How Often Should You Brush Fine Hair?

By Leah Williams •  Updated: 08/27/22

Do you have fine hair and struggle to style it? Do you fall into the dilemma of how often should you brush fine hair? You’re not alone.

Fine hair is a little bit trickier to take care of and style. It’s prone to heat damage and physical breakage, and if it’s under constant stress from styling and heat, hair growth might be slower.

So if you’re not sure how often you should brush your fine hair, you’re in for some lessons. Get your paddle brush ready; we at Lucky Curl will guide you to have your best hair ever.

How often should you brush fine hair?

The answer is that it depends on your hair type and what works best for you.

As a hair professional, I’ve seen the numerous benefits of hair brushing. It helps with the drying process, creates volume, and distributes the scalp’s natural oils.

It’s easy to go overboard with brushing hair, especially when it’s fine, so I recommend twice a day brushing. Any more than that, and you could be causing breakage.

You can’t just go with any brush, too. A boar bristle brush is a good choice compared to a metal brush.

When is the best time to brush your fine hair?

There’s some truth in brushing before bedtime. Brushing before hopping in the shower is a good time too. You don’t need to do a hundred strokes to brush hair properly; it can do more harm than good.

You may feel the need to brush curly hair more than straight hair. The same goes for wavy hair ; the key is don’t overbrush, or you’ll end up tugging too hard on your hair follicle. It also weakens your hair shaft which is common in fine hair.

Thicker hair can handle brushing better but it isn’t an excuse to brush your hair like crazy. Aggressive brushing certainly isn’t a good practice, whatever hair type it is.

8 Tips for Brushing Fine Hair

All hair types benefit from hair brushing, but here are our tips to get the best from it:

Detangle first before brushing.

A wide-tooth comb helps a lot with this part. If your hair is fine and curly, you can opt to use your fingers. It’s kinder for your hair cuticle and hair follicles, too!

Start at the roots and work your way down to the tips.

This practice will help distribute the scalp’s natural oils evenly. Be gentle as you go, as too much force will break your hair strands. A paddle brush, preferably a boar bristle brush is best as it does not tug on hair but smoothens effectively.

Brush in sections to make it easier.

Sectioning lets you style your hair faster. It also helps with drying hair quicker than just randomly grabbing clumps. Using hair clips can make sectioning much easier.

Comb and brush the hair gently.

It’s common sense that we should brush and comb hair gently to avoid hair loss, so resist the urge to brush your hair or comb it in a hurry.

Brushing wet hair is a no-no.

It’s tempting to brush hair while it’s wet, but do resist doing so! It leads to hair breakage as wet hair is at its weakest. If you don’t like the feel of brushing dry hair, consider using a leave-in conditioner to add moisture. Apply conditioner to the mid-lengths to ends only, not at the roots.

Brush your hair upside down.

This trick helps you create volume. Hold your head upside down and brush gently with a round brush with boar bristles or anything similar. It’s also an excellent way to stimulate your scalp’s blood flow and keep hair healthy (though this might be trickier with plenty of fine hair or curly hair).

Wash hair with warm, not hot water.

A hot shower feels glorious on some days but by doing it daily and your hair’s in for split ends. Hot water dries hair out, and brushing may cause the ends to split more if you don’t remove tangles first. If you can, end with a cold rinse and use warm water on wash days.

Use a clarifying shampoo.

Build-up can weigh fine hair down, and no amount of brushing can make up for it unless removed from the scalp. To maintain good scalp and hair health, we recommend Paul Mitchell Shampoo Two for this job.

It helps in removing tangles too because buildup certainly can cause your hair to be dull and unmanageable.

Also, make sure your brushes are clean. Buildup also gets left behind in your brushes and makes its way back to your hair. Yikes!

Our Final Hair Say

How often you brush your hair is up to you, though we hope our tips give you a good idea of what works best. Remember, the key is not to over brush. Overbrushing hair can harm your tresses instead.

Want to start brushing your fine hair the right way? Check out our post for the best hair brush for fine hair article to help you along in your journey to better hair and scalp.

Leah Williams

Leah Williams is the founder of Lucky Curl and has been in the hair care and styling industry for the last 15 years. Since then, she has developed incredible expertise and a deep understanding of how to treat and style the most difficult hair types and is passionate about sharing her knowledge with the readers of Lucky Curl.

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