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View Full Version : CURLIES: To brush or not to brush?



AleenaGenise
January 11th, 2011, 09:44 AM
Hey curlies! Do you guys brush your hair or only use a big tooth comb and your fingers? I brush, but sparingly and I only use really soft brushes...denman, boar bristle, etc... I've heard a lot of curlies use Denman brushes...I've also heard it said that curly hair should NEVER be brushed. What do you guys think?

yellowflower
January 11th, 2011, 09:46 AM
I never brush only comb, and use a wide comb and only do so when hair is wet with conditioner, brushes pull out all the curl

lascuba
January 11th, 2011, 09:50 AM
I never brush. I don't even use a comb anymore. Fingers through conditioner-soaked here is all I need to detangle.

milagro
January 11th, 2011, 09:58 AM
I only brush very rarely and only when I am going to wash my hair right after that. Any brushing makes my hair a huge poofball.
I have a stockpile of wide-tooth combs but I don't comb if I want a curly look. If I do I will have big waves with only ringlets in the ends, and an amount of frizz.
My latest and favorite comb is super wide-toothed and I can comb lightly with it, though. It doesn't ruin the wave-curl pattern and is absolutely genius in detangling :crush:

masa_inn
January 11th, 2011, 10:02 AM
I can only second what Milagro said.

ETA: Avatar - no brushing/combing; siggie pic - brushed. See the difference? :)

pop
January 11th, 2011, 10:08 AM
I have read somewhere that we have to brush our hair everyday because we do massage on the scalp and the oil goes to the ends..also except the oil the massage is good for hair follicles because something happend with the blood there when we do it I dont rememeber...is that wrong?

KLin
January 11th, 2011, 10:19 AM
I have a tangle teezer that I use to detangle/distribute oil, or before a shower to CO. I mainly finger comb, and I have a nice wide comb.

kteachone
January 11th, 2011, 10:25 AM
I have read somewhere that we have to brush our hair everyday because we do massage on the scalp and the oil goes to the ends..also except the oil the massage is good for hair follicles because something happend with the blood there when we do it I dont rememeber...is that wrong?

Brushing does stimulate the scalp, but curlies can't brush everyday or it will cause major damage and frizzies galore!

I only comb in the shower when wet, and finger comb to distribute product.

kitschy
January 11th, 2011, 10:27 AM
No brushing for me. I use a wide tooth comb to distribute conditioner and detangle while I am COing.

pretty wings
January 11th, 2011, 10:56 AM
I have type 4 afro-textured hair and attempted to brush to brush my hair recently. On wash days, I first comb my hair with a wide tooth comb, taking my time to get rid of big knots with my fingers, then I use my Denman. I have the D31 which has the bristles spaced out. It turns my hair into a giant puff which is cool for when I want it.
I would never used a boar bristle brush, either they are too hard and break off my hair or they are too soft and do nothing.
If you decide to brush you kinks and curls be very careful, gentle, and patient. I would not use it all the time because I did notice that it broke some of my healthy hair off but it did get all my shed hair out. Honestly, I don't think it is necessary to brush our hair since curly hair naturally tangles on its own regardless of being detangled.

redcelticcurls
January 11th, 2011, 11:10 AM
Dry brush? Goodness no. I don't care what anyone says about how 'good' it is. I don't need to snap my hair off and then look like a lion when I'm finished. There are plenty of ways to stimulate my scalp without ruining my hair.

I use a wide tooth comb in the shower for detangling, and a Denman brush to apply product since I get better product application that way.

But I wouldn't dry brush it unless it was for a dry brush pic. That's just craziness.

Glamgirl
January 11th, 2011, 11:16 AM
No brushing for me either. I use a wide toothed comb when my hair is wet to distribute the Moroccan Oil. :)

Siava
January 11th, 2011, 11:30 AM
If my hair dries while up in a bun or braid, the curls don't form and I can brush my hair (but usually don't anyways - wide tooth comb). Dry brushing the curls? Never.

cataphract
January 11th, 2011, 11:45 AM
I've sworn off the brush after not being able to get results other than 'Hermione hair'. I am more wurly than curly most days though. For scalp massages, I just use my fingers and once a week add oil to the massage before a wash.

