1. Round Thermal Brush

Best For:

• Curls, waves, volume and hair flips on normal to thick hair
• Hair Length: The longer the hair, the bigger the brush diameter
• Hair Type: Normal to thick hair

Why?
Large holes allow for great airflow, and ceramic-coated barrels dry the hair faster. Bristles are super heat-resistant AND ionic, so hair gets shiny and bouncy.

2. Square Thermal Brush

Best For:

• Waves and flips (smaller diameters) or volume and smoothing (larger diameters) on normal to thick hair
• Hair Length: The longer the hair, the bigger the brush diameter
• Hair Type: Normal to thick hair

Why?
Square shapes allow you to create more versatile looks, and large holes help with airflow. Soft-tip ionic bristles make the hair shinier and are gentle on the hair and scalp.

Pro Tip: The square thermal brush creates volume while the flat side creates straight, sleekness vs. the round thermal brush that creates a C-shape in the hair.

3. Ionic & Boar Paddle Brush

Best For:

• Daily brushing and care, touch-ups and styling
• Hair Length: Short to long
• Hair Type: Every hair type and hair extensions

Why?
Boar bristles distribute the hair’s natural oils for smooth and shiny hair, eliminating frizz and flyaways. The ionic and boar bristle combo is perfect for styling and brushing thick or curly hair.

4. Round Boar Brush

Best For:                          

• Volume (smaller diameters) and straightening on wavy, curly or very curly hair
• Hair Length: The longer the hair, the bigger the brush diameter
• Hair Type: Wavy, curly and very curly

Why?
Boar bristles distribute the hair’s natural oils, resulting in super shiny hair. The tightly packed bristles give excellent tension control when straightening. Also, remember when using this brush on curls and waves, it is NOT a detangler!

5. Detangling Paddle Brush

Best For:

• Detangles wet or dry hair
• Hair Length: All lengths
• Hair Type: Every hair type

Why?
Ball-point tips are gentle on the hair and scalp, and the snag-free design makes it easier for the brush to gently glide and detangle the hair from roots to ends.

6. Vent Soft Tip Paddle Brush

Best For:

• Blow-drying, styling and daily brushing
• Hair Length: All lengths
• Hair Type: Every hair type

Why?
The large flat area straightens hair, and the vented brush head cuts down blow-drying time. The ionic bristles penetrate all the way to the scalp with gentle ball-point tips.

7. Color & Care Brush

Best For:

• Fully saturating and evenly distributing hair color, lightener and treatments
• Hair Length: All lengths
• Hair Type: Every hair type

Why?
Dual length bristles easily penetrate shallow and deep layers at the same time for full saturation without gaps. The brush removes excess product and redistributes where it’s needed for a natural blend.

8. Styler Brush

Best For:

• Styling, shaping, daily brushing and men’s styling
• Hair Length: Short to medium
• Hair Type: Fine to normal

Why?
Ball-point tips glide through the hair for faster styling, and the ceramic plate retains heat while you style. The heat-resistant, semi-circular pad helps shape the hair.

9. Teasing ­­Brush

Best For:

• Teasing, building volume, creating texture and back-brushing
• Hair Length: All lengths
• Hair Type: Every hair type

Why?
The narrow brush design is perfect for building for back-combing and building volume or texture. The tail helps for sectioning with precision, separating hair, tucking and lifting.

10. Should I Use A Brush Cleaner & How Often?

​Short answer: YES!
Whatever brush you choose, it’s ESSENTIAL to regularly clean—Mickey recommends using the Brush Cleaner between clients who lose a lot of hair and daily. This is a must for maintaining a clean, professional appearance and allows the brushes to do their jobs better!

What Are Scalp Massagers?
Available in a variety of different colors, styles and shapes, scalp massagers are, essentially, tools designed to be used across the whole scalp to take the effort out of massaging with your fingers.

And, while you definitely can just use your hands to manually massage your scalp, massagers definitely cut down the time (and muscle ache) involved, and are often able to cover your whole scalp in a more consistent way.

