Brushing curly hair can be tricky and you likely either love or hate your curls.
If you’ve had a head of curls all your life, you’ll know styling curly hair can take a little extra attention to keep hair healthy and good looking. Using the right products and best brushes for curly hair is all part of managing your locks.
Characteristics of Curly Hair Textures
It’s the shape of the follicle that gives hair its curl. An oval follicle shape produces curly hair and round follicles produce straight hair or looser curls. The flatter the oval shape is, the tighter the curl pattern will be.
Another factor for determining curly hair is the way the follicle tunnels into the scalp. In people with straight hair, the follicle tunnels straight down into the dermis (the thickest layer of the skin) while in people with curly hair, the follicle angles into the dermis.
Despite what many think, curly hair can be fine hair, thin hair, or medium-textured, it’s not always thick hair. A head of beautiful curls will often include all different types of curls too. From wavy hair in some parts of the scalp, to tighter curls in others.
What many curly haired people agree on is that curls equal dryness. It’s the angle of the follicle that causes the dryness. When the follicles curve, the sebum isn’t able to travel the length of the hair like it does along straight hair. Dry hair means it’s more prone to breakage damage making it more difficult to brush hair. When blow drying curly hair and considering heat from UV rays, you’re even more likely to experience strand breakage.
Best Brushes for Curly Hair
For those that have to brush curly hair, the biggest concern should be choosing the best hair brush that aids the sebum to move through the twists and turns and along the hair shaft. The best brushes for the job are those made from natural boar bristles. Spreading the hair's natural oils from the scalp to the hair’s ends where it’s needed most occurs because of the microscopic scales on the natural bristles. Synthetic brushes can’t collect the oil and re-distribute the way nature intended!
The Ugly Swan Scream-Free™ detangling brush uses dual technology of natural boar bristles with hand-dipped nylon bristles. The nylon bristles are needed to help detangle hair and allow for safe use on wet or dry strands as a wet brush and on wet hair. For many with curls, knots and matting are an everyday reality. Due to the dryness on the hair’s ends, curly hair tangles and knots more easily than straight hair. Dryness also causes frizzy hair but by improving moisture levels along the strand, you can reduce the frizz.
Quality detangling brushes with flexible bristles are especially important when trying to brush curly hair. The Ugly Swan Scream-Free™ detangling brush doesn't pull or tug at the hair like cheap, plastic brushes do. The soft nylon pins in a Scream-Free™ brush gently work through the curls so there’s no pain. A brush that pulls through the knots can cause damage to the hair shaft, particularly in tightly curled hair which is more delicate than straight hair.
People with curly hair are often big spenders on hair products in an attempt to combat the dryness. By using a natural boar bristle brush, the need for moisturising products reduces because you’re able to use your scalp’s natural oils to do the job for you. Moving the oils away from the scalp also allows you to lengthen the number of days between washes.
Best Brush for Children With Curly Hair
For young children with curly hair, it’s important to use a hair brush that doesn’t cause pain. Their curls may already draw unwanted attention from strangers so a painful process of trying to detangle curly hair every morning can cause even more resentment of their curly mop.
Brushing Curly Hair with an Ugly Swan Scream-Free Brush
For kids, the Ugly Swan Scream-Free™ Palm Hair Brush is an ideal size for working through their tangled tresses without the need for a large paddle brush and can be used as a wet brush.
For adults with a full head of curly hair, the Ugly Swan Scream-Free™ Maxi paddle brush is the most suitable and can also be used on damp hair.
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If you have any queries about curly hair solutions or which hair brush is right for you, get in contact with us. Don’t forget, your purchase is covered by our money-back guarantee.