Wanna find out what’s the best Denman brush for your curly hair? Regardless of your curl pattern, the key to achieving amazing results lies in finding the right brush. Allow me to share my personal experience and guide you on how to make the right purchase.
For a while I detangled my hair with a wide-tooth comb. It took me ages and it didn’t do much good for my natural curl pattern.
So when I heard about the Denman brush (also known as the Original Styler) I immediately wanted to buy one when I heard people claim it’s the best brush for creating beautiful curls.
But when I looked online to buy one, there were so many different types of Denman brushes I didn’t know which one I had to buy. So, I closed my laptop without buying one.
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Since I didn’t want to buy the wrong brush I decided to do some research. It seemed the Denman brush will only be a good fit when you buy the right type of brush.
So whether you have wavy hair, thick curly hair or fine hair with looser curls, the following brush types will be your best choice: D3, D4, D31 and D41.
The one you buy depends on your needs: cutting down detangling time or creating the perfect curl. Let’s have look at what that means and which one you’ll exactly need.
Since there are different types of Denman brushes I’ll tell you:
- which Denman is the best detangling brush for your curls
- and which original Denman styler is the best option when creating extra curl definition.
You can buy them online at:
Table of Contents
Who invented the Denman brush?
You probably wouldn’t have guessed this but the Original Styler brush (D3) has been around for over 75 years thanks to Northern Irishman John Denman Dean.
He created the brush in 1946, after hearing his sister complain regularly about her unruly hair.
Influenced by his visit to New York he designed a hair brush with:
- an ergonomic design
- nylon pins that don’t melt under high heat
- and the half round rubber pad that helps smooth hair.
What is a Denman brush and why should you use one?
The patented rubber-cushioned hair brush was made famous by hair stylist Vidal Sassoon in the 60s.
And thanks to the Natural Hair community it’s still one of the most popular styling tools for creating beautiful curls – long before Lorraine Massey introduced the Curly Girl Method hair routine.
So if you’re still wondering if you can style your natural hair with it, I can tell you from my own personal experience: yes, yes, yes!
And if you’re wondering what’s so special about the Denman brush and if it’s worth your bucks, I’ll answer your question based on my own experience.
So what makes a Denman hair brush different compared to a standard brush?
When you have curly hair, finding the right brush can be difficult. There are endless options to choose from and it can be hard to narrow them down.
A Denman Brush is designed for every hair type, from straight to curly. It’s easy to use, Curly Girl approved.
Also, it’s currently one of the best brushes for detangling your tresses or creating beautiful curls when you buy the right one.
Are Denman brushes worth it?
Are Denman brushes worth your money and why should you use one? I would say so.
You’d probably want to use this miracle brush because it:
- will cut your detangling time in half, especially when you have thick hair and a lot of curl,
- evenly distributes product through your wet hair so you get beautiful clumps,
- even when you have frizzy hair it will help you achieve a nice curl definition.
This is why many curly haired folks, like me, see it as one of their most favorite detangling tools.
Also, a great deal of hair stylists consider it a perfect brush made of high-quality material with:
- a comfortable grip
- and strong nylon bristles with round ends that are flexible enough to prevent hair breakage no matter your hair texture, and strong enough to detangle thicker hair.
So now you know why you should own an Original Styler, I’ll explain which Denman brush for curls you’ll most likely need.
Which Denman brush for curls do you need?
As I’ve mentioned before Denman sells different hair brushes. You can buy a Denman paddle brush as well as an Edge Tamer with soft natural bristles, but the Original Styler is the most popular choice by far.
“The iconic Denman D3 Original Styler is the most versatile 7 row hairbrush.
The perfect brush for defining and transforming curls, detangling, smoothing and blow drying.
Brilliant on straight hair for creating the perfect blow-dry bob style, AND also ideal for defining curls.”
Besides the Denman D3 original styler, there are also:
- D31 brushes
- D41 brushes
- as well as D4 brushes.
But how do you know what Denman brush to buy? I purchased both the D4 and a D41 brush for research purposes and figured out the following:
- D3 or D4: if your main concern is preventing a bad hair day and want to improve your curl type (I’ll explain the difference between these 2 down below).
- D31 brush or D41: when you want to cut your detangling time in half and also have a fair amount of curl definition (I’ll also explain the difference between these 2).
Do you need to buy both brushes? No, you don’t. If you don’t want to buy both brushes the best Denman brush you could buy is a D3 or D4 brush.
Just remove a few rows of bristles when you want to detangle your hair.
Should I remove rows from Denman brush?
Should you remove rows from your Denman brush? No not necessarily, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I have both the D4 and D41 and I never removed rows from either brushes.
However, if you have only 1 brush you might want to take out a few rows.
For example: if you have a D4 brush because you want to improve your curl definition, you might want to take out some rows if you want to detangle your hair with the same brush too.
Other reasons to take out rows could be:
- you notice your hair gets stuck
- or you want looser curls (the more rows, the tighter the curl).
Additionally, I’ve noticed product buildup that stays inside of the brush although I clean and rinse my Denman brush after each use.
So if you want to keep your hair brush clean you should dismantle your brush every week, or at least every month.
If you do this you’ll be able to remove lots of old product build up which you won’t notice if you don’t.
Do you want to know how to remove the rows? Check out the following Youtube video made by CurlShoppe:
What is the difference between 7 row and 9 Row Denman brush?
As I’ve explained above there are different Denman brushes which come in different sizes:
- medium size: 7 rows (D3 and D31)
- large size: 9 rows (D4 and D41)
The smaller the hair brush, the fewer rows of pins it has. The type of brush you buy depends on the length of your hair or the type of curls you want to create:
- short to medium length hair: buy a Denman D3 or D31 – a 7 row brush.
- Medium to long hair: buy a Denman D4 or D41 – a 9 row brush.
- Tight curls: buy a 9 row brush (D4)
- Looser curls: buy a 7 row brush (D3 or D31)
How does a Denman brush define curls?
The strong but flexible bristles, combined with the “staggered pin pattern” provide maximum grip and enough tension to define super curls. The half-round pad is designed to smooth the hair.
Keep in mind you’ll only be able to improve your curl pattern when you:
- have some type of curly hair,
- use it on small sections of wet hair in combination with a conditioning and styling product.
So you can absolutely use you Denman brush in the shower and use it on wet curls.
I wouldn’t advise you to use it on hair that isn’t wet, because this will cause frizzy hair and a lot of breakage. Especially if you use a D3 or D4 brush.
Watch the following Youtube videos so you can see how you can define your curls with a D3 or D4 brush.
Short to medium Hair (different types of curly hair):
Medium to long hair (different types of curly hair):
Do Denman brushes cause breakage?
People always ask me if Denman brushes cause breakage? Yes, this can happen but only if you use it incorrectly (this can happen with any other brush too):
- if you try to detangle your hair with a D3 or D4 brush rather than a D31 or D41, you can experience breakage.
- Obviously, if you pull too hard and don’t use small sections of hair you might experience breakage too, since wet or damp hair is in its weakest state and can break easily as a result.
- Also be mindful to brush your hair in smaller sections to prevent split ends.
So, are you planning to buy a Denman brush? If so let me know in the comments.
About the author
Angela is a curly girl and has been a beauty blogger since 2012. Because of her passion for beauty and hair, she has been a certified makeup artist since 2016 and has done multiple hair styling trainings. As a cosmetics lover, she writes reviews on cosmetics and provides different solutions that facilitate your daily beauty and curls routine.