On Straightening Brushes

straightening brushes

I am lazy to a fault when it comes to styling my hair. On a given day, if there is a part of my professional appearance that has, “opportunity,” it is my hair. I don’t think it is ever appalling or flat-out unprofessional, but it isn’t consistently good, either. It lives in an octopus jaw clip a lot when I’m in the zone. I won’t apologize for this decidedly non-chic choice; it is functional. It saves me on, “nice,” and, “not-so-nice,” hair days alike when I tire of my hair falling forward one-too-many times. Emphasis on the not-so-nice days, though.

I Should Get Over It

It isn’t that hard to smooth the hair. It takes way less effort than curling it does! I realized I can get more mileage between washes when I blow-dry. To say nothing of my curling apparatuses, here’s what I’ve got:

  • This inexpensive, albeit effective blow dryer.
  • These also-inexpensive hot rollers that I really love. They’re lovely for volume, smoothing, and big curls depending on how you use them. I am an idiot – every time I use them I ask myself, “Why don’t you do this at least once a week?!”
  • I actually have two flat irons:
    • This Hot Tools iron that I bought in 2016.
    • And also this Wazor one that my husband surprised me with this summer (I’m still evaluating it).

Even when I intend to dry it properly, I sometimes leave my hair in a post-shower twist too long and the juice of the dryer isn’t worth the effort of the squeeze. So then I have weird hair for a bit. I could straighten it, but meh.

Straightening Brushes & Hype

For the past year or so, these curious straightening brushes have been flooding the market. My gut reaction was that the idea is a bit gimmicky. Perhaps they are, but gimmicks tend to only last for a couple months – so imagine my surpruse when they’ve stuck around a bit longer than that. There are dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of review and how-to videos on YouTube. Drugstore brands have their own versions. Reviews on Amazon are extolling the virtues of straightening brushes for all sorts of hair – including up to hair/curl type 4C which is no damn joke.

What Are Straightening Brushes?

Straightening Brushes are (most often, anyway) paddle brushes with special, heated ceramic bristles. They enable you to smooth dry hair the way you would brush through it. Straightening brushes do not blow air and should not be used on wet hair. They aren’t the same as a drying brush, which is commonly something like a vented round brush attached to the end of a dryer (a colleague of mine has one of these and likes it).

The Bottom Line

From what I can tell, Dafni is the brand who made the crazy take off. That said, I’m not spending $70+ to verify this concept. I know me, I know I suck at sticking with a heat-styling process. So when I saw one of these go on sale the other day on Amazon for about $25, I figured that was a gamble worth my time. Is it a, “nice,” salon brand? No – but I’m considering this a, “proof-of-concept test,” not a, “Is this the best tool in its class?” test.

I’m looking forward to giving this crazy thing a shot and sharing my assessment with you soon. I’m hoping it is low-effort enough to regularly be part of this balanced professional appearance…or something.

Have you tried one of these things? Any special secret tips or tricks for me?