What makes the best hair brush for men worthy of the status? (It’s just a brush, right?) Well, that depends on a few factors. What type of brush is it? (A beard brush can differ substantially from one you’d use on your head.) What are its bristles made out of? (Boar bristles are the premium option, but nylon bristles are more than up to the task.) It’s all to say, there’s a surprising amount of information to bear in mind when brush-shopping, especially if your hairstyle is the type that demands constant attention, or at least, like, some effort each morning. We’ll save you the work: Since there’s so many hair brushes on the market right now, we took the liberty of sorting through them all to find the very best hair brush for men, regardless of how you intend to use it.
One final caveat here: It really doesn’t matter how expensive your styling brush is if you’re not using the right hair products—styler, shampoo, conditioner, etc.—in tandem with it. So while you’re scooping a new brush, make sure the rest of your grooming situation is up to par, too.
The Best Hair Brushes, According to GQ
In This Guide
The Best Hair Brush Overall: Tangle Teezer Detangling Hairbrush
Tangle Teezer’s brush has been a drugstore mainstay (and an Amazon best-seller) for years because it’s so damn reliable. Sure, it’s cheap, but it also provides results, detangling your hair—wet or dry—with the formidable styling power of brushes that cost ten times its price. This one is the original, the product that launched the Tangle Teezer brand, and after all these decades it’s still the one to turn to if you’re in dire need of smooth, tangle-free hair.
The Best Upgrade Hair Brush: Mason Pearson Nylon & Boar Bristle Brush
On the opposite end of the price spectrum is Mason Pearson’s best-selling hair brush. Let’s be blunt here: This guy ain’t cheap. But spend a second thinking about what you’re getting. Each of Mason Pearson’s brushes are painstakingly assembled and finished by hand outside London, a labor of love that yields a product engineered to separate and smooth your tresses with as little breakage as possible. This one is made with both boar bristles and nylon tufts, an atypical—and highly effective—combination designed to strengthen and protect your hair with each effortless brush.
The Best Nylon Bristle Hair Brush: Wet Brush Original Detangler Hair Brush
Thick hair folks will appreciate Wet Brush’s nylon bristles for its ability to work its way through the tightest tangles, no matter whether the hair is wet or dry. Thanks to the super-flexible bristles, the brush is able to worm its way through locks with ease, and it’s more likely to resist breakage so this less-than-$10 haircare tool can stay in rotation for way longer than you’d expect it to.
The Best Round Hair Brush: AIMIKE Round Brush
Trying to go for a gravity-defying pomp or some enviable curls? This round brush helps to style your hair into the exact shape you want, with bristles that easily break through tough tangles and thin or thick hair. The honeycomb barrel allows for hot air to go through when you’re using it with a hair dryer, which is great for reducing the time your hair comes into contact with hot air while giving your ‘do the definition you want.
The Best Beard Brush: Zeus Beard Brush
Anyone, and we mean anyone, with even a shadow of a beard needs to buy a beard brush. Having a beard is great and all, but you risk an accumulation of dandruff underneath that scruff, so a beard brush will help to exfoliate deep under that forest on your face, plus, it’ll control flyways and evenly distribute the hair’s natural oils from root to tip. We like this one for its easy-to-hold pear wood handle and its tough-on-tangles bristles.
More Hair Brushes We Love
What to Look for in a Hair Brush
Bristles: Look at your hair—is it fine or thick? If it’s on the thicker side, you’ll probably want a brush with nylon bristles, which are stiff enough to get through those strands for detangling purposes. Boar, on the other hand, while more expensive, are great for finer hair to more delicately smooth out the hair. Boar bristles are also better for distributing product more evenly through the hair, while nylon bristles can more aggressively target the scalp for promoting blood flow (great for potentially encouraging the growth of hair).
Round or Flat: Flat hair brushes are great for smoothing out hair, distributing products, or detangling, while round hair brushes are more likely to be used as a styling tool to add volume to a coif.
Price: You can easily find a hair brush for $5 or even cheaper, but that’ll most likely tug at your hair, scratch your scalp, and probably break in about a week. If you’re ready to invest in your haircare (which you should) find a hair brush made from a sturdy material, and while bristles should depend on your type of hair, higher-end bristles will last longer and keep your hair from falling out in clumps.
Hair Brush FAQ
What is the best hair brush for men?
Are nylon bristles or boar bristles better?
One type of bristle isn’t better than the other, as it depends on your hair type. Fine-haired folks will prefer boar bristles, while people with thick hair should opt for nylon-bristled brushes.