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How to Choose the Right Comb

A Hairdresser’s Guide to Choosing the Right Comb
As a Hairdresser, choosing the right comb is essential. In fact, it impacts the quality of your work and your client's overall experience. Obviously, if you use a comb unsuitable for a specific type of styling, you'll end up jeopardising the hairstyle and your client's experience.

To help you choose the right comb, we'll highlight some crucial factors you should consider when choosing a comb. Also, we will tell you the types of combs so that you can select the right one that fits your needs.

Without further ado, let's dive into this detailed guide.

Why does a hairdresser need a comb?
Every comb is slightly different and varies by use. Obviously, as a hairdresser, you’d want to pay close attention to the purpose of the comb as you are most likely looking to do more than just manage and maintain your client’s hair.
Combs can be used for a variety of different purposes, including:
  • Haircutting
  • Hairstyling
  • Hair colouring
  • Hair treatment
Combs are an essential tool in every hairdresser's arsenal as they prepare the hair for cutting and styling and ensure that the final result is neat, clean, and stylish.

What is important when choosing a hair comb?
A good hairdresser’s comb will help you cut precisely and shape the client’s hair or beard. Also, it helps you better understand where to cut more or less hair.
You need to consider the following factors while choosing the right comb that suits your and your client's needs:

Comb tooth width
The tooth width of the comb is an essential factor for any comb and its working. For example, a wide-tooth comb will be the ideal choice for detangling thick, long, curly or tangled hair: as it has a large space between its teeth.
A wide-tooth comb will avoid breaking more hair while detangling.
It removes hair breakage risks, produces less friction and gives a scalp massage, increasing blood circulation.

Comb material
The comb material is one of the critical things to consider, as a cheap material will break the hair and damage them in the long run.
The most common materials used for combs are:

Plastic
It is one of the most used and cheapest material combs. But it has also proved to be the most terrible choice to make for hair because it affects the hair and makes it weak. Even for the beard: it makes it thin because it is static.

Rubber
Rubber combs are comparatively better because they do not create static electricity in your hair while combing. These combs are smooth because they are made of cellulose or vulcanite.
It provides smooth effects and is much easier to clean and maintain.

Wood
It is a great and soft material: it comes in different shapes and sizes. Most importantly, you need to check the teeth of the wooden comb so that they are not sharp and won't scratch your client's scalp or damage their hair.

How to pick the right hairdressing comb?
Choosing a comb begins with understanding the types of combs available. If you don't know the types of combs and their purpose, you will most likely won’t pick the right one for the job.

For example, using the same comb for detangling, styling, teasing and drying the hair is not optimal. It will not only ruin the hairstyle but also damage your client's hair, and you don't want that to happen.
To avoid that, you must define what you want to achieve with your comb. If you use a beard comb for haircutting, there is a good chance that you will not get the best results.

You should also consider the client's requirement for haircut or styling before choosing your comb. For example, if you want to do fine lines and small sectioning, you should go with a tail comb.

If you select the combs at random, you'll most likely end up with a comb that will not give you the best results.

What type of combs are there?
Let's have a look at the types of combs based on their purpose:

Hair combs: Because the hair on the head is heavier than on the face, hair combs tend to be larger and wider than beard combs.

Now, let's have a look at the different types of hair combs:

Fine-tooth combs: These combs have closely spaced teeth. Usually used to tidy up the hair.

Wide-tooth combs: As the name suggests, they have widely spaced teeth.
Cutting combs: As the name suggests, these combs guide cutting and thinning hair. These combs are wider at one end and have closed teeth at the other.

Shaping combs: Like cutting combs, these combs are wider at one end than the other. The only difference is the narrower side is pointed.
Pintail combs: A pintail comb is a fine-tooth comb with a sleek, long, pointed handle.

What can you achieve with a haircut comb?
Here are some of the things you can achieve with different types of haircut combs:

Detangling hair: If you want to detangle your client's hair, using a wide-tooth comb will help you achieve it. You can also use a cutting or shaping comb, as both these combs are wide-tooth from one end.

Sectioning hair: For sectioning, both pintail and fine-tooth combs are best. For thick hair, you should use fine-tooth (to avoid damage). For thin and fine hair, it's fine to use pintail combs.

Styling hair: Like sectioning, you can use pintail and fine-tooth combs for styling. Both combs can help you achieve different types of hairstyles. To style thick hair, you should use a fine-tooth comb. For thin and fine hair, you can use a pintail comb. Pintail combs are also best for creating an up-do and down-do hairstyle.

Trimming hair: For trimming hair, we recommend using a cutting comb (trimming comb), as these combs have both wide and closely spaced teeth. So, you can easily change sides according to hair type.

What are the benefits of using hair combs?
Not only do combs help you cut and style your client’s hair, but they also provide vitalising benefits along the way.

Here are some benefits you can get using a haircut comb:
  • It increases blood circulation. Which increases healthy oil production.
  • It helps in maintaining hair and prevents tangles. Encourages hair growth.
  • It removes harmful foreign particles from the scalp and the hair.
Final word
All in all, a hair comb is a must-have tool for every professional hairdresser. That's why we recommend choosing the right comb to satisfy your clients and achieve their desired look without damaging their hair.
Any wrong choice of comb damages not only the hair but the scalp and the skin of your clients. So, deciding what you want to achieve and selecting the right material will get you a long way. Discover our range of professional combs.