One of the easiest things you can do to get healthier, less frizzy hair is to brush it regularly, but you have to do it the right way. The benefits of hair brushing have been confirmed on various occasions by many hair experts over the years. Brushing eliminates build-up and activates blood circulation of the scalp. By brushing the cuticles in the same direction, downwards, the hair is more polished and with more shine, Maria Baras of Madrid’s Salon Cheska explains.
As a beauty editor by profession and a hair geek by devotion, hair brushing is something that I have always kept in my beauty routine. Following the advice of experts, I started brushing two or three times a day, always in the morning and at night. I followed the recommended technique: start at the ends, work up to the middle, and finish at the roots. The result of this gesture, practiced almost religiously, did not take long to arrive: suddenly my hair was shinier and frizz-free.
In this hair brush guide, we are going to go over the different types of hair brushes, what hair type they are best for and what they are most commonly used for. For professionals, the final style is the time when the client finally start to see their new hair. The length of your hair will determine how many times your hair can wrap around each brush.
The most used brush is definitely the round brush. You can straighten your hair with a round brush by blow drying your hair with a large round brush. Ceramic is a plating over metal. This keeps the hair from sitting directly on the ceramic brush for too long. It is recommended to use a heat protectant to give the hair some extra insurance! The plastic bristles of this round brush give a good amount of shine to the hair, and it works very well on all hair types! Personally, this brush is best for normal to thick coarse hair. A finer texture of hair will be difficult to work with. Without the metal to worry about though this is less important. The brushes bristles are a mixture of nylon and natural boar bristles so it glides through the hair easily and comfortably. This is the ultimate hair smoother.
It is a go to for combing out wet or dry hair to detangle. With bristles pretty widely spread out around the brush, it gives little tension so not the best to turn to for straightening out curly hair but acceptable with a wavy hair type. Another super common use for the Denman hair brush is a detangling tool in the curly community. With few bristles that are pretty thick, it is great for removing the tangle from thick super curly hair. It is great for medium to thick long hair that easily tangles.
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This is a pretty uncommon brush. Now that I do hair professionally I have grown to love a backcombing brush. Although this brush can definitely be used on any hair type it is most commonly used on fine to normal hair types.
A fine tooth comb is the most detailed brush you can use. This is why all professional hair stylist use it for cutting. The hair must be thoroughly combed through with zero signs of tangles. This is also how men get that perfect part. Anybody with hair longer than 2-3″ cannot get away with using this to blow dry…it would not work…just don’t! The hair is most fragile when it is wet and should therefor be handled carefully and is absolutely not for blow drying.
There are, apparently, a few features in hairbrushes that can make a big difference over what you might find at your local convenience store.
A vented top means that here are cutouts in the back of the brush. This allows you to blow-dry your hair through the brush.
The thinking is that your head is curved, and round, so why shouldn’t your brush actually match your head shape? A curved brush grabs more hair at a time, and pulls it more consistently and thoroughly into place.
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Most typical brushes use just plastic, rounded tips to brush your hair. With a bit of research, I discovered what I think could very well be the best hairbrush for guys, available on Amazon. It is a curved, vented brush, with a combination of the classic plastic, and better boar bristles. This thing is amazing. I have been using it for weeks now, and have been impressed every single morning at how good a job it does with my hair - and how much better a job it does than my old (much beloved in its own right) paddle brush. Whatever your hair length (mine is a bit longer than “short”), you will benefit greatly from a brush like this. It’s really only a few dollars more than your typical hairbrush (and available from many retailers on Amazon), and well, well worth it. It would be worth it at double or triple the price, even.
Now that you’ve read my manifesto on brushing, let’s get real about the benefits of the hair brush that everyone loves to discuss: the Mason Pearson. It’s celebrated but also pretty expensive: depending on the model, its price ranges from around $80 to $325. Still, people are obsessed. The hype generated by Mason Pearson brushes has been fueled by various factors. There’s a long list of celebs who allegedly love Mason Pearson brushes: Kim Kardashian, Kate Moss, Kate Middleton and Jenna Ortega, just to name a few-and many of them claim a real emotional attachment to their brush. Stylists who have praised the benefits of brushes by Mason Pearson; Guido Palau and Jen Atkin have been using the brushes backstage and on-set for several years. And, who could forget the infamous scene in The Devil Wears Prada, when Anne Hathaway’s character gifts a Mason Pearson brush to her bestie? Clearly, these brushes are an icon in the beauty industry. They’re regular bestsellers at beauty retailers-in fact, the retailer jcApotecari, who is the official distributor for the brand in Spain, confirms that the brushes are an absolute bestseller that consistently sells out. “Customers come to us from all over the world looking only for the Mason Pearson” they say.
To find out more about the brush, I decided to do a deep dive. The first Mason Pearson hairbrush was created in 1885 by an actual person named Mason Pearson, who was an engineer and an inventor. Inspired by what he learned in wood processing, he developed and patented the first hair brush with a pneumatic, rubber-cushion that allowed for softer and more flexible brushing-you could say that Mason Pearson was the Dyson of brushes at the end of the 19th century. Although you can immediately appreciate the shine a Mason Pearson brush brings to your hair and its ability to reduce frizz-Anna Arbós of Glow by Anna, claims that “it works magic”-it’s truly worth the investment if you think about the future of your hair. On the one hand, it provides soft and effective brushing that distributes natural hair oils to provide luster instantly. But it also gives the scalp a nice massage that is not only pleasant, but also activates the blood circulation of the hair follicle. As I can attest: the feeling is quite different from what can be achieved with other brushes. All of this is excellent for healthy hair growth. And, if you add all these reasons to the fact that the brush is a luxury item meant to last many years that can even be passed from generation to generation, it’s easy to see why it might be worth the investment. “At jcApotecari, we have been selling the brush since 2010 and we have many customers who bought it then and who continue to use it today. It is a clear example that you can buy less and better,” the team explains.
Bristles that are widely spread out do not give very much tension to the hair(the tightness of pull when brushing through the hair). A boar bristle brush, which has lots and lots of bristles is the strongest tension a brush will give you. The quality of bristles will determine the shine your hair gets after the blow dry.
As a client, you should pay attention to the brush your stylist uses on you and how it makes your hair look and feel. I keep several different types of brushes at my station so I am sure to always have what I need for each client’s hairs needs. It’s maybe not something that most guys think much about, but your hair brush can make a real big difference in how you look.
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It’s actually no secret at all…lots of people do it. You CAN straighten your hair with a round brush by blow drying your hair with a large round brush. I always tell my clients to keep the brush in front of the blow dryer and brush all of the hair in each direction of the head over and over. Start brushing the hair in the place you want it to stay when it is about 85-90% dry!
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