plastics and they are artificial. These are ok for just regular styling or brushing. If you are using it to brush your hair at night you really aren’t doing any good. They will separate the hair just fine, granted the bristles are long enough to get to your scalp, but if you want to pull those natural oils down your hair shaft you need a natural hair bristle brush. These would be called boars or horse hair brushes. They will be a little more expensive but worth the money. They last longer too. If you are styling with a dryer and an artificial bristle brush eventually the heat will decay or melt your brush. This doesn’t happen with natural hair brushes.

Another type of bristle is the longer thicker kind you find on vent brushes or those goody brushes we all love with the white plastic teeth and the pink backing that you can take out to clean the brush. Those kinds of bristle are ok for styling but if you want absolutely tangle free hair and to brush every hair on your head, then these kinds of bristles are not for you. If you are using one make sure that if it has the black plastic hard bristles that the tips are rounded. When they get un-rounded you need a new brush. The plastic can scratch and scar your scalp and can also crack and pull the hair. This thicker bristle can be used for styling with a dryer or heat, that is why they are made thick. Do not buy the brushes with the little balls at the end or the bristles they will wear out and break off, causing damage to your scalp and hair. They are a nice idea and they are cheaper but that is why, because you have to replace them more often. If you do have a brush with the thick plastic bristles you can fix it, remember it’s plastic and it melts. Take a lighter to the end of the bristles and then lightly push it against some wax paper on a counter or hard surface until the end are softer again. This will help you for a while but eventually they will get too short to use.

Now lets talk about the style of the brush and what they are used for. This may get a little confusing but I will try to make it simple.

The round brush is obviously used to roll the hair or curve it while styling. If you use a round brush then you should be using one with regular bristles. The reason is, although it may look like those larger plastic bristles are turning all of your hair, they are not. If you use a regular bristle you are reaching more of your hair and separating it better so the heat can actually reach each hair. So if your having problems keeping your style, this may be the reason, switch your round brush to a regular bristle one. If you use a curling iron after then you can keep using the larger plastic bristle round brush, the curling iron is doing the actual work.

The vent brush, the ones with the holes in the head of the brush, these are used for drying the hair. Those holes are there to allow the air to flow through the brush to both sides of the hair. No matter if it is round or flat, if it’s being used as the first tool on the hair and you are trying to get the water out, then this is the brush you want. Someone finally got smart when they came up with that idea, don’t know why they didn’t think of it sooner, simple stroke of genius.

The paddle brush, the big ones with the wide heads, they are supposedly used for long hair. Well, all they are is an oversized regular brush. If you like them then buy one, I have hair that goes down below my bra strap and I don’t use one. I won’t waist my money. Some people with thicker long hair like them but as a hair stylist, I don’t even use them on my clients. If I got a free one I might use it though. I am just not impressed and don’t think they have any special or unique value. The idea is that it gathers more hair for the hair dryer but if you are styling your hair with the hair dryer you don’t want to move too fast cause you may get undesirable results, where one part of your hair is not working like the other.

As far as the shape of the head that is personal preference, oval, round or square. There is no value in the different shapes of the head beside how much hair you may reach or how much is actually being covered by the surface area of the bristles. So lets move onto how to use your brush.

This is going to be a little harder cause I am not there to show you and I will have to describe it.

The round brush is properly used by brushing down the hair shaft, from scalp to end, and then twisting your hand to bend the end under. Do Not, I mean it, Do Not roll that round brush up even one full circle. It is not made to roll more than just the ends of your hair. If you even get close to one full circle you run the risk of getting it caught in your hair. If this happens, do not yank it out, roll it slowly back the other direction and use your other hand to release the hair that is caught. You can also try to gently pull your hair out from the top closer to your scalp. Once you have had this happen once you will never do it again, hopefully. I have actually had clients come in with brushes stuck in their hair. I shake my head every time and laugh. I can’t help it, it is kind of funny.

The vent brush is properly used about the same way and you can tip it when you get to the ends of the hair to direct the ends the way you would like for them to bend. You just don’t get the kind of curve you would get with a round brush. Typically they are just used for drying but I use mine to lift my hair and curl it with the iron too. Like I said above the holes are there so the air can go through to both sides of the section. This does not mean put your hair dryer right up to the brush, you can burn your hair that way.

Any brush can be used to roll the hair as I explained above. If you need to redirect your hair at the scalp you can brush towards the back at the scalp and then flip the brush out., the back of the brush should be almost against the scalp and the front should be pointed in the direction you want the hair to go. This is one of the harder ones to explain in writing but what you are doing it grabbing the hair, you should be able to pull it and have it tight on the brush. It works really well for more lift off the scalp.

As far as anything else about brushes it would be personal preference. If you like the way your brush is working then keep doing it. I simply want to help with the confusion if you are looking for something and can’t decide what you should use. If you have any questions or comment please feel free to leave them below. If you like this article please click the I like it box below and look for my other articles on the internet. Thank you for reading and may all of your days be good hair days.