Hair myth: 100 strokes a day will make it shine

Why do they say that giving your hair 100 strokes of the hairbrush every day makes it more lustrous? Is this just another beauty myth that’s been passed down as wisdom through the ages or is there any truth in it at all? The answer is: Sort of.

What’s definitely true is that regular brushing gets rids of tangles and smooths the surface of the hair. This means that your hair will better reflect the light, so your brushed hair will be amazingly shiny after you’ve brushed it. What the brushing also does is to distribute the oil molecules from the roots along the length of the hair, adding to the shine effect.

However, this happens quite quickly – well before you’ve completed your 100 strokes – and brushing for longer doesn’t produce shinier results. In this case, the more the merrier isn’t true: once your hair’s shiny, you can’t make it shinier. In fact, the contrary is true: frequent vigorous brushing stimulates the scalp which in turn produces more sebum, making your hair greasy. Plus, each brushstroke stretches the hair fiber, making the hair more porous. So while regular brushing is important, fewer than 100 strokes will get the same shine and is kinder to the scalp.

Tip: Instead of brushing your hair to death, why not try special shine shampoo and spray? You’ll get the same lovely lustrous locks in a matter of seconds!

Invest in a high-quality hairbrush

Although you can’t directly brush shine into your hair, it’s still important to invest in a really good hairbrush with wild boar bristles. This will actually protect your hair as you brush it whereas plastic bristles do just the opposite, causing hair to break as the rough bristles drag through it. Important: all hairbrushes must be cleaned every two weeks to get rid of residue like flakes of skin, hair care products and so on. Remove all the hair from the brush, then wash the head and the bristles with a little shampoo in lukewarm water.