Benefits of Scalp Massagers for Hair Growth
Scalp massagers actually offer a ton of different benefits, including loosening oil, dirt and dandruff for a generally cleaner and healthier scalp. But, they’re especially famed for their potential to help hair growth.

This is because the act of massage helps in two ways: First, it stimulates the blood vessels under the skin, which in turn allows more blood containing oxygen and nutrients to travel to the hair follicle. And, second, it is thought that scalp massage helps to stretch the hair follicle, which can potentially increase the thickness of hair that passes through that follicle. In fact, two studies, one from 2016 and one from 2019, found evidence that scalp massage can result in thicker hair.

How Do You Use a Scalp Massager?
How you use your massager will vary from type to type, since some are electric and others require a little more muscle. For more information on how to use each individual type, take a look at the product recommendations below.

Whether you use one that is electric, manual, for wet hair or dry hair, the same principles stand, however: Go gently on your scalp (especially if you have any scalp conditions, such as psoriasis), choose one that doesn’t catch on or irritate skin or hair, and don’t overdo it.

How Often Should You Massage Your Scalp?
For most scalp types, one or two times a week will help to stimulate blood vessels and loosen dirt and debris without irritating skin and hair. For more sensitive types, try to keep this to just once a week, instead.

The Best Scalp Massagers for Hair Growth
Given the encouraging scientific research surrounding scalp massagers, plus the thousands of rave reviews, it seems these little tools are quickly becoming something of a beauty staple. Following are some of the most popular products on the market.

At the more luxurious end of the scale is Breo’s electric, waterproof head massager. Featuring six different massage settings (longitudinal gliding, kneading, trigger point therapy, oscillating pressure, rhythmic compression, cross-fiber muscle-stretching and deep friction massage), silicone tips for a soft touch, and an ergonomic design to cup the scalp, this can also be used elsewhere on the body for a relaxing back and shoulder massage after a long day.
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With a unique design that promises not to tangle long hair, it is also rechargeable via USB cable, making it ideal for travel. To use, simply move across the scalp while the electric massage tips get to work promoting blood circulation.

For a more pocket-sized alternative, try this round, silicone brush-tipped scalp massager, such as this one from Nearbyme.
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With a non-slip cover and ergonomic design, this manual brush is used on wet hair while shampooing or conditioning. Simply massage shampoo through hair as normal before working this little brush over the scalp in small circles. To use with conditioner, first, wash out any leftover shampoo before massaging across the scalp while your conditioning product takes the time to work.

Now, here is an electric scalp massager that promotes hair growth and uses up to 8,500 vibrations per minute to stimulate blood flow. Check out Tezam’s affordable head massager.
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With a long comb-like design, this massager has rubber beads on each tooth, helping to relieve muscle tension and loosen any scalp debris. The vibrations are thought to stimulate blood vessels more than traditional massage, plus they help with hair growth. Designed to be used pre-shampoo to help soften oil and dirt, this tool can also be used on towel-dried hair for a second, stress-reducing massage.

With thousands of five-star Amazon reviews and a budget-friendly price point, this manual scalp massager for hair growth looks a bit like a half-opened umbrella and uses flexible wires topped with soft beads to be moved up and down over the scalp. Its 360-degree design means you can get to your whole scalp in one go, too, meaning it takes less time.
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Weighing less than an ounce, it is also highly user-friendly, taking the muscle ache out of massage. Better still? The pack includes two massagers, so you always have one as a spare. Or, if you are feeling generous, you can always give one to a friend in need of a scalp massage. For a deep, relaxing massage with additional scalp benefits, use this after lightly applying hair oil to the scalp. The oils will help moisturize the scalp at the same time as turning the routine into a mini spa session.

And here is another shampoo brush designed to be used in-shower or bath, while washing your hair. With more than 15,000 positive reviews, Heeta’s shampoo brush has an ergonomic and lightweight design, making it simple to use even with wet hands.
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Featuring soft silicone bristles, this tool is also suitable for dry hair and can be used in conjunction with any scalp oils or treatments for a relaxing massage with added hair-growth benefits.

I’ve never given much thought to the tool I use to style my mane. Brush? Comb? I just use the first thing I find in the bathroom. Sometimes it’s a brush. Sometimes a comb. Come to think of it, I can’t remember ever buying a brush or comb for myself. They’ve somehow always been around. 

