Need to de-tangle your hair? Brush it from tip to roots
ANYONE who has ever had to brush long hair will have experienced the arduous task of trying to get the knots out.
And now scientists may have established the optimum strategy for freeing tangles – begin at the ends and move upwards.
Harvard researchers created a model that simulated two entwined filaments to represent a tangle of hair, and analysed the different ways of ‘brushing’ to detangle it.
The results, published in the journal Soft Matter, found short brush strokes that start at the ‘free’ end of the hair and move towards the ‘clamped’ end are most effective. The researchers warned when an incorrect brushing strategy is used, the process can be very painful and damaging. Professor Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, one of the authors, said he learned the mechanics of combing years ago while brushing his young daughter’s hair.
Next, his team aims to study the brushing of curlier hair and how it responds to humidity and temperature.