Denman Brush Vs. No Denman Brush Styling Routines Compared

Hey everyone welcome back to my channel today we're going to be talking all about the Denman brush. I'M sure you guys have heard of this little brush in the curly hair community, because it is quite the famous little brush. If you do not have this brush, though you can still get the look of clumped defined curls, and I'm going to show you how to do that with the techniques in this video first, I have a question for you guys, which routine do you think is this? Look that I have with my hair right now: do you think I used the Denman brush for this routine or do you think I did not use the Denman brush for this look right now. Let me know in the comments, because I'm curious, if you can tell so here's a quick overview of what the brush looks like this is the d5 brush. So this has 5 rows in it. You can get these brushes in different sizes. I'Ve only ever tried this one, so I don't know about the other ones, but I believe if you get one that has more rows or one that's bigger, it's probably better for thicker hair. I have very low density hair. So this works fine for me, but I mainly got this mini version because it was cheaper on Amazon. So thank you to the one that I have below, but the cool thing about the Denman brush is it? Has this rounded edge on it? So it sort of acts like a curling wand when you're doing your hair. It also has these plastic bristles that don't snag on your hair and the spacing of the bristles helps create curl clumps that we all love to have and definition these rows are actually removable. It'S kind of hard to get it off, but all you do is you just slide this red part off and it comes right off and then you can remove some of the rows. So I used to do that just to get more curl clumps, but I find that, since my hair is low density, it looks better if I don't have as thick of curl clumps just to help with separation and give me more volume. It'S not meant to use for like full detangling before you shampoo, but it is good for just eliminating any of those smaller nuts that might form, as you are styling your hair. If your hair does kind of stick together and tangle up, it just helps smooth the cuticle down your styling, and it can also help you evenly distribute product all over your head. So, let's first get started with the routine using it the Denman brush, and I'm going to show you some techniques on how to use it. So I'm first starting off with damp towel dried hair. I did spritz down some of the ends that were starting to dry with water. Now, I'm using the innocent sweet spirit, leaving conditioner. This is just to help detangle. Now I'm using the inner sense, quiet, calm, curl control and I'm just running this all throughout the lower half of my hair for moisture, I like using stronghold gels, but I like to first start off with a cream just to add, moisture underneath then I'm sectioning off My hair, so we can use the brush in a more precise way, to get good curl clumps, I'm going in with the inner since I create hold, which is a gel. A little goes a long way with this gel, it's very strong hold. I find it works better to apply this in sections just because it is so thick, but you can dilute it with some water in your hands, just wet your hands first, before applying it emulsify it in your hands and then smooth it over your hair. So now for how to use the Denman brush, so I want you guys to watch closely, so you can see what I actually do with the brush, because I know it can be hard to master. I like holding the brush downwards and I like, holding it with the opposite hand as to the side that I'm doing and reaching over my head. So here's a closer look. I placed it right at the root twist the brush, so the hair goes around that rounded edge and then slowly glide it downwards. I also like to pick up vertical sections, so if you notice the strand of hair that I have is more of a vertical shape. Instead of a horizontal shape and that's just to help lift the hair up away from your scalp, that's gon na help with volume, because if you're pulling your hair downwards and you're using more of like a horizontal shaped strand, that's just going to stay flat against your Head so this helps with volume, and I lift up and away from my scalp, and this goes a lot quicker too once you get the hang of it, but I just like holding the brush in a vertical shape, to give you those really nice curl, clumps and Sometimes I don't go over my head. Sometimes I will use the same hand as the same side. I'M doing I just make sure I hold my brush vertical. It'S a little bit harder that way to wrap the hair. It'S not going to wrap around the handle of the brush as much, but you can also do it with the same hand. So I skipped ahead to the next section, because I wanted to show you this trick. If you have issues with a cowlick on the back of your head or if your hair wants to always separate down the back, I like to pick up more of a horizontal shape and angle, it upwards and back so that kind of helps the group those curls Together right there, so you don't get that separation in the back, then I'm going to show you how I do the top section, which I do a lot more precisely because this is the section that shows I like to get it tighter ringlets, I'm first smoothing the Hair forward and then I'm applying the I create hold gel and just smoothing that down this area is pretty high