But as I was brushing my hair with the pink, pillowy brush I borrowed from Kate the other day, I got to thinking, “Should I really be using a brush right now or would it be better to use a comb?” 

To answer this burning question, I called up AoM’s friendly resident barber, Thad Forrester, co-owner of Hudson / Hawk Barber & Shop. Thad gave me the lowdown on both brushes and combs, and when a man should reach for one over the other.

The Brush
There are all sorts of brushes on the market, but a man will most commonly employ a paddle brush on his hair.

A paddle brush is oval or rectangular in shape and has lots of bristles sticking out of a soft cushion. “The paddle brush is a good foundational brush,” Thad told me. “It’s gentle on the hair and scalp. I like to use it to smooth wavy hair out or detangle fine or kinky hair.”

In choosing the right brush for you, Thad offers this general rule: “the closer together the bristles are, the better they are for fine hair, and the farther apart they are, the better they are for thicker hair.” You’ll also need to pick between brushes with bristles that are made from either natural or synthetic materials (or a combination of both). Thad offers this lowdown on the pros and cons of each type:
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• Natural bristle brushes. “Natural bristle brushes are typically made from boar bristles. They are known for being able to evenly disperse your hair’s natural oils and give your hair a very natural shine. The bristles are very close together so natural brushes work best in fine hair.”
• Synthetic bristle brushes. “Synthetic bristles are typically made from nylon or plastic. They are generally spaced out on the brush head more, so work better on thick, coarse hair. They do a better job at detangling due to the wider spaced bristles and don’t generate as much static as natural bristles do.”
• Combination bristle brushes. “Combination bristle brushes present the best of both worlds, as they can detangle and add shine to the hair. These would be the most versatile and work with fine to normal hair.”

Brushes range from the very cheap drugstore kind to uber expensive luxury varieties. Thad says that “A good quality brush doesn’t have to break the bank. There are some great boar bristle, synthetic, and combo brushes available from companies like Diane, Kent, Denman, and Bass that range from $5 – $20.” Consider experimenting with a few different types/brands of brushes to find one that feels good on your hair/scalp, and makes your hair look its best.

The Comb
Every man surely knows what a comb is: a single, rectangular piece of material with a solid upper from which spring a line of tines or “teeth.”

“The main thing that differentiates combs are the width of the comb teeth,” Thad says. “The smaller the width between teeth, the more precision and detail you can get with your hair styling.”

If you’re styling your hair with a side part, you’ll want a comb that has narrower spacing between teeth so you can get that kind of defined line in your comb-over. Think of the classic Mad Men type hairstyles. If you’re going for a style that’s a bit looser, go with a comb that has more widely spaced teeth.

“If you have really thick or coarse hair, I’d use a wide-tooth comb. You’re less likely to pull and damage your hair with it,” says Thad.

To keep your hair styling tools to a minimum, Thad recommends picking up a single comb that has more widely-spaced teeth on one end and more narrowly-spaced teeth on the other. Utilitarian and versatile.  

In addition to the varied spacing of teeth, combs can also be made out of different materials. Plastic is the most common, but wooden and even metal combs also exist. I once owned a stainless steel comb, as I liked the idea of it being so sturdy and indestructible. But I found that in reality, running metal tines over my scalp never seemed inviting, and I actually preferred plastic. Even though plastic doesn’t have luxurious connotations, it does seem to make for the best kind of combs. 

Perhaps surprisingly though, even between plastic combs, quality can differ, and it’s worth paying a bit more for a good one. Well-made combs are sturdy yet flexible, which keeps the teeth and the comb itself from snapping and breaking (especially important if you carry one around in your pocket). Quality combs also sport straight, smooth teeth with comfortable rounded ends that will feel good on your scalp and won’t scratch your skin or pull out your hair as they glide through its strands. Kent is a well-vetted brand in this category. 

When to Use a Hair Brush vs. a Comb
When should a man use a brush on his hair and when should he use a comb?

