Detangling Brush Comparison: Tangle Teezer vs Lady Jayne

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How to cite: Wong M. Detangling Brush Comparison: Tangle Teezer vs Lady Jayne. Lab Muffin Beauty Science. July 1, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://labmuffin.com/detangling-brush-comparison-tangle-teezer-vs-lady-jayne/

I’ve been really enjoying the Tangle Teezer, a brush with soft bristles designed to minimise breakage. I’ve been using it to quickly but gently detangle my fragile bleached hair, with much less breakage than the wide-toothed comb I was using before.

I did need a second portable hairbrush though, and since the Lady Jayne Tanglepro Detangling Brush (RRP $13.99 AUD) is less than half the price of the Tangle Teezer Compact Styler (RRP $29.95 AUD), it seemed like it’d be worth a try.

Lady Jayne Tangle Teezer comparison

How does a detangling brush work?

The idea behind these detangling brushes is that they contain thin, smooth, flexible bristles of varying lengths. As these go through your hair, they’ll flex and slide away if they meet resistance rather than break your hair strands. While some people have reported greater breakage with the Tangle Teezer and some hair dressers discourage using them, a lot of people (including me) have seen less breakage – I think it’s a matter of still being gentle and patient when using it, even though there’s a lot less resistance!

Lady Jayne vs Tangle Teezer

Here are the two brushes:

Lady Jayne Tangle Teezer comparison

Brush shape

The Lady Jayne brush is an oval, while the Tangle Teezer is ergonomically shaped to fit your hand, so holding the Tangle Teezer is a more comfortable experience – however, I don’t think it’ll make a huge impact unless you take a long time to brush your hair or if you have very small or weak hands (if your hands are small and holding a regular brush by the paddle is painful, I think a brush with a regular handle would be more appropriate, although my hands are relatively small for an adult woman and I have no trouble with these).

Bristle cover

The biggest drawcard for me for these brushes is the brush cover – it protects the thin detangling bristles when it’s in your bag. The design of the cover is the biggest difference in my opinion. The Lady Jayne brush attaches to the cover with two prongs, while the Tangle Teezer attaches with a wide tab.

Lady Jayne Tangle Teezer cover design

I’m sure this isn’t a problem if you carefully line up the prongs and holes each time, but I managed to mangle a bristle the third time I used the Lady Jayne brush. In contrast, it’s a lot harder to accidentally mess up the Tangle Teezer – I regularly put the cover on without looking.

There’s a slightly larger gap between the shortest bristles of the Lady Jayne brush and the brush cover, so it’s a bit more susceptible to being damaged in your bag. The tab design of the Tangle Teezer is also a sturdier than the rather wiggly Lady Jayne cover. The Tangle Teezer cover doesn’t gape as much with pressure, again protecting the bristles more:

Tangle Teezer bristles lid

Lady Jayne bristles lid

This is a non-issue if you’re going to keep the brush at home and you aren’t an impatient sod like me, but if you’re planning to carry it in around your handbag, the Lady Jayne brush is going to get damaged a lot more easily.

Bristles

Both brushes have very smooth, slender bristles. The Lady Jayne brush has 3 lengths of bristles, while the Tangle Teezer has 2 lengths, which I don’t think makes much of a difference in terms of how well they work. A couple of the longer bristles on the Lady Jayne brush had a very slightly rough bump – I’m not sure if it’s a manufacturing defect, or damage from use.

Lady Jayne bristles

Tangle Teezer bristles

The Lady Jayne bristles are slightly stiffer than the Tangle Teezer bristles, and they lose their shape a lot more easily. I’ve actually used the Tangle Teezer a lot more than the Lady Jayne brush, even though the Lady Jayne’s bristles are more warped – nowhere near enough to warrant a replacement yet, but the Lady Jayne brush will eventually need to be replaced earlier.

Performance

Performance-wise, the brushes are pretty darn similar. I felt perhaps the slightest bit more resistance with the Lady Jayne brush, but I can’t be entirely sure it isn’t just me projecting. Both feel a lot better than a regular hairbrush on my hair, detangling it faster and with less resistance and breakage. On my hair, there’s less breakage than with a wide-toothed comb.

One difference between the two brushes in use is just the sound the brush makes as it goes through your hair. It seems really petty to even bring it up, but the Lady Jayne brush seems to amplify and echo the sound of the bristles compared to the Tangle Teezer, which makes it a less pleasant experience to use. This is probably the main reason I find myself reaching for the Tangle Teezer over the Lady Jayne brush when I have the choice.

It isn’t even a reflection of how harsh the brush is at detangling your hair – the brushes make the same sound when you brush your pants, for instance. I’m sure a lot of market research went into dampening the sound of the Tangle Teezer bristles!

Looks

The Tangle Teezer wins easily in this department – it comes in a huge range of colours and patterns to suit every taste, including several Hello Kitty designs, glitter finishes, metallics, ombres“man-friendly” black… even Shaun the Sheep. It’s ridiculous.

The Lady Jayne brush comes in pink and black. There’s a mythical white and gold limited edition version that’s $3 more, but I’ve never managed to find it in person. The pink part is has a weird tick-shaped dent, and is a little translucent so you can see some of the black through it. It really isn’t the biggest issue if you’re just looking for a hairbrush that works, but if you’re into premium looking tools this won’t be the one.

Price

The Lady Jayne obviously wins in this department, although the Tangle Teezer is still pretty budget-friendly as far as hair brushes go. The Lady Jayne brush is also sold at Chemist Warehouse as well as Priceline, so it goes on sale a bit more often (at the time of writing, it was half price at Chemist Warehouse AND 40% off at Priceline).

Tangle Teezer is also sold at Mecca, so it might be useful for those of you who are trying to keep up your level in the Mecca Loop loyalty program.

Verdict

In my opinion, the biggest difference between the two brushes is the build quality. The Tangle Teezer brush is more robust overall: in the materials used and the general design. If you’re not sure about detangling brushes and you’re on a tight budget, it might be worth trying out the Lady Jayne one to get a feel for whether they might work for you before forking out for a Tangle Teezer. However, the Tangle Teezer is built to last longer, which I think makes the higher price worth it if you’re going to be using it daily.

The Tangle Teezer was provided for editorial consideration, which did not affect my opinion. This post also contains affiliate links – if you decide to click through and support Lab Muffin financially (at no extra cost to you), thank you! For more information, see Disclosure Policy.


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