porosity for me too. So I like to make sure I'm smoothing and stealing that cuticle in with the gel, so here's another tip that I'm going to show you that you can use the brush to avoid. Having a straight to fine part for this top section. I like to pick up more of a horizontal shape and that's just to help bring the hair up and away from my scalp to give me more volume. And it's also going to allow the hair kind of just to fall backwards and kind of fall into the shape it once versus. Taking that really straight to fine part. So now I'm going to continue on with the rest of the top section. You can pick up very small pieces if you want your brain wants to be teeny tiny or you can pick up larger one if you want to have larger curl clumps. So I always get asked how I keep my hair out of my face and I'm gon na show you how right now so, instead of styling upside down and pulling my hair forward like this, it would dry like that, and it would definitely hang in my face And be annoying all day. So what I do is I pick up sections just like I've been doing along this top section and really trying to angle those back the ones that are right around the frame of my face. So I really try and pay attention to the way that I'm separating these sections to make sure that the curl clumps are going to kind of cling together backwards so that they're not going to fall forward into my face. You can see the way that this section is wrapped around the Denman brush. It'S wrapped away from my face, so those girls are going to go away from my face and I probably could have even picked up a smaller section right there too. So now that I'm done going through with the Denman brush, I just have some more gel and mixed with water on my hands, and this is just for one finishing layer on top just to make sure everything is smooth and I'm just going around and scrunching all Over my head, then, I just checked the back to make sure I don't have any of my scalp showing and it's not making any weird parting in the back, because I do have thin low-density curls, so the scalp does tend to show in the back. So I just make sure all the curls are placed over top of that to help fix that issue. Now, I'm taking my hair repair towel and I'm gently going to be scrunching, my hair. This is just to absorb any excess water. This really helps speed up the drying time. If you're worried about removing product, though you could definitely skip this step. If you want to have super stronghold, but I don't have too much water in my hair, so it's not absorbing too much product either, which is nice and I'm also just pressing it up towards my head. I'M not really squeezing, because I don't want to cause any frizz, and I do have a discount code for this towel if you're interested I'll put it in the description box down below and here's how my hair looks when it is wet. I'M gon na go ahead and diffuse my hair and then I'm going to fluff out my roots when I'm done drying and I also applied a little bit of the inner since I create finish, which is a hairspray just to kind of hold everything in place. I'Ll link, all the products that I use in the description box down below also so here are my final results. You can definitely tell where the Denman brush really works to create those tight ring winds. It also helps create curl comb by taking pretty small vertical pieces. You'Ll see that I don't have too much clumping going on, so I still have pretty good volume, so that is it for the Denman brush routine. And now I'm going to walk you through this same exact, styling routine, but without using the Denman brush and show you some tricks on how to get the same effect with just using your hands. So now, it's another day, another wash day routine. I'M taking off my hair repair towel and I'm just wetting down my ends that started to dry and I'm going to be using the innocent, sweet spirit, leave-in conditioner, I'm using the same exact products as last time. The only thing I'm changing up is, I am not using the Denman brush now, I'm going in with the quiet, comma, curl, control cream and applying about a quarter size amount of this to the lower half of my hair and just raking it through now, I'm sectioning Off my hair, just like I did in the last routine and clipping up the top half now, I'm going in with the I create hold gel same amount. My hands are a little bit wet here. Just so, I can more evenly distribute the gel because it is pretty thick and I'm just smoothing that over all of the curls, so in order to create the same Denman brush effect, I'm sort of clumping the curls, together with my hands and also using my fingers To comb through each section, so I am picking up small individual sections and kind of pulling them up away from my scalp, just like I did with the Denman brush. But I'm really using my finger to help separate and also comb through each section and then I'm just scrunching all over to help encourage those ringlets to really shrink up. So here's another look at how I'm creating that Denman brush effect using my fingers, I'm just using my hands to comb through almost like a brush and then just kind of shaking each strand a little bit to help encourage those curl ringlets to start to form. And then I'm also smoothing over each section. This helps smooth frizz down. It helps massage out any knots that you might have in your hair just be sure to always be lifting up away from your