Remember that one barber that brushed your hair a little too hard? Like brushed so aggressively that he scratched up your face? You recall how that felt? Not the best.
Thankfully, you braved the experience, holding in that one tear, and made a promise to yourself that when you grow up you will do the right thing and purchase a soft brush. With your own money. With your own rules. A real soft brush.
Soft brushesare preferred for wavers with shorter hair. Hard bristles can scrape and irritate the scalp and cause breakage with shorter styles.But are all soft brushes created equal or do you need something with a bit more muscle?
Soft hair brushes, or what the wave community calls “softies,” are an essential part of your hair brushing arsenal. In this blog post, we will discuss the pros and cons of a soft brush, why hard brushes matter, plus you'll learn what makes your brush choice so important—and how they help you get (and maintain) 360 waves.
SOFT OR HARD BRUSH FOR WAVES?
The debate is similar to the iconic ones we’ve heard throughout time: is the earth round or flat? Is Jay-Z a better lyricist than Nas? Popeyes versus KFC? Big Luther or Slim Luther? You get the picture, but in this particular scenario real recognizes real: the soft brush.
The preferred tool of choice for most wavers, soft brushes are best when trying to train hair at shorter lengths. Can you imagine trying to style your hair with a hard bristle brush? Hard bristles can scrape or irritate the scalp, cause breakage and potentially even unwanted shedding.
But on the flip side — and there is a flip side — medium-to-hard bristles brushes do serve a purpose to the greater community. Our brethren with more thicker, coarser textured hair need this brush whether they want to admit it or not. It’s like trying to groom your hair with a baby doll brush; it absolutely makes no sense at all.
As your hair grows, you'll want to mix in medium-to-hard brushes since longer lengths can withstand more tension due to the more rigid and dense bristles. You'll need them to pull your wave pattern into place as your hair lengthens (and becomes more challenging to manage).
ADVANTAGES OF USING A SOFT BRUSH FOR WAVES
The true purpose of the soft brush is to lay the hairs on top of your hair into your pattern after your hard and medium brush sessions.
Brushing with a soft brush also helps distribute product evenly through your hair, which provides added shine and volume to your waves. It's perfect for both your moisturizer and pomade of choice.
Technically, that makes the soft brush your more versatile brush. You'll use it consistently while starting your wave journey — and then add it to your rotation as a 'finishing' brush to lay your wave pattern down even if you start to wolf.
So what did we learn today? All brushes are created equal, but a soft one builds (and maintains) your 360 wave pattern!