Thad’s general rule is that for longer hair, you want to stick primarily with a brush. A paddle brush will keep your hair smooth, straight, and detangled without causing too much discomfort in the process. Brushes don’t allow for precision styling, but when you have longer hair, you’re usually not trying to get a sharp style. You’re going for “loose” and brushes achieve that for you.

For shorter hair, Thad typically recommends sticking with a comb since you’re usually going for more precision with your styling. A comb’s teeth will leave those sharp, crisp lines in your hair. 

While brushes aren’t great for styling, Thad will often combine a brush and comb on a customer’s hair. “Brushes are great for distributing hair product evenly throughout the hair without it clumping up. I also like to use a brush to establish the basic structure of a hairstyle and then go back with a comb to give it a more precise look.”

Many men will therefore want to keep both a brush and a comb on hand.

This helpful information is from Art of Manliness

How a clunky, retro hair dryer suddenly went viral
Devices like the Revlon One-Step have been around since the ’70s. What made this one a bestseller?

What’s this thing?

The Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumizer, but we’ll just refer to it as the Revlon One-Step. It’s essentially a hot brush, a kind of hair tool that’s been around since at least the 1970s, that dries hair and styles it at the same time. Air emerges from holes in the brush, and the rounded shape guides hair so that it smoothes; it looks similar to straightening brushes and hot combs sometimes used on natural black hair.
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The selling point: Few of us are really all that great at using a brush and a dryer to blow out our hair like a professional stylist would. Sure, there are some people who can successfully accomplish this, but those people are wizards. This tool smoothes hair while drying using a combination of nylon and tufted bristles; ideally, you’ll end up with mostly straight hair with a little flick at the ends. The retail price is a relatively reasonable $59.99, but you can find it online for as low as $35.99, and there’s a less expensive paddle brush version, too. It’s currently the No. 1 bestseller in Amazon’s beauty section.

Why am I hearing about it?

The Revlon One-Step has existed since at least 2016, but the hype bubbled up only within the past year, and there’s a very specific reason why.

In late 2018, Dyson, of vacuum cleaner fame, released a product called the Airwrap. Having already launched the now-cultish $400 Supersonic hair dryer two years before, Dyson had made a name for itself as the fancy, tech-y hair tool brand. This time, the Airwrap promised to replace multiple hair tools: a dryer, a curling wand, and a flatiron, in one device with multiple heads — as long as you coughed up $550.

Luckily, there was already another product on the market that did basically the same thing for a tenth of the price. According to Google Trends, the Revlon One-Step started picking up search interest in November of 2018. That’s when popular beauty vlogger Milana Burykin uploaded a review of the Dyson Airwrap comparing it to the Revlon One-Step by styling one side of her head with one tool and the other side with the other tool.

Burykin, who goes by the name Milabu on YouTube and has more than a million subscribers, said in her review that she was “very impressed” by the One-Step and that she loved both products. At the end of her tutorial, the two sides of her head were virtually indistinguishable, even though one side cost 10 times more to style. The video garnered more than 3.5 million views and is currently her fourth-most-popular ever.

Search interest continued to pick up over the course of the 2018 holiday season, gaining press coverage in Allure, Elle UK, Popsugar, and Yahoo and becoming an Amazon bestseller. It’s certainly likely that post-holiday word of mouth played a role here, too, thanks to people using new products and recommending them to others. In June 2019, The Cut called it “the $60 Amazon hair dryer that changed my life”; the Today show featured it in September. By November, it had more than 5,000 reviews on Amazon. Now, in January 2020, that number is closer to 20,000, and its Google search interest continues to rise.

The internet had discovered a dupe. In the beauty community, dupes are products that are similar to each other, and are useful to know when one product is prohibitively more expensive than another (or if it’s sold out or discontinued). Most people can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on a hair tool, but $60 is a far more manageable expense.

Is it actually worth the hype?

“You know that meme that’s like, ‘nobody’: and then ‘me: [shouting about X thing]?’ That ‘X thing’ for me is this blow-dryer,” says Madison Malone Kircher, a reporter at New York magazine.