scalp to try and get more volume. This is pretty much the same styling technique of the rake and shake method where you're just raking the product through and then you shake it a little bit to help those curl clumps start to form. So now I'm just adding more gel for the very top section, and I do the same method that I did for the Denman brush routine, where I'm picking up small sections and lifting them up away from my scalp just to create more volume and help avoid a Very defined part I also did want to mention that I noticed more hair fall out when I was doing this method. I don't know if it's because I was tugging more on my hair. I was being very gentle, but I was sort of combing through with that product in my hair, so the more that you are combing and brushing your hair. Even if it's with your hands, you might notice more shedding this way. So don't be alarmed. If you see that it's just because the way that you're pulling through your hair, I definitely recommend being very gentle, especially if you have damaged hair. I wouldn't do this method. If you have super damaged hair same with the Denman brush, I don't recommend using the Denman brush. If you have very damaged hair, you don't want to cause any breakage or anything so same as last time. I'M just checking the back to make sure my scalp is covered and I don't have a weird part going down the back and now I'm going to be taking my hair repair towel and gently scrunching, I'm just pressing my hands up to my head just to remove Any excess water. This will really help those curl clumps form as well, because you were helping to clump them together as you're pressing them up to your head, and it will help the ringlets form. Then, if I see any areas that might have gotten too dry with the towel or that started to get frizzy, I just take a little bit more of the gel with some water smooth over individual strands. You'Ll get really great definition when you're, adding in another layer like that and it's important to kind of take a look at your hair, because how it looks when it is wet is how it's going to dry. So if you're seeing a ton of wet frizz, you might need to add more product or more water or try damp styling with less water. It just takes a lot of experimenting. So after I finished diffusing my hair and it was 100 % dry, then I went in and shook out my roots and I also scrunched out a little bit of the crunch, and here are my final results I feel like. I still have pretty good ringlets without having the Denman brush and I still have some curl clumps going on because of the way that I applied the styling products and the way that I section it off helped me get really precise with it also. I did finish off with a couple sprays of the inner sense I create finish. This is the hairspray. A little definitely goes a long way with this. This just helps tame any flyaways on top helps hold everything in place, especially if you're in humidity, but if you strictly follow the curly girl method, this hairspray does contain alcohol gradients. So keep that in mind, I don't notice any dryness with this hairspray, though, because I just use a tiny little bit, but you don't want to go overboard with it. So here are my final results compared side-by-side the one on the Left, where I'm wearing the turquoise shirt, that one is using the Denman brush and the one on the right wearing the beige shirt is no Denman brush the biggest difference that I noticed is. I have more definition in ringlets over on the left side with the Denman brush, especially at my roots, when I'm not using the Denman brush, it's a little bit tougher to get tight curls at the roots and on the ends when you're just using your hands. But overall they're very similar, I still have the same amount of curl clumps. I think it's just in terms of the size of the ringlets, so I think that they're a lot tighter when you have the Denman brush, whereas I use just my hands they're, not quite as tight and with tighter curls. You also usually have more shrinkage, so you might notice you get more shrinkage with the Denman brush versus using your hands. One other note is: if you have low density hair like mine, the Denman brush might create too many curl clumps making your ends look more sparse, whereas if you're just using your hands, they might look a little bit fuller on the end instead of clumped together. But I have found a pretty good balance between getting small clumps, while still maintaining fullness with having thin hair, so that is it for this video. If you guys found this helpful, definitely let me know in the comments I will be sure to list out any products that I use in the description box down below, and I also always do a blog post, which is sort of like a guide that goes along With the videos so the link for that will be down below there, there will be more of a written description, some step-by-step instructions and the product links and everything will be over there. I also put up some side-by-side pictures if you want to compare the two looks be sure to let me know in the comments if there are any other styling techniques or products, or anything like that, that you want me to compare side-by-side and I will be sure To do that, video for you, so that's it for today! Thank you all so much for watching this video don't forget to subscribe. If you have not yet already - and I hope to see you back next week - bye everyone