hair

BRUSH UP

photos: denman, ibiza, cricket, warrentricomi, spornette, mason pearson, denman  post designed by kristin ess

#1 The Denman Paddle Brush. You can detangle with it, blow dry with it, massage your head with it, and tease hair with it. It doesn’t pull or scratch because of its perfectly rounded nylon pin-bristles, it doesn’t cause static, and is padded with an air cushion. On a daily basis, I use it to blow my hair out quickly before I curl it with a curling iron.

#2 Ibiza Round Brushes. These are my favorite round brushes for home use. They’re gentle enough to give in to a tangle, but strong enough to get tension for smoothing out waves. This brush is packed with the perfect amount of bristles. Your hair practically jumps around the brush and blows itself out. This is the brush you’ll usually see me using to get bounce and shine when I blow out Lauren’s hair.

#3 Cricket Metal Round Brush. This brush acts as a curling iron when it heats up. Most people use this when they want a little bend on their ends without using a curling iron. It has a hollow core which allows air to flow through. In other words, your hair is being dried from the inside as well as the outside, and that speeds up drying time. This brush is not my particular favorite because they often scratch the scalp and if you don’t move fast enough, there can be too much heat between your blow dryer and the metal of the brush.

#4 WarrenTricomi Metal Core Brush. This is like #2 and #3 mixed together. Since this brush has both boar bristles and nylon bristles you have more control over the hair than you do with a regular metal core brush. The boar hair bristles also help prevent excessive contact between the hair and the metal. This is a rather versatile round brush. It can be used to create smooth straight hair or hair with lots of body.

#5 Spornette- “porcupine” G36. This is my all time favorite brush for bangs. I have it with me ALWAYS. It’s under $10 and it’s the boss of your bangs when they act like they can’t hear you.

#6 The Mason Pearson. This is what’s considered by many to be the “Holy Grail” of brushes. While I love a Mason, I lose things a lot and I can’t quite justify spending $150 every time they escape my kung fu grip.

#7 The Mason Pearson’s cheaper, slightly less sophisticated cousin…The Denman Large Boar Bristle Brush. I use this a lot for updos and smoothing down fly aways. It’s also a great brush for soft teasing!