The type of hair you have determines the tool you need to care for it. For some, near anything will do the job - just about. For others, you need to be careful in what you pick. It’s worth going through and making sure you’re not making a costly mistake in your haircare routine.
There are three hair types - straight, wavy and curly. From there, depending on the size of the follicle, you can have hair that is thick or thin.
There are a number of hairbrush types you can use. These include the rectangle brush, the paddle brush, the oval brush, round brush, pocket comb, wide-tooth pocket comb, and foldable comb.
Wavy:
If you’ve got wavy hair, you can use just about any tool for the job; whether your hair’s short or long. It’s worth avoiding a wide-tooth or foldable comb if you do have wavy hair that’s long although. Not that it’ll do any damage, it’s just that these types of combs aren’t well-suited for looking after long and wavy hair.
Straight and fine:
For straight and fine hair, you can use a rectangular-shaped brush, a pocket comb, or a foldable comb. Anything with quite narrow gaps between the teeth should work for you, but it’s advisable to steer clear of round or oval-shaped brushes, or some of the more wide-toothed combs.
Straight and thick:
Hair that’s straight and thick gives you a bit more leeway when it comes to haircare tools. You can use just about any brush, but maybe avoid paddle or oval-shaped ones when your hair is short; this is only because your hair wouldn't have the length for the brush to run through properly.
When it comes to combs, most you can get away with using, but really the only one suited to your hair are thin-toothed and small pocket combs. This is just because when your hair is thicker it has more volume, and it best suited for combs made for finer hair.
Curly:
For curly hair, most of the options aren’t really ideal. Essentially the only tools for the job are oval and round-shaped brush. Others, such as combs or rectangular-shaped brushes will give you results far from the ones you want.