I find the less I handle my hair the less I look like Encino Man (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/elmiemg/FS%20stuff/encinoman.jpg)

Mountaingrrl
January 11th, 2011, 11:50 AM
No brushing or combing for me. I finger comb to detangle and massage with fingertips to stimulate the scalp.

milagro
January 11th, 2011, 11:55 AM
This is the Curly League Against Brushes :D :grouphug:

AleenaGenise
January 11th, 2011, 02:57 PM
Sounds like no brushing wins! LOL I was thinkin about giving up on the brush all together....and I think you guys helped me confirm tht I should ;)

Anywhere
January 11th, 2011, 03:00 PM
I only brush with my denman brush after a shower when my hair is full of leave in conditioner. And thats only sometimes. Otherwise I comb either with my fingers or my wide toothed comb. Brushing makes my hair frizzy and just bleh looking on dry hair.

ooo
January 11th, 2011, 03:08 PM
If I want curls, I don't brush or comb. My method is to do simply nothing.

Sanyia
January 11th, 2011, 03:10 PM
I brush with a tangle teezer, if I am going to wear my hair up or braided after. It causes no breakage, but a big poofball that can't be avoided.

AleenaGenise
January 11th, 2011, 03:13 PM
I have type 4 afro-textured hair and attempted to brush to brush my hair recently. On wash days, I first comb my hair with a wide tooth comb, taking my time to get rid of big knots with my fingers, then I use my Denman. I have the D31 which has the bristles spaced out. It turns my hair into a giant puff which is cool for when I want it.
I would never used a boar bristle brush, either they are too hard and break off my hair or they are too soft and do nothing.
If you decide to brush you kinks and curls be very careful, gentle, and patient. I would not use it all the time because I did notice that it broke some of my healthy hair off but it did get all my shed hair out. Honestly, I don't think it is necessary to brush our hair since curly hair naturally tangles on its own regardless of being detangled.


I usually comb my hair with a wide tooth comb when wet then separate my hair and distribute oil to each section with my fingers. For a scalp massage I use my fingers as well. I rarely ever brush my hair and when I do I usually use a denman and its often only to help distribute product. The last few times I did my hair I didn't brush it at all and I liked it. I think I'm giving up on the brushes.

eyesofsummer
January 11th, 2011, 03:16 PM
I only finger-comb, and that's when I'm in the shower with a head full of conditioner.
A few people mentioned scalp massages/stimulation--I'm still able to do them just fine even though I don't run my fingers through my (dry) hair. Of course, if you want to distribute your natural oils from your scalp down the length of your hair, then you would have to run your fingers through the length...however, when I apply jojoba oil, I just put some on my palms and run them over the surface of my hair down to the ends...it may not be the best way to distribute the oil but is seems to work well enough (and is way better than disrupting my curl pattern!)

picklepie
January 11th, 2011, 04:30 PM
I think the "brush to distribute scalp oils" recommendation is based on straight hair. It made my adolescence a nightmare of giant hair! I saw a young teenage girl in a store the other day with that same hair, and felt such a pang of sympathy and affection!

Pierre
January 11th, 2011, 04:46 PM
I comb in the shower, from the scalp to a tangle, then pull the tangle apart by hand. I do this until the comb goes all the way to the ends. I don't brush. I don't use condish either, but it's always well oiled.

Tigermama
January 11th, 2011, 05:39 PM
I lose so much hair if I brush! The only time I can get away with it is if my hair is oiled and several days post wash, and maybe only a few times per year. All other times, I CO and rinse, then detangle with a wide-toothed comb. On the first day I have ringlets, then a large poof with waves and curls.

Quixii
January 11th, 2011, 05:40 PM
I brush my hair right before I get in the shower. I always had tangles still when I tried using a wide-tooth comb.

coppercurls
January 11th, 2011, 07:50 PM
I only brush very rarely and only when I am going to wash my hair right after that. Any brushing makes my hair a huge poofball.

Same here, but I have to admit that a brush does feel good to the ol' scalp every once in awhile.:eyebrows:

GRU
January 11th, 2011, 09:16 PM
Any brushing I do is related to curly-hair-care rather than curly-hair-styling.

As Sanyia mentioned, a Tangle Teezer can be used for detangling dry hair prior to braiding or an updo. Or if I'm oiling my hair, I'll use a TT or a BBB to distribute the oil.

The majority of my detangling is done in the shower, while coated with a slippery conditioner, using a wide-toothed comb. Once I'm out of the shower, nothing touches my hair but my fingers (unless I'm doing one of the things mentioned earlier).

Buddaphlyy
January 11th, 2011, 09:57 PM
I use a BBB for styling, mostly to style puffs or ponytails. For detangling, I only use a shower comb.

jojo
January 11th, 2011, 10:18 PM
Im only a wavy and brushing turns me into queen of the frizz, i dread to think what brushing would do to a curly haired person.

