I remember when I wasyounger (toddler) even into my teens, my mom would *brush* my hair to gte me out of the house faster. However she seemed to think that brushing meant ripping throught tangles with the brush and as a result the ends are damaged. I also see taht alot of people think brushes are for teh purpose of detangling. Anyway, I'm still annoyed becuase of this, and wnated to knwo if any of you went throught the same thing when you were younger?

I know lots of people who think that brushes are for detangling.  If you are thinking of a widely spaced wire bristle type brush, yes, it can detangle.  However, if you are thinking of a thick bristle type brush - these are best used for "polishing" or distributing oils through hair that has already been detangled.

As a child, I had very short, pixie cuts due to my peach-fuzz hair.  I'm not sure my hair had a comb or brush through it until I was 8 or 9!  I know I didn't own my own brush until I went away to college.  I have only used widely spaced bristle brushes on my hair (for many years I used dog brushes!).  Today I seldom use a brush on my fine hair - a wide tooth comb is my primary tool, with a finer tooth comb for finishing.

Heehee, before I came to LL I used to use a brush to detangle! But I was usually careful not to rip through tangles. I have coarse hair so that didn't seem to damage it too much. I think the thing that damaged my hair the most was using non-hair friendly hairbands. These days I usually only use a brush when I'm trying to make a ponytail and need to smooth out my hair.

I always used a brush to detangle (and not too gently either, I confess) before I found this board. I didn't use combs at all, and I didn't really know about different combs and what kind of combs were good for hair. *shivers*

When I switched from brushing to combing about an year ago, my hair loss drate dropped dramatically.  These days, I have thrown all my old brushes away save one natural bristle brush that I need seldom to "polish" my hair if it is especially greasy. Otherwise, it's all gentle combs for me.

Oh WOW! I'm not the only one to cringe when I hear hair snapping! Unfortunately, it's my hair! I've even acquired a nasty habit of saying "Ouch!".

When I was waaay younger, back in the caveman days, I used love a brush to detangle. Of course, then my hair was well above shoulder length and probably didn't matter much. It did work really well for my wavey/curley hair, though. These days, I have grown in wisdom thanks to the hair goddesses on this board.