When to brush wavy hair

If you have naturally wavy hair, when you brush it matters just as much as how you brush it.

Brush it at the wrong time and those lovely, defined wave clumps can quickly turn into a cloud of frizz.

So, when should you brush wavy hair?

For most people, the best time to brush or detangle wavy hair is when it's wet and has conditioner in it. Avoid brushing once your waves have been styled and dried, as this can separate the strands that form your natural wave pattern.

Your waves are created when individual strands group together into what we call wave clumps.

Once your hair has dried, those clumps create the defined S-shapes you see throughout your hair.

Running a brush through them pulls those strands apart.

Instead of several smooth, defined waves, you're left with hundreds of individual hairs sitting separately.

That's when you tend to get:

• Frizz
• Fluffiness
• Loss of definition
• Extra volume in all the wrong places
• Waves that look less obvious

If you've spent years thinking you have "straight but frizzy" hair, dry brushing could even be one of the reasons you've struggled to see your natural pattern.

In the shower, while your hair is wet and conditioned.

Conditioner provides slip, making it easier to work through knots without aggressively pulling at the hair.

Try this:

1. Shampoo your hair as normal.
2. Apply conditioner through your lengths and ends.
3. Allow the conditioner to provide plenty of slip.
4. Gently detangle using your fingers, a wide-tooth comb or a suitable detangling brush.
5. Start at the ends and gradually work upwards rather than dragging through knots from the roots.
6. Rinse and continue with your normal styling routine.

Once you've applied your styling products and started forming your wave clumps, put the brush away.

You can, particularly if your hair is very tangled.

However, be gentle. Dry hair doesn't have the same slip as conditioned wet hair, so pulling a brush through stubborn knots can cause unnecessary tension and breakage.

If your hair regularly becomes very tangled between wash days, it may be better to focus on preventing those tangles rather than repeatedly brushing them out.

Generally, we'd avoid it if you want to preserve your definition.

If you wake up with slightly messy day-two or day-three waves, brushing everything out means you'll also brush out your wave pattern.

Instead, try a refresh.

Lightly dampen areas that have become fluffy or flattened, apply a lightweight Refresh Spray if needed, then gently scrunch your waves back into shape.

You don't need to completely restyle your hair every morning.

If you want one simple rule:

Don't brush after your waves have formed.

For most wavies, that means brushing or combing gently in the shower with conditioner, then leaving the hair alone once styling begins.

Sometimes getting better definition is less about doing more to your hair – and more about knowing when to stop touching it.