Speckla
January 11th, 2011, 10:23 PM
I never brush. I can't get a brush through or out of my hair!

GRU
January 11th, 2011, 10:43 PM
Im only a wavy and brushing turns me into queen of the frizz, i dread to think what brushing would do to a curly haired person.

Well, you brought it up.....


This is why curlies don't brush their hair:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b23/ImaHockeyMom/boards/hair/b4-brushedout-1.jpg

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dragon
January 12th, 2011, 12:15 AM
I detangle with a comb then brush. I like to brush because it removes the flakes off my scalp. If I want my curls to look nice, I wont brush because it does wreck them a bit.

Bonny
January 12th, 2011, 11:53 AM
I can't believe nobody posted the link to this thread yet: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=7003

QMacrocarpa
January 12th, 2011, 01:00 PM
It might just be correlation and not causation, but back when I used a brush I had the splittiest, white-spottiest hair imaginable. And yes, bushy too. Now I comb only and that seems to work better for me (though I'm tempted to try a really soft brush just for smoothing my hair into updos-- I hate having bumps of sticky-out hair).

milagro
January 12th, 2011, 01:37 PM
I can't believe nobody posted the link to this thread yet: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=7003
Gosh, that thread is hilarious! Thanks for posting. I must contribute to it some day :)

CurlySoleil
January 12th, 2011, 11:59 PM
Honestly, I prefer to finger detangle more than anything. If I use a tool, it's a wide tooth comb or one specifically for detangling... and I only use it when I want to do a very thorough job. Usually if I'm planning on putting my hair in two strand twists. I do own a knock-off denman (goody brand) that I *hated*! It practically ripped my poor strands out of my scalp. I even removed some of the bristle rows to make it more space. No bueno! I do use it on my son's hair, however. He has 3a/b hair and it's much more fine than mine. It gets out any tangles he might have without any hair loss whatsoever.

julliams
January 13th, 2011, 01:32 AM
I'm more of a wavy so I can brush on the second or third day. I use the wooden quill brush from The Body Shop. I do this when I want a good scalp massage - it feels wonderful and I'm normally washing again the next day so it doesn't matter what my hair looks like. By that stage though it is almost straight anyways.

lorigirle
June 29th, 2011, 06:21 PM
The only time I will brush my hair is when I try to air-dry-slash-straighten my hair in a wrap :) I sometimes wish I could so my ends aren't dry looking after the second day! Any advice?

greygardens
June 29th, 2011, 06:54 PM
My cat owns a brush and comb but she never lets me borrow them. So no brushing or combing for my curls.

Vani1902
June 29th, 2011, 07:30 PM
I use a comb. Brushing is not a good idea if you have curly hair.

RitaCeleste
June 29th, 2011, 07:40 PM
Mine is wavey and I love a brush. I finger-combed for years and used a wide tooth comb when it was wet and loaded with conditioner. This is the best way stop frizz and get nice looking curls. I tried to go back to combing but the comb was pulling out hair and breaking it. They don't all do that to me, I'll have to buy a better comb. I even if I go back to treating my waves right, I'll brush it after heavy oiling, before showers, and maybe when its really wet after a shower. The comb just doesn't seem to work well with oils and sheen sprays. Any ideas???

turtlelover
June 29th, 2011, 07:42 PM
With mine being shorter and very layered, I can brush and get my hair to relax a bit into bigger, softer waves w/ only a tad bit of frizz that coconut oil tames. When it is longer and not layered, I didn't mess w/ it when wearing it curly and not straightening because of breakage. As my hair grows out, at some point I will have probably have to back off on the brushing, but for now, I enjoy it! It is brushed out in my avatar/profile pic.

skraprchik
June 29th, 2011, 08:06 PM
I only brush my hair on wash days to detangle. I use my Denman and take my time to be very gentle. If I tried to brush mostly dry or completely dry hair I'd end up with a pouf ball.

yukinohana
June 29th, 2011, 08:37 PM
My hair is somewhere between wurly, and I would never brush before going out...though because I'm WO, I use a BBB before I take a shower! I don't find that it causes damage, but it certainly looks...interesting! :p

ancientriver
June 29th, 2011, 08:45 PM
I love brushing my hair. For some reason I find it very soothing. Unfortunately the result is not pretty, so I usually ony do it when I'm about to wash my hair or when I know I don't have to leave the house.

dulce
June 29th, 2011, 09:13 PM
A wide tooth comb only!!!! A brush makes my hair a poofy frizzball!I threw away my brush.

