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Home > Hair Care > I Tested Every Popular Brush for Oily Hair
I Tried 9 Hairbrushes on Roots That Looked Wet by Lunch. Only One Got Me Past Day Three.
I washed my hair every single morning for years because my part looked greasy by noon. So I spent seven months testing nine brushes on it. Four went straight in the bin.
By Megan Holloway, Hair Care Editor
Updated Oct 2026
5,213 Views | 6 min read
Stop reading brush reviews from people who got the brush for free. I paid for every one of these myself, over $600 in total, and gave each one at least three weeks.
Hi. I have been writing about hair care and styling tools for more than a decade.
And for most of that decade, my own part was greasy by noon.
Your hair deserves better than a shampoo every morning that leaves it greasy again by dinner. I have watched friends cut bangs, live in buns and buy dry shampoo by the case because their roots would not stay clean for one full day.
I was one of them. For years.
My roots went flat and shiny no matter what I washed them with. Clarifying shampoo. Vinegar rinses. A $40 scalp scrub that left me itchy and flaking by Thursday.
Here is the part that annoyed me most:
The "oil control" shampoos I kept buying seemed to make my scalp pump out even more oil by the afternoon.
My hairdresser told me to "brush it more, wash it less" (cool, thanks, very helpful). I had written about the boar bristle brush for years and never owned a good one, so I bought the best-reviewed one I could find on Amazon.
$16. Three weeks with a stiff boar brush that skimmed the top of my hair and never reached my scalp. Same greasy part line every afternoon.
Then a friend who had stretched her washes to once a week told me something that stuck. "A brush that only touches the top layer is just moving grease around. You need bristles long enough to get down to the scalp."
So I went looking.
Seven months. Nine different brushes. Here is what I learned the greasy way.
Only 5 brushes earned a spot on my bathroom counter. And the #1 winner completely changed how often I wash my hair.
Why 8 of My 9 Brushes Left My Part Greasy by Noon
Most brushes sold for oily hair fail in one of three ways:
Bristles That Never Reach the Scalp
Short, stiff boar bristles glide over the top layer of your hair and leave the oil parked at your roots. If a brush cannot get through to your scalp, it has nothing to move down the strand.
The All-Plastic Problem
Plastic pins are great for knots, and that is about it. They pulled through my hair and left my roots exactly as oily as before. The one brush that fixed my roots paired boar bristle with a second, longer bristle that could reach the scalp.
Hard Tips That Scratch
You will use this brush twice a day, so it has to feel good on your scalp. Sharp or broken tips leave you sore and itchy, and then the routine dies by week two.
🏆 CLEAR WINNER
1. Vayose Hair Brush (The Only Brush That Changed My Wash Schedule)
Rating
9.7/10
THE ONE BRUSH THAT GOT ME FROM WASHING EVERY DAY TO EVERY FOURTH DAY
The Vayose Hair Brush mixes boar bristles with long, rounded-off nylon bristles on a 100% wood body. Vayose uses boar bristles that are longer than the industry standard, so they get past the top layer of your hair and down to the roots.
The nylon bristles are tipless, so there is no hard ball on the end to snap off or scratch. They lift the buildup at your scalp while the boar bristles spread the oil down the length of your hair, which means your roots and your ends finally share it.
The routine is two minutes when you wake up and two before bed. For the first few days my hair looked about the same, honestly. My scalp felt great, almost like a massage, and that made it easy to keep going.
By the end of week two I pushed my first wash to day three. My part still looked clean at lunch on day three, which had not happened since high school.
A month in, I was washing every four days. My ends looked shinier and less frizzy, and I had stopped carrying dry shampoo in my bag.
Six weeks in, it had held up through gym mornings, a humid weekend away and one very long workday. That is when I stopped calling it a lucky week.
The numbers back it up: Vayose says it has over 90,000 customers, its site shows 980 reviews averaging 4.9 stars, and a wide-tooth comb and a cleaning rake come in the box.
The 60-day money-back guarantee is what got me to order in the first place. If it had not worked for me, I could have asked for my money back.
It is the only brush in my test I bought a second time, as a gift for my sister.
Nothing else I tried got my roots and my ends looking good on the same day.
There is no learning curve either. Brush from the roots down, twice a day, and pull the loose hair out with the rake whenever it fills up.
At $59.99 it costs more than a drugstore brush. If knots are your only problem, an $11 detangler will do the job.
If you want to stop washing your hair every morning, this is the one I keep reaching for. I would pay full price for it again.
The bottom line: one brush is $59.99 at vayose.com, or $99.99 for three with the Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal, and shipping is free. Boar and tipless nylon bristles, a 100% wood body, plus a comb and a cleaning rake.
PROS
Got me from daily washing to every four days
Long boar bristles plus tipless nylon
100% wood body, built to last
Wide-tooth comb and cleaning rake included
Gentle enough to use twice a day
60-day money-back guarantee
CONS
Only sold on vayose.com, not on Amazon
Results take two to three weeks of daily use
Wooden handle should never be soaked
Heads up: The Buy 2 Get 1 Free bundle brings it down to about $33 a brush. If you share a bathroom, that is the one to grab.
