Worth it? Wet Brush

A similarly skeptical friend (the one who alerted me to the Silkn Flash & Go Freedom) recently got her hair done. At the salon, post-wash, her stylist used an amazing hairbrush on her hair. It made quick work of detangling (finishing in just a few brush-strokes) and didn’t tug or pull a single time – she found out that it was called the Wet Brush. She was so impressed that she bought one from the salon on the spot and shared her experience with me soon after.

She tried it out at home to ensure that it was not just some hairdresser magic, and enjoyed the same results – both with wet and dry hair. She found that the bristles flex as needed to gently pass through hair without tugging.

I’ve been using a classic Denman for the past year or so, being tired of yet another $5 Conair that inevitably breaks, is hard to clean, or whose nubby-tipped bristles lose their tips, scratching my scalp and yanking my hair. The Denman is fine, it works, but it isn’t winning any Outstanding Hairbrush awards in my book. I wasn’t really looking to replace it, though (if it ain’t broke, etc). I figured if I wanted to, I’d look into a Tangle Teezer or a dupe of it.

But with her endorsement of the Wet Brush, I was curious. I found that it is not a salon exclusive, but that you can buy it from Amazon.com, Sally Beauty, and Target, among other places for about $8-9. That’s not bad. I still wasn’t planning on it right away, but kept the idea in the back of my mind.

I renewed my Sally Beauty membership last month and still had the resulting $5 off coupon to use, plus their nearly-always-available 15% off circular coupon. I stopped in when I was nearby and rather than getting even more gel nail polish (though their new Nail Studio is pretty neat!), I picked up the Original Wet Brush – between my membership discount, the 15% off, and the $5 off, I got the brush for $2.69. They had one that had boar bristles (says it is great for Dry Shampoo users) as well as the ones I was looking to try, but I opted for the original for the sake of science.

The Brush Itself:

I prodded the Wet Brush’s bristles in the packaging. They do flex, but they seemed to flex a little differently each time I touched, depending on the angle and amount of force I applied. It was neat, I thought. The brand says the unique flexibility is owed to their IntelliFlex bristles tipped with SofTip nubs to ensure gentle use. To be frank, I don’t care for the silly marketing names. The bristles aren’t, “smart,” bristles. They are, however, a neat polymer that does allow them to flex as needed to provide just the right amount of resistance. I’m more interested in how they achieved that than I am in them passing it off like it is an intelligent device.

When I unpackaged it at home, I was pleased to find that the brush has a relatively slim profile – the bristles are by no means short, but the plastic back is flat and not bulky.

The brush is not hefty – you can take that as a pro or con depending on your preferences; to me it is a good thing if I’ll be using it to blow-dry so my wrists don’t tire. If you’re traveling, it won’t add a bunch of weight to your travel bags. The weight is relatively evenly distributed through the body and handle unlike my Denman which is VERY body/top heavy; I sometimes worried that the handle of the Denman would break if it encountered too much resistance when brushing (though it never actually did).

Now, for my experience with it:

Running it through my hair – no resistance. “Oh,” I thought. “My hair was already tangle free.” (Since I eliminated sources of protein from my hair regimen, it hasn’t been very tangly/sassy when dry unless I’m harsh on it). One of the big things about the Wet Brush is that it is purportedly safe to use on wet hair. You often hear that you should really avoid brushing your hair while wet lest you tug and cause breakage. Fortunately, my hair is pretty dang healthy (not color-treated, no crazy chemical processes, air dried at least 80% of the time), so I felt like it was risk I could afford to take. I washed and conditioned, taking no additional caution to prevent my hair from tangling. Afterwards, I blotted it with a towel so it wasn’t sopping and grabbed the Wet Brush.

Check out the super-flexible Wet Brush bristles in action!

I ran it through my wet, definitely-in-need-of-detangling hair. Three strokes. Three. For my whole head. I got my last haircut at the end of November; it is longer, now. Really, two probably would have sufficed but I like to be sure. No resistance, no tugging or pulling. The best word to describe how the brush moved through my hair is probably, “glided;” the Wet Brush glided through my hair effortlessly. (Yes, glided is the proper past-tense of, “glide,” even though it looks and sounds weird.) It honestly would have helped me make a better situation of my previously protein-protesting hair, too.

The bottom line? I am thrilled with it and recommend to anyone looking for a new brush.

Most of all? Moms, especially with smaller kids, you need this brush. It doesn’t yank or pull at all; I can almost guarantee you your child will not fight you when it comes to getting their hair brushed because it doesn’t hurt! If only the Wet Brush had existed twenty years ago…I’m sure my mother and I would have not dreaded making my hair presentable anywhere near as much as I know we both did.

There are several varieties of the Wet Brush – the original, which I own. In addition to the boar bristle offering I mentioned earlier, Wet Brush also has a mini version called The Squirt, and a large rectangular paddle option for various hair needs. I don’t have curly or kinky hair, though, so I’m not sure how the Wet Brush would behave for curly girls, but given how it behaved I can’t imagine it would screw up curly hair, but those with very kinky curls may need to approach with more relaxed expectations.

Run, don’t walk!