SearMeCarefully
June 29th, 2011, 11:46 PM
I brush.. with all kinds of things :lol:

Typical I brush in the shower with conditioner with just a basic brush
It takes me _forever_ to do it with a comb
I also do it dry but am patient and don't rip - but I am usually putting my hair up or in braids etc not just free and frizzy ha

Dars
June 30th, 2011, 12:42 AM
I can't remember the last time I used a brush.

GRU
July 10th, 2011, 12:29 PM
I brushed my hair out for the gals at the Chicago meet yesterday.

I present to you, The GRUmonster!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b23/ImaHockeyMom/boards/hair/Chicago%20Meet%202011/GRUmonster.jpg

(Yes, I am facing the camera in this shot!)


After a LOT of oil and a heavy session with the Tangle Teezer, I was able to get it down to this:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b23/ImaHockeyMom/boards/hair/Chicago%20Meet%202011/GRUmonster-tamed.jpg


And now you know why curlies don't brush their hair.....

curlymarcia
July 10th, 2011, 07:22 PM
You are right GRU, as curlies we should never brush the hair. Bi the way, GRU it's amazing how much you can tame your hair. Once I have frizz I have to wet it :(

GRU
July 10th, 2011, 07:24 PM
You are right GRU, as curlies we should never brush the hair. Bi the way, GRU it's amazing how much you can tame your hair. Once I have frizz I have to wet it :(

That took a LOT of oil and a LOT of strokes with a Tangle Teezer, and it still wasn't "curly" it was a controlled frizz-wave-entity. Just oil or just the TT and I wouldn't have looked any different from the "before" pic! :lol:

(I only use the TT if I'm going to put my hair up -- never for a "down hair" day.)

duckhugger
July 10th, 2011, 08:11 PM
while my hair is still short I am immensely enjoying the use of a hair brush. It feels so lovely on my scalp!!! But once it gets closer to the shoulder I will have to stop that. It's so strange though. When I used to tell people that I don't brush my hair, they would get extremely grossed out by it. I have no idea why either. It didn't look messy, nor was it dirty. My grandmother used to give me such a hard time about it too. She just didn't seem to understand :s

Also on another note, I have two friends (brothers) both with long hair. I CRINGE every time the run a damn brush through their long hair! They just rip it through with no concern whatsoever. Its such a horrible sound to hear the hair rip like that. They don't condition either, and no matter what I say to them, they refuse to do it.

Lollipop
July 12th, 2011, 05:44 PM
nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:


Ok, well I let my hair dry in a bun, so i COULD brush it without a lot of breakage and resistance, but unless it was wash day I would have no reason since it would be so difficult to handle in the "expanded" mode

VikingVampChick
July 12th, 2011, 06:20 PM
I finger comb, use a pick, or use my horn comb to detangle. I actually found a brush that doesn't make my 2b/maybe 2cc/ m/c hair all frizzy (its 5411h - rubber cushion dresser size. The pegs are wood).

CurlyNaomi
July 12th, 2011, 06:50 PM
I used to brush my hair with a round bb and was wondering why my maine was so big... Now I only finger comb or detangle with a wide toth comb in the shower.

Lianna
July 12th, 2011, 06:53 PM
I hate the "not being able to touch the hair to preserve curls" thing. Not for me. I rather kill the curls/waves and be able to comb/brush/finger my hair anytime.

rchorr
July 12th, 2011, 07:18 PM
I only brush right before washing. Other than that, wide tooth comb right after washing. Finger comb the rest of the time.

RCHORR'

chahuahuas
July 12th, 2011, 07:40 PM
I like that the consensus here seems to be "never traditionally brush." I've only seen brushers with caveats, like "only when I'm about to shower" and "only before an updo." That's great, because I think there's nothing worse than a curly girl with a poof ball head full of frizz instead of curls!!!

A note on the sometimes-brushers, though: some curly girls think that brushing at any time can disrupt your curl pattern, making your curls less defined and causing frizz. I dunno about that, because I'm about to test out the tangle teaser to see if it make my routine any quicker/easier. Maybe I'll find I hate what it does to my curls, who knows?

GRU
July 12th, 2011, 07:47 PM
If your hair is anything like mine, exposure to water is all it needs to "remember" its true curl pattern!

chahuahuas
July 12th, 2011, 07:54 PM
If your hair is anything like mine, exposure to water is all it needs to "remember" its true curl pattern!

