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Reach for these brushes and combs when maintaining wet and dry tresses
Afro hair is full of coils that need special care in order for them to be effectively detangled. So finding the right tools is key to maintaining these types of tresses.
Black hair textures are vastly diverse and range from curly to coily textures. Oprah’s stylist, Andre Walker, created The Hair Chart in the 1990s, and it is now often used in the Black hair community to help identify different hair textures. The Hair Chart depicts hair textures from 1a-4c, with 1a being the straightest and 4c being the most coily, which leans more towards afro hair.
A 2021 study by TreasureTress found that Black British women in the UK spend £168m a year on hair products alone, indicating that hair is a key part of maintenance for this community.
With the rise of Black haircare brands over the past few years, there’s been an increasing number of hair tools better designed to care for afro hair. Along with more combs and brushes on the market, there has also been an increased focus on sustainable materials.
Our tester has herself struggled to find a plastic-free hair tool to style and detangle the edges of her hair. This led to the creation of her own hair brand, LaidLocs, which offers a bamboo edge-styling tool as a plastic-free hair tool solution.
Each of the hair tools was tested on tangled afro hair. Before using the hair tool, we applied a moisturising product with an easy slip. This is a common method used for detangling afro hair, due to the lack of natural oil (sebum) that this hair texture has compared with straighter hair types. After testing 12 detangling hair tools, these are the six we found to be best for detangling afro-textured hair.
Overall, the best hair tool detangler for afro hair is Healthy Hair Studio’s seamless anti-static seamless comb. Not only is it affordable, but the unique positioning of the tool’s teeth make it a great way to detangle hair on a daily basis. The EZ detangler comes in as a close second because it’s perfect for detangling hair that is wet.
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