She means that literally: On December 27, Kircher went on the product recommendation podcast Gee Thanks, Just Bought It to evangelize about the Revlon One-Step. So far, podcast host Caroline Moss says that episode has been responsible for selling nearly 200 of them.

Kircher bought it because she wanted the Airwrap but didn’t want to spend “ten zillion dollars,” and after watching enough Airwrap YouTube tutorials, the algorithm started serving her videos for the Revlon One-Step. She’d never been able to properly work a round brush and a blow dryer at the same time, and the Revlon One-Step tutorials made the process look easy enough, with good results. In October, she finally bought one on Amazon. “I get way better volume overall, I find it’s easier to tame my forehead cowlicks, and it gives my ends a nice flip,” she says.

To be clear, the Revlon One-Step is not an item you’ll see at your next salon appointment. Hairstylists don’t need these kinds of tools because they’re trained in the art of the blowout. Joey Silvestera, founder of New York salon Blackstones, says that while he’s never used one, beauty companies have been trying to produce decent all-in-one dryers for the past decade, but the airflow technology and ergonomics have improved with the Dyson Airwrap and the Revlon One-Step.

By virtue of being a hot tool, though, the Revlon One-Step is not “good” for your hair, just as blow-drying, curling, or straightening are not “good” for your hair. “Heat on wet or dry hair is still damaging,” he says. “There’s no silver bullet. These companies are great at marketing their products as so easy, but they can be misused by overuse. The biggest mistake that people make is overdrying their hair and not protecting the hair enough.” Too much heat on hair can cause breakage, which translates into frizz. “If you looked at it under a microscope, you’d see the outer layer of cortex flailing, like a corn with stalks coming off rather than a smooth shaft.” To mitigate that damage, Silvestera recommends practicing on low heat on the back of your hair near the nape of the neck.

One of the more annoying aspects is that you can’t — or rather, shouldn’t — use the Revlon One-Step on soaking wet hair. Instead, Silvestera advises that you wait until your hair is at least 50 percent dry, and to use a strong heat protectant while hair is still damp to avoid too much damage.

Many reviewers, including those on YouTube, have noted how much hair gets torn out and trapped in the brush with repeated use. Others say that because there are only three settings — high, low, and cool — there’s little customizability, and that the high setting gets so hot that it’s easy to burn your fingers (or your hair). One Target reviewer also maintained that theirs started smoking and even caught on fire; another on Amazon said that after a few months, the device began smoking and sparking.

For average hair-havers, though, it’s “idiotproof,” as Kircher says. I tried a friend’s, and the One-Step left my hair the sort of silky that I usually can only get at a salon. Full disclosure: I eventually bought my own.

Does it “work”? Sure! Will it change your life? Maybe! Is it free of technological flaws? Certainly not! Like many much-hyped items, the people who love it really love it, which is likely why it tends to rise in search interest around the holidays: People want to buy it for their friends and family, too. The Revlon One-Step proves person-to-person marketing might just be the most effective kind there is.
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This article is from Vox

New HairWand delivers better, faster rinsing.

Water Pik, Inc., perhaps best known for its oral care devices line, is expanding into the hair care with the new Waterpik HairWand Spa System. The launch comes via the Fort Collins, CO-based compay’s replacement shower heads business.  

The Waterpik HairWand has three therapeutic wand streams and nine modes in the fixed shower head that provide a complete rinse in less than one minute. The company contends it will  improve hair manageability; help to naturally detangle hair and promote a healthy scalp; and offer consumers a daily space experience, too. 

According to a consumer study, up to 94% of users reported superior rinsing action; and 82% reported a complete rinse in less than a minute. 

"After realizing that consumers were frustrated with the increased difficulty in rinsing out haircare products, we wanted to give them a more purposeful, yet still powerful experience in the shower," said Michael Wakeman, vice president of marketing, Water Pik, Inc. "We are very excited to launch the HairWand Spa System as a new and easy-to-install option to elevate both the shower experience and wellness."   

The HairWand’s PowerComb stream is targeted and powerful, effectively rinsing out product no matter the texture or length, leaving hair less tangled and more manageable.

The Waterpik HairWand Spa System is now available on Home Depot shelves nationwide for a suggested retail price of $59.98.
 
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