SHOP VAYOSE →
2. D81M Deluxe Style & Shine Smoother by Denman
Rating
8.6/10
Denman's D81M Deluxe is a smoothing brush with a mix of nylon and natural boar bristles set in a red cushion pad. It is made for finishing, the last few strokes that lay your hair flat and glossy before you head out.
For sleek buns and slick-backs it is hard to beat at $37.95. It left my hair shiny with no static, it felt gentle on my scalp, and the printed handle has a scratch-proof finish. It sits at 4.57 stars from 136 reviews.
Denman sells it as a finishing brush, the last step of a style, and on my roots it did little for the grease. The handle is slim too, and a couple of reviewers wished it were wider.
PROS
Nylon and boar mix for a glossy finish
Gentle on a tender scalp
Great for sleek buns and slick-backs
90-day returns and a 12-month guarantee
CONS
Made for finishing, so roots come second
Slim handle, two reviewers wanted it wider
$5 more than the plain D81M, same bristles
Did little for my greasy roots
You pay the return postage
Opened boxes carry a repackaging fee
3. The Mermaid Brush by Bur Bur
Rating
8.2/10
Bur Bur's Mermaid Brush is the pretty one on this list. It pairs pure boar bristle with nylon pins on a hand-polished beech wood handle, set in a cushion pad of natural and synthetic rubber.
It feels lovely in the hand, and the cushion gives as you brush, so it never dragged on my scalp. Bur Bur makes it by hand in Korea, and it picked up a 2026 Marie Claire beauty award.
The catch is the price and the fit. It is $78 for one brush, and while Bur Bur calls it perfect for all hair types, it also says it is best for medium to thick hair. On my roots it helped a little, and I still washed every other day.
PROS
Boar bristle and nylon pin mix
Hand-polished beech wood handle
Flexible rubber cushion pad
4.75 stars from 229 ratings
CONS
$78 for a single brush
Brand says it suits medium to thick hair best
14-day returns, unopened brushes only
Pricier than every brush here but one
4. Original Detangler by Wet Brush
Rating
7.7/10
Wet Brush's Original Detangler is the budget pick at $10.99. Its IntelliFlex bristles are made to glide through knots, and it works on wet or dry hair of any texture, from straight to coily.
For knots it is excellent. It slid through my hair straight out of the shower with almost no pulling, and Wet Brush says it causes up to 55% less breakage than a leading competitor. It holds 4.67 stars from 135 reviews.
There is no boar bristle on it, and in my test it did nothing for my roots. Several reviewers also say the little ball tips come off over time, and the bare bristles underneath scratch.
PROS
$10.99, the cheapest brush here
Glides through wet hair with little pulling
Works on every hair type, wet or dry
CONS
No boar bristle, so no help for oily roots
Ball tips can fall off over time
14-day returns with a $5.99 handling fee
Some reviewers say it is too gentle to fully detangle
5. Popular Bristle & Nylon BN1 by Mason Pearson
Rating
7.3/10
The Popular BN1 is Mason Pearson's large boar and nylon brush. Eight rings of mixed tufts sit in a natural rubber cushion, and a cleaning brush comes in the box.
It is big, about 9 inches long, and it covers a lot of hair in one stroke. On my long hair it felt smooth, and the cushion kept it gentle on my scalp.
Then there is the money and the access. Mason Pearson's own site lists it at $325, and that store only delivers to UK addresses, so in the US you are buying it through a stockist. On my roots it did about what the Bur Bur did, and I was still washing every other day.
PROS
Boar and nylon tufts in eight rings
Natural rubber cushion, kind to the scalp
Cleaning brush included
CONS
Listed at $325, the priciest here
Brand site ships to UK addresses only
Large size, aimed at longer hair
No reviews on the brand's own site
The Brush That Got Me to Day Four
Look, I have tried nine of them. I wasted money on dry shampoo by the case, "oil control" shampoos that made my roots worse, and a cheap boar brush that never touched my scalp.
While you're reading this, someone else is:
Shampooing at 7am because yesterday's wash was greasy again by bedtime.
Spending $20 a month on dry shampoo to hide greasy roots.
Putting their hair up again because it went flat by lunch.
You don't have to be that person.
Used every single day, the long boar bristles carry oil away from your roots while the tipless nylon lifts the buildup underneath. That is the design Vayose built this brush around: two kinds of bristle in one head, and a routine that takes four minutes a day. That is how I went from washing every morning to day three, then day four.
The Vayose Hair Brush gives you boar and nylon bristles, a 100% wood body, a comb and a cleaning rake, and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
The first time my roots stayed clean past lunch, I understood why this one never leaves my bathroom counter.
Skip the seven months I spent finding it.
SHOP VAYOSE →
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