Having tangled hair can be painful and time-consuming, so a good detangling regimen is key if you're tangle-prone. In addition to using products like conditioner and detangling sprays, using a good detangling brush can help ease the frustration of pulling your tresses. Detangling brushes are specifically created to untangle hair and minimize breakage: "Compared to regular hair brushes, they usually have thinner, more flexible bristles that won’t pull too hard on snagged hair strands," explains Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab Beauty and Health Reviews Analyst Chiara Butler.
The Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab tests hundreds of top-performing hair products and hair tools every year to find the best options on the market. Our scientists test hair tools like hair straighteners and hair dryer brushes in the Lab and send samples to our panel of consumer testers of all ages with all hair types, textures and lengths; they consider factors like ease of use, performance and overall satisfaction. Ahead, we've rounded up our eight favorite detangling brushes, as recommended by Beauty Lab pros, editors and hair stylists.
Our top picks:
1
Best Overall Detangling Brush
Tangle Buster Styler KareCo
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2
Best Value Detangling Brush
Detangle It Goody
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3
Best Detangling Brush for Curly Hair
Original Detangling Hairbrush Tangle Teezer
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4
Best Detangling Brush for 4C Hair
Travel Detangler Brush Felicia Leatherwood
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5
Best Detangling Brush for Long Hair
Untangle Brush Sheila Stotts
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You can read more about how we evaluate detangling brushes plus everything you need to know to shop for your perfect non-damaging brush at the end of this guide. Looking for more ways to get the hair of your dreams? Check out our guides on how to style your hair perfectly and the best curling irons for your money.
1
Best Overall Detangling Brush
KareCo
Tangle Buster Styler
2
Best Value Detangling Brush
Goody
Detangle It
3
Best Detangling Brush for Curly Hair
Tangle Teezer
Original Detangling Hairbrush
4
Best Detangling Brush for 4C Hair
Felicia Leatherwood
Travel Detangler Brush
5
Best Detangling Brush for Long Hair
Sheila Stotts
Untangle Brush
6
Best Detangling Brush for Natural Hair
Rizos Curls
Detangling Flexi Brush
7
Best Detangling Brush for Thick Hair
The Hair Edit
Detangle & Massage Brush
8
Best Detangling Brush for Fine Hair
Wet Brush
Pro Detangler
How we choose the best detangling brushes
To make taking care of your hair as easy as possible, the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab tests the top-performing hair products on the market. When the Lab tests hair brushes for our annual GH Beauty Awards, our scientists conduct both in-Lab and consumer testing to find the best of the best. We ask testers of all ages, with all hair types, textures and lengths, to use the brushes in their routine for a set period of time, taking note of both what they liked and what they didn't like. Similarly, in our most recent test to find the best hair dryer brushes, testers evaluated the brushes and filled out a detailed survey on ease of use, performance and overall satisfaction. For this, the Lab collected data from 784 questions gathered from 49 questionnaires. After all of this research, our Lab pros aggregate and analyze the feedback to share the best hair products for your money.
What to look for when shopping for the best detangling brush
The type of detangling brush you need depends on your hair type:
✔️ Fine/fragile/damaged hair: "Detangling brushes for fine hair will have very soft bristles," explains Butler. "Very fine, fragile, or damaged hair would respond best to a detangling brush with flexible bristles," adds Farris.
✔️ Straight/wavy/medium-to-thick hair:
Brushes for thicker hair "will have slightly stiffer bristles," says Butler. Healthier straight to loose curl texture, as well as medium to thick density hair types, "tend to detangle best with sturdier bristled brushes," explains Farris.
✔️ Curly/textured hair: "Curly and textured hair types tend to do best with short bristled detangling brushes with a flexible base or spines," says Farris.
Do detangling brushes really work?
Absolutely. "The bristles are designed to bend and let go or slide off of a snag so it loosens a tangle without over stretching or getting stuck in the hair," explains Farris. "This minimizes damage, — but you should still use them by starting at the ends, brushing down and working your way from roots to ends." Butler also recommends being patient with the knots and using a detangling product to wet your strands.
Is a detangling brush or comb better?
It depends on your hair type and when you're using the brush or comb.
✔️ Use a comb on wet hair or thick hair. "A wide-tooth comb can be better for detangling thick, curly hair during or right after a shower, " explains Butler. A brush may be more difficult to work through thicker tresses, but "the comb will minimize snagging when the hair is wet and fragile," she adds.
✔️ Use a brush on fine, wet hair or any type of dry hair with some detangling product on it. "A detangling brush can be more efficient because it has a bigger area and more bristles," says Butler.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Catharine Malzahnis the Beauty Assistant at Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day and Prevention, where she works closely with the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab to help deliver fact-based, science-backed beauty coverage. Over the years, she has interviewed experts, written product reviews and tested hundreds of hair products, including professional hair treatments, tools, shampoos, conditioners, styling products and more. Thanks to her thick, wavy and often frizzy hair, she's all too familiar with detangling brushes and has tried many options on herself. For this article, she worked with Chiara Butler, the Health and Beauty Reviews Analyst in the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab. She formerly worked as a formulation chemist at a haircare brand, where she learned about the structure and properties of hair. Butler researched and reviewed several detangling brushes to recommend picks. We also interviewed Mane Addicts hairstylist Cherilyn Farris for this article, who contributed expert tips and brush recommendations.
Catharine Malzahn Beauty Assistant Catharine (she/her) is the beauty assistant at Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day and Prevention, working closely with the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab to write science-backed beauty content.