Bristle brushes

They may seem old hat, but I'm a great fan of traditional boar's bristle hair brushes, in particular the ones produced by Kent. I know of nothing better for brushing the tangles out of freshly-washed hair prior to applying some oil to the tips, gently combing the hair straight with a special comb, and then blow-drying. Nor for brushing the dried hair into shape afterwards, prior to making finishing touches with my ordinary comb.

I think the natural bristles must get wet from the washed hair, and - though they remain stiff - are able to slide slickly through tangled wet hair without snagging. This quickly eases any potential knots that might otherwise form. After blow-drying, the bristle brush brings out the natural sheen of the hair.

My hair is very fine, not at all thick and heavy. I'm lucky it hasn't yet gone thin as Mum's did (although home perming her hair for a lifetime wouldn't have helped), nor completely grey (it was going grey, then naturally became a light honey-grey, almost a 'platinum blonde', which I put down to a side-effect of the HRT. Incidentally, I do not colour it, nor pay for highlights). Nor, horror of horrors, white (I'm definitely not ready for that look).

I believe my hair, whatever its short-comings, is an asset and well worth looking after, and it deserves a natural bristle brush for wash-time grooming.

So every now and then - say every two or three years - I buy a new Kent brush. I did so the other day when (having thrown off the worst of my cold) I drove down to Eastbourne. It was 2nd January. The sales were on, but it wasn't an especially nice day to be out, and there weren't many shoppers about. The brush was all I bought - £7.99 from Boots.

You can see that I bought the nearest equivalent to my old brush that I could find. You can also see what constant use does to a natural-bristle brush! They don't last. The bristles gradually get damaged with use, break, and then fall out. A point comes when it's best to buy a newer brush.

I wash my hair two or three times a week. So that's around 150 times a year. If the brush lasts three years, then £7.99 for 450 occasions of use is surely not extravagant.