I have very tangly hair. No, really. When I was in nursery, I used to cling onto the side of the bathroom sink and grimace in extreme pain while my mum tackled the tight ringlets on my head. She tried every method of brushing, detangling product and type of hairbrush available in the early 90s but to no avail. When we finished, I would often refuse to talk to my siblings or cousins for the rest of the morning – probably a result of being slightly traumatised from the ordeal of detangling.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learnt how to detangle my hair properly. For the most part, I don’t actually brush my hair. My hair is wavy/curly (depending on how it dries) and brushing can break up its natural pattern. Instead, I tend to lightly brush the roots for a bit of scalp stimulation and refresh the ends by making my hand wet and scrunching upwards.

Of course, I can’t completely avoid brushing my hair altogether though. Especially after a shower, which is arguably the worst time for any hair brushing. After applying shampoo and conditioner and standing under the water, I emerge from the shower with very knotty hair. Whenever I would go to brush it, it required carefully sectioning each part, spritzing it with detangling spray and slowly working through each part bit-by-bit. Once I was done, large clumps of hair would be weaved through my brush bristles – all broken off my head from tangles and knots. Even brushing my hair pre-shower didn’t help.

While I felt like I had my zero-pain detangling routine down, it bothered me that I was breaking off so many hairs – and so, I began to research. After looking at various brushes created for knotty hair and speaking to friends, there was one that kept coming up time and time again: the WetBrush. So I ordered one. The Original Detangler, to be precise (there’s loads to choose from).

After getting out of the shower, I separated my wet hair into sections out of habit and began to gently run the brush through my hair. Except, it didn’t pull or tug. It didn’t even require me holding onto the top of my hair tightly to avoid root pulling. I got through my entire head of hair so quickly with zero pain. And the best bit? There were hardly any broken hairs left in the brush bristles.

Plus, while the name may have you believe it only works on wet hair, I’ve found that the bristles are just as gentle on dry hair. I’ve been using one for around six years now and when I brush my hair with anything else, I can really feel the difference.

Now if only it had been around to save me when I was five…

Main image: Getty