hair tools

No Hairbrush Could Tame My Scraggly Mane Until Now

Photo: Courtesy Retailer

Editor’s note: This ode was first published on the Strategist in 2017, but we’re republishing it because the best brush for detangling hair is currently on-sale, as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale.

My hair is long, thick, and highlighted, which means that beneath its silky, golden surface is a relentless rat’s nest of hidden knots and tangles. Metaphor, anyone?

It makes intuitive sense that scraggly hair, when saturated with water and lubricated with conditioner, would be easier to comb out; but, as anyone with scraggly hair will tell you, that’s just not true. If anything, it’s worse; plus, combing it out in the shower is like being a taxi during rush hour: Time seems to slow down, and guilt (financial, environmental) accrues quickly.

That’s where the Wet Brush comes in. Plastic and palm-size, its bristles are extra-bendy and extra-miraculous. According to the company website, IntelliFlex™ bristles glide smoothly through hair without tugging, while minimizing hair shedding into the brush. And it’s true! It rakes right through wet hair, even before conditioner. The secret has something to do with the way the bristles are spaced (generously), the curve of the brush, and the squishiness of the bristle bed. The reviews on Amazon are ecstatic, as is this influential blogger who declares that it made “brushing like butter. It looks like a normal hairbrush, but it brushes your hair without snagging or pulling at all.”

It really makes no sense. And it only costs $10. You can find it in all sorts of bright colors and décor-ruining patterns (tie-dye, leopard, skulls). I’m so afraid of showering without it now that I bought an extra one to just store in my suitcase. I even bring the one I keep at home with me when I go to get my haircut, lest they’re not equipped for the job — anything else seems masochistic.

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No Brush Could Tame My Scraggly Mane Until Now