Around this time last year, I wrote a piece on ways to care for your vegan mane. I recommended using a natural bristle brush to boost the health of your locks. Unfortunately, many natural bristled brushed are made with boar bristles. While some hair brush companies claim that their boar bristles have been ethically shaved from the animals, some of us just want to be on the safe side and avoid animal hair brushes altogether.
But if we’re avoiding plastic bristles (rough on hair) and natural animal bristles, our options are a bit limited. I, for one, had been using a cheap (and ancient) imitation Mason Pearson brush for the past four years. Not only did I question its level of kindness to my hair, I also realized that no amount of cleaning would make it even close to “like new.” It needed to be pitched—but what to replace it with?
With a little digging around, I found the Widu hairbrush line. While not all of their brushes are vegan (some contain boar bristles), they do offer a nice selection of handmade, Alicia Silverstone-approved, wooden hairbrushes in various shapes and sizes.
Like natural boar bristles, wooden bristles help distribute oil from the scalp and roots to the ends of the hair—which is essential if you have long (read: old) hair that tends to dry out or get split ends. The bristles also provide a gentle massage to the scalp, which helps stimulate hair growth (and just feels so nice!). (Don’t you think brushing your hair should be relaxing?)
While nylon or plastic bristles can snag hair, Widu’s sustainably sourced wooden bristles are shaped and smoothed to be extra gentle on hair. The antistatic rubber pad prevents flyaways and that just-brushed overly fluffy look. This is a huge plus in my book, especially since I’m already battling humidity and other hair un-smoothing elements.
Each easy-to-clean brush comes with a packet of replacement bristles in case any fall out over the years.
What kind of brush do you use for your hair? Let us know!
Related: Kelly Quan Vegan Makeup Brush Review
How to Grow Hair Out Faster Naturally
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Photos: Mary Hood