Haha, my hair is *like* yours, but definitely not the same. As I was discussing on the curly and wurly thread, my hair is only 3a/3b on a good day :p If I'm being lazy (less products & scrunching), it's more of 3a. So I dunno, maybe my curls are more forgetful? I guess I'll find out :lol:

GRU
July 13th, 2011, 05:41 AM
Haha, my hair is *like* yours, but definitely not the same. As I was discussing on the curly and wurly thread, my hair is only 3a/3b on a good day :p If I'm being lazy (less products & scrunching), it's more of 3a. So I dunno, maybe my curls are more forgetful? I guess I'll find out :lol:

I guess so! :D

I've never had my hair not curl right back up again after getting wet. I wouldn't know what to do with it if it suddenly went straight and I had to style it somehow -- I'm used to my hair deciding the style, not me! :lol:

chahuahuas
July 13th, 2011, 07:46 AM
I guess so! :D

I've never had my hair not curl right back up again after getting wet. I wouldn't know what to do with it if it suddenly went straight and I had to style it somehow -- I'm used to my hair deciding the style, not me! :lol:

Ohhh nonono, I didn't ever think my hair would "forget to be curly!" By 'disrupting the curl pattern' I meant that all the ringlets might not curl with each other, because the brush had separated them up, thus creating frizz and generally un-pretty/un-clumped curls.

The teezer actually did disrupt my pattern a bit.... :undecided: My hair didn't clump nicely like it usually does at all. I'm thinking next time I try it, I need to finger through the hair after I detangle with the teezer, so that the hair isn't laying stiffly against my scalp. I'm definitely not gonna give up on the teezer, since it felt great on my scalp & it obviously helps with tangles.

I'm also REALLY hoping the teezer will help with a minor dandruff problem I have. I think that the flakes of skin that I rough up during the wash just weren't getting rinsed off my head in the shower, because as soon as I get out of the shower there's always a couple flakes in my crown, near my part. These flakes suck since I've already got my product in, and I can't just brush them out! I have to attempt to pinch them out, and that's not easy.... I'm hoping the teezer will help work the water & product through my hair, and actually rinse off the particles from my scalp.

*Goes to check her freshly-washed-last-night hair* It definitely worked, my hair is much cleaner looking AND feeling near my scalp. I always rubbed it vigorously with my fingers, it just didn't seem to do the trick for some reason. Also, if I had even just TWO flakes of dandruff (it's usually only a few), I find it to be pretty obvious on my dark hair.

GRU
July 13th, 2011, 08:29 AM
Well, ANY brushing/combing is going to mess up the curl pattern on dry hair --> create frizz. The TT won't prevent that from happening, it just prevents damage from ripping through the tangles like a regular brush/comb could.

But once you wet the hair again, it curls back up again. The curl pattern itself is always there -- the clumping of strands into curl-groups is what gets disturbed.

GRU
July 13th, 2011, 08:30 AM
Forgot to say that CO-washing and ACV rinsing basically eliminated my flaky-itchy scalp issues.

chahuahuas
July 13th, 2011, 10:39 AM
Well, ANY brushing/combing is going to mess up the curl pattern on dry hair --> create frizz. The TT won't prevent that from happening, it just prevents damage from ripping through the tangles like a regular brush/comb could.

But once you wet the hair again, it curls back up again. The curl pattern itself is always there -- the clumping of strands into curl-groups is what gets disturbed.

Did I mention I used the teezer in the shower? I think that my hair lays so flat against my head the way I brushed it, even though I still scrunched it after, that the curls were stretched against my head, if that even makes sense. Like I was saying, I think I should brush with the teezer, then shuffle my curls and lift them up from my head a bit with my fingers, so they aren't pressed heavily and weighed against the top of my head.

Ya know, my hair looks kind of like emeld's (did I spell that right?) hair today. It's just not curling as much at the tip, since it got brushed flat. Maybe if I should tell her about this... Hmmm

Copasetic
July 13th, 2011, 11:18 AM
I almost never brush my hair. I used to use a wide tooth comb in the shower, but lately I haven't even been doing that. Just finger combing for me.

Quixii
July 13th, 2011, 11:31 AM
I only brush right before I get in the shower. I wasn't satisfied with the amount of detangling fingers or comb alone did, but obviously, I don't how it makes my hair go POOF. So this is how I compromise.