Like a flat iron but better, hair straightening brushes are supposed to make hairstyling easier and quicker
Straightening brushes are popular on social media because manufacturers claim they provide long-lasting, easy-to-achieve results on all hair types.
By Jodhaira Rodriguez
Straightening brushes are flat irons’ new, cool cousins. Like flat irons, they aren’t meant to be used on wet hair, just on already dry hair. My current routine includes drying my damp hair with the Revlon One-Step Volumizer, immediately followed by a quick pass of a flat iron over the freshly dried hair, but I’m not always happy with the results. (My hair is curly, frizzy, and pretty dry.)
The process takes me anywhere from 1 hour to 90 minutes. Though nothing can really compare to a salon blowout or silk press, I was curious to find out if a straightening brush could up my at-home hair game.
I’d seen a bunch of videos on TikTok of people with different hair types achieving beautiful results with the Tymo Ring.
With those videos as inspiration, three colleagues and I spent two weeks using two of the most popular hair straightening brushes on the market—the Tymo Ring and the Drybar The Brush Crush Heated Straightening Brush—to find out which one, if any, we liked best.
Meet the Evaluators
Three of the four CR staffers who evaluated the Tymo and Drybar hair straightening brushes.
Photo: Jodhaira Rodriguez, Mary Beth Quirk/Consumer Reports, Tasha Massey
Jodhaira Rodriguez
I’m a writer and product tester at Consumer Reports with waist-length, box-dyed curly hair. My 3B-2C curls are dry and frizzy. Usually, I wear my hair natural, but when I straighten my hair, I use a Revlon One-Step Volumizer Hair Dryer and a flat iron. My biggest issue with the Revlon One-Step Volumizer has always been how difficult it is to maneuver around my roots.
Mary Beth Quirk
Mary Beth Quirk, the managing editor of CR’s shopping program, has medium-long naturally red hair. Her fine hair is mostly straight with a few waves. She styles her hair at home a few times per week using a Dyson Supersonic hair dryer, paddle brush, and round brush.
Tasha Massey
Tasha Massey, senior administrative assistant at CR, has 4B/C shoulder-length hair. She straightens her hair regularly at a hair salon and at home but does not use any chemical straighteners. At home, she uses a hair steamer for hydration, then a blow dryer and flat iron to achieve her desired results.
Rashmi Jain
Rashmi Jain, a CR project manager, has waist-length, color-treated hair that she describes as frizzy and low-porosity. She usually styles her hair at home using a blow dryer and round brush.
Tymo Ring Straightening Comb
The Tymo Ring is shaped like a traditional hair comb with smooth, horizontal teeth. Because of the smoothness of the comb’s bristles, hair is not gripped as it passes through the comb—it glides smoothly through the hair just like a comb does, as long as the hair is detangled.
It has five temperature settings that range from 266° F to 410° F. The comb has an auto-shutoff feature that turns the straightening comb off after 30 minutes.
Jodhaira Rodriguez
Jodhaira’s hair before and after styling with the Tymo Ring Straightening Comb.
Photo: Jodhaira Rodriguez/Consumer Reports
The setup: Before using the straightening brushes, I spent about 15 minutes drying my hair with a blow dryer. I did a rough dry with a blow dryer until my hair felt dry to the touch. Then I parted my hair straight down the middle and separated the two halves into several smaller sections. I detangled my hair in the shower with conditioner, but I brushed through each section of hair again after blow drying with the small detangling brush included with the Tymo Ring. I started with the second-highest heat setting (374° F, according to the manufacturer), then switched to the highest setting after the first couple of sections of hair because I felt my hair was straightened better at the higher setting.
How it performed: I was impressed with how well and how quickly it was able to straighten