Considerations about Tangle Teezer and other similar brushes

***ReiKa*** · March 6th, 2015, 04:07 AM

Hello people!
hope somebody else didn't already talk about this, I'm gonna excuse in advance if this is the case.

I'm looking for your opinion about something regarding brushes and their actual gentleness on our hair.
I have been reflecting for a while about the Tangle Teezer and other similar brushes. In particular, I've been reflecting about their bristles: the thin, slim, pointed kind of bristles that they carry. So, any brush of this kind will be the subject matter for this discussion.
So....I'm not really convinced that brushing our hair with those bristles is actually good on our hair. Don't you think that these slim, sharp bristles may actually be a little harsh on the surface of our hair?
I mean, if you look at them, they really are very thin and sharp...I'm starting to think that by being like that, they may be scratching and damaging the surface of the hair, leading to micro slashes or incisions on the hair shaft that will weaken our hair, and create split ends...
Did anybody else here think about it already? do you think that this happens?
Shouldn't it be much better if we only used brushes with large bristles that are too big to do any actual damage to the hair shaft? or do you think that, despite the bristles being sharp, they will never do anything bad?
I am here, waiting for you points of view

**lapushka** · March 6th, 2015, 04:13 AM

For me, the TT doesn't pull at your scalp in comparison to other brushes, which makes it unique. My Denman pulls the hardest on the scalp. My mixed BBB, pulls. My wooden bristle paddle brush is better, but the TT is *heaven*. I don't know how the heck it does it, it's like woosh... magic.

And I'm TBL+ now, have had the TT since I last had chin length. I have no splits, no white dots. If that helps. But I guess we're all different.

***ReiKa*** · March 6th, 2015, 04:29 AM

Lapushka, you're right, it's very gentle for the scalp, cos it doesn't pull it, but I dunno, I'm seriously wondering if they are gentle on the shafts... something tells me that they may actually be harsh on them....

**Wosie** · March 6th, 2015, 04:34 AM

I've read many a post about the Tangle Teezer, although I don't own one myself! I especially remember reading long threads in a forum for curly girls, and they tended to love the brush first and then experienced tons of breakage after a while.
Personally I wouldn't dare to buy one, I've read very differing reviews on it and I don't have to risk anything anyway as I have a band of great detangling tools already.

**lapushka** · March 6th, 2015, 04:53 AM

There's a TT thread around here somewhere (where it's already all been discussed, I'm sure).

**missblueeyes** · March 6th, 2015, 05:11 AM

Well, I can only speak for myself, but using a TT for over 2 years didn't give me any more split ends than brushing with any other brush. That being said, I've always been very gentle with my hair and the mechanical damage that I had was mostly from wearing it down. I got my second TT today and I gotta say that it's like heaven for me, even though my ends are brittle (they have been bleached a couple of times).
I think it's more about how you brush your hair as opposed to what you use to do it. You can use the gentlest brush there is, if you're ripping it through your hair you'll get splits and breakage.

**Wildcat Diva** · March 6th, 2015, 05:56 AM

I think there was some discussion in past about how the plastic bristles did get beat up over time and THEN were all rough looking and scary themselves, microscopic gashes and nicks in the teeth and the like. I believe a beat up TT could be not so good. I've replaced mine a few times over and anyways I keep losing them and kids and husband take them, etc. I like mine and use it weekly (not daily). I can't dream of living with detangled hair unless it's oiled heavily anyway. My hair isn't down with that. Tangles right back up when you breathe.

**Squiggy** · March 6th, 2015, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by missblueeyes

...Snip...
I think it's more about how you brush your hair as opposed to what you use to do it. You can use the gentlest brush there is, if you're ripping it through your hair you'll get splits and breakage.

Absolutely agree! I think the TT, much like other traditional hairbrushes, are good for people with straight or wavy hair but will, as Wosie pointed out, cause damage for curlies. That's in part due to the nature of hair - curly hair tends to tangle/clump more, and any serious brushing puts the hair at risk for damage.

As far as the actual TT tines damaging individual hair shafts due to their sharpness, I don't think that's really much of a concern. The circumference of each hair strand is much smaller than a TT tine; in order to actually scratch or scrap the hair shaft in a way that would cause damage you would have to be applying a lot of force directly onto the hair strand. Such as laying your hair down on the kitchen counter and brushing it with a lot of downward force - then the tines might come into contact with the hair in such a way and with enough force to scratch or abrade them directly. Normal brushing will just separate the strands, not apply force in a way that would cause direct surface damage. Normal brushing causes damage because we rip through tangles and the hair snaps or gets weak due to the downward force of the brush between tangled hair strands, not because of the force directly on the surface of the hair strand.

Does that make sense?

**lapushka** · March 6th, 2015, 05:59 AM

I've had my TT for over 2 years now, and it's used weekly for a one-time detangling session (after the WT comb). It's still going strong and it doesn't look like it needs replacing yet, but it's stored on its back (so the teeth don't bend and suffer).