We all love having a luxurious mane. But many factors can contribute to a less-than-healthy head of hair. Your hairstyle could be the culprit.
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If you have thin hair to begin with, avoid the beloved tight, high ponytail. It’s the worst offender. Hot tools, like a blow dryer, straightener, or curling iron can open the hair shaft over time, leading to dry and brittle strands. Even air drying your hair can cause damage.
Products like shampoos and conditioners can help reverse the damage to your hair. Virtue Labs, Jennifer Garner’s favorite brand, offers a line of products that can help rebuild and repair your hair.
But to prevent damage in the first place, be sure you’re using the right hairbrush for your hair type. Different brushes are designed for different uses.
Which brush is right for you?
1. Detangler Wet Brush
Hair type and use case: Best for detangling thin to medium hair.
Using a detangling hair tool helps to remove tangles and shed hairs that can cause matting, knots, and breakage. This tool smooths the hair shaft, evening out the porosity of the hair, so your wet products go on more evenly.
Try the Wet Brush Original Detangler, which gently separates knots and snags while minimizing split ends, breakage, and pain. The Detangler utilizes exclusive Intelliflex bristles that bend and flex to remove knots effortlessly. You won’t have to pull or tug this brush through your hair!
2. Wide-Tooth Comb
Hair type and use case: Best for detangling thick, curly hair.
If you have thick, curly, or really tangled hair, a wide-tooth comb may be your saving grace. A wide-tooth comb has thicker teeth to allow larger amounts of hair through, which means less friction and less breakage.
The wide-set prongs of PATTERN by Tracee Ellis Ross wide-tooth comb help detangle wet hair and encourage volume and separation when fluffing out dry hair. Curls, coils, and tight textures will glide easily through the prongs. The comb is heavy-duty yet kind to your delicate strands.
3. Thermal Brush
Hair type and use case: All types, best for blowing drying and styling
If your hair is fragile and frizzy, a thermal round brush can create smoothness and volume. The distribution of heat allows your hair to shape to the brush. And while heated tools are generally not good for your hair, these thermal brushes are one of the safest styling tools out there.
One thermal brush to try is the Olivia Garden Ceramic + Ion Round Thermal Hair Brush. It has a ceramic-coated barrel that offers faster and better styling for longer-lasting hairstyles when used with a hair dryer. The ion-charged bristles hydrate the cuticle, add shine to your tresses, and are gentle on the hair and scalp while eliminating frizz, flyaways, and static.
4. Soft Boar Bristle Brush
Hair type: Best for smoothing short, thin, and/or fine hair.
Boar bristle brushes (say that three times fast!) are good for short, thin, or fine hair. The bristles distribute your hair’s natural scalp oils more evenly from the roots to the tips and can strip away any dead hairs leaving your hair shiny and smooth.
Using a brush like the Belula 100% Boar Bristle Hair Brush can help with frizz so you can use less styling product. Your hair’s natural scalp oil is the best organic anti-frizz treatment. And, the natural oil adds shine and texture to your locks.
5. Teasing Brush
Hair type: All types, best for adding volume.
Using a teasing brush can add instant volume and body to your locks without extra styling products (read: more frequent washings) or using hot tools. Teasing brushes are generally believed to be better than a teasing comb because the brushes are more gentle on your strands.
Put some oomph in your ‘do with the Drybar Texas Tease Teasing Brush, which is a 50/50 combination of boar and nylon bristles. The combination of bristles gives the right amount of tension, while the tapered handle allows for easy sectioning. The styling brush is designed for teasing, backcombing, and smoothing hair.