How a Natural Bristle Brush and Natural Combs Will Improve Your Hair

All brushes and combs are not created equal. In fact, some of the tools currently cluttering your collection may be harming your hair more than you realized.

It's time to chuck the synthetic materials and start over with natural alternatives that will provide the styles you're trying to achieve with a gentler touch.

Here at Zeus Beard, we broke down the benefits of using a natural bristle brush and combs made from natural materials. After reading the differences they can make on your hair and beard, you'll never want to go back to the fakes again.

What is a natural bristle brush?

When it comes to natural hair and beard brushes, these bristles typically consist of boar or horse hair.

On the other hand, synthetic brushes use nylon or plastic materials. While in some cases they may provide a cheaper option, your hair often takes the hit.

While synthetic brushes may not cause extra damage, they do lack the health benefits you receive from a natural bristle brush.

In particular, a natural bristle brush helps to gently massage your scalp, promoting healthy hair growth. In addition, it evenly distributes the oils from the top of your hair to the ends. This provides more protection throughout your locks and fights off previous damage, restoring your hair’s shine.

What should I look for in a comb?

Luckily, there are also natural options when it comes to choosing a comb for your hair or beard.

The plastic comb currently residing in your collection may get the basic job done. However, it's also likely causing extra static and possibly even some breakage on your hair.

Subsequently, styling your tresses with a cheap comb can leave you in a worse state than when you started.

Investing in a higher quality comb made from materials like sandalwood, tortoise shell or natural horn offers your hair protection from breakage-causing static.

Even more beneficial, opting for a natural horn comb helps improve your hair and beard health because the material contains keratin.

Choosing saw-cut combs that have rounded edges also gently provides your desired styling function without extra snagging and tearing.

Should I use a brush or comb on my hair?

Now comes the inevitable question: which tool should you use? As a general rule, wet hair requires a comb, while a brush comes in handy when styling dry hair. However, there's more to it to than that, so we broke it down further below.

When to use a comb

A comb's main function is to detangle your hair. This is easiest right after you shower when your hair is malleable.

Using a comb for detangling is the safest option because warm water puts hair in its most vulnerable state when a brush can easily cause breakage.

However, a comb is not confined to wet hair and also works well on dry hair.

Combs are also the more versatile option when it comes to serving all hair types such as thick or curly hair.

In addition to the natural horn comb, Zeus offers combs made from cellulose acetate, which uses its plant based materials to decrease static and split ends.

When to use a brush

You may be asking, if a comb can function as a wet or dry tool, why invest in a brush?

While a brush may only serve as a dry styling tool, it also has an important function that combs can't accomplish: oil distribution.

In particular, a natural bristle brush uses its boar material to redistribute oil concentrated at the scalp to moisturize dry strands and ends.

If used correctly, a brush is also a useful tool when it comes to promoting hair growth and brushing your hair regularly can leave behind a lengthening effect.

What should I use on my beard?

 While the wet and dry rule is also good to apply to your facial hair, you should also consider the length of your beard when choosing between your brush or comb.

Shorter beards

When it comes to shorter beards, combs may prove ineffective because there isn't enough hair to work with. The more useful tool in this case is a boar bristle brush.

First off, boar bristles are great at brushing away food, dirt or any other debris that are lingering in your beard. More importantly, boar bristles work well at distributing beard care products like beard oil, which will promote hair growth and eventually allow you to experiment with new longer styles.

Longer beards

When you do get to the point where your beard is long enough to style, combs are the ideal tool for working beard balm into your beard to hold the hair in place. For longer or curlier beard types, combs with wider teeth work best.

In addition, longer beards often need a trim to keep their shape. Combs come in handy when trimming your beard because they give you the control needed to cut clean lines.