In our house, we’ve got some Autism. It makes life awesome and beautiful.
One thing a lot of Autistic kids struggle with, though, is hair brushing. In this rite, I’ve tried to be a flexible parent so the hair brushing process doesn’t traumatize them. Sometimes when the sensory overload is too much, we’ll go out with messy hair.
But I have also tried just about everything under the sun to make the process less painful. We’ve used conditioning sprays. Left copious amounts of conditioner in the hair after bath time to help the knots slide out.
And of course, I’ve played around with different brushes.
The best hairbrush
After trial and error with everything I could buy locally, for years I invested in Wet hairbrushes. They worked better than everything else I could find, but I still had to hold the hair above the knot as I worked it out. We still spent a good 45 minutes in the process. I’d go slow because I didn’t want it to be a tear-filled experience for anyone. If I sped things up, they’d start flowing.
The most frustrating thing about Wet hairbrushes was that the handle would inevitably break off. The brush brush part would stay in tact, but without the handle my own hand would start cramping up about halfway through the hairbrushing process.
I’d put up with it for a few weeks, then find myself dropping even more cash on another Wet brush.
This year, everything changed. I found the one brush to rule them all, and the results have been truly miraculous.
UNbrush by FHI Heat
It all started with Instagram ads. While it usually takes a lot for me to buy something because I saw it on social media, it does occasionally happen.
These ads were reviews, seemingly from real people. It showed the first time they used the UNbrush. Much like me, the reviewers were skeptical parents who had already tried everything with limited results.
These videos were consistently filled with dropped jaws as the brush effortlessly slid through the hair — the child didn’t even notice. What would usually end in tears was a process that took mere minutes.
Eventually, I caved. Decided to give it a shot.
When my UNbrush arrived, I decided to try it out on myself before I got too excited. I’ve got tangly hair myself. If it worked for me, it would probably work for my child.
Guys, just like the other reviewers, my jaw hit the floor. I took it to my dry hair, which had not been brushed. (I had left it in its natural mixed wavy/curly state after the finger combing in the shower.)
This thing glided through it like butter. When I hit the back, there was a slight tug, but it wasn’t anything horrible — I just held above the knot and the brush instantly worked it out without pain.
Normally it takes me a good 15 minutes to work through my own hair. This took less than 60 seconds. And it made my hair look healthy. Without stripping away follicles at the root or turning the curls into frizz.
I was so psyched. The next step was trying it on my child.
Literally no reaction.
It was like magic.
The brush did its thing in less than a minute with zero additional detangling products. Suddenly our morning routine was no longer filled with chaos and anxiety. In fact, my kid’s even using the brush themselves rather than hiding from the process.
I will say the UNbrush somehow works better on dry hair than wet hair. But even with wet hair, it’s infinitely faster and less painful than any other brush I’ve ever tried.
As soon as I realized what I had found, I immediately ordered two more. I was getting ready for one to break, like I had experienced with the Wet brush, and I didn’t want to get caught unprepared.
But GUESS WHAT? This thing does not break! It doesn’t look like it would be the sturdiest brush you’ve ever tried, but by some feat of engineering that I don’t understand, it holds up to even the toughest knots like it’s nothing.
(I am still glad I ordered more, though, because as with all things kids, we’ve lost one. It’s probably with the socks that disappear in the laundry.)
Femme Frugality readers get 10% off their UNbrush order
The UNbrush is priced similarly to a Wet brush. And I’ve already told you how unhappy I was with that price point when the handle was breaking every time. The UNbrush was actually worth the price because I didn’t have to keep replacing it every month or two.
Even still, I wanted to find a way to save you all more money. So I reached out to FHI Heat to see if they could hook you up. And they agreed. Here’s your coupon code:
Use code FEMMEFRUGALITY to get 10% off at checkout!
Oh, and just so you know, you’ve got options. You can go sparkly:
You can get it in sky blue: 
You can opt for Stillers colors:
You can even get a fancy spiral option:
The best part is, that FEMMEFRUGALITY code will get you 10% off your entire cart. So if you end up wanting to try FHI Heat’s other products, go for it. I’ve only ever tried the UNbrush, but given how wildly successful it’s been, I’ll likely be trying more of their products in the near future here.
Because it’s been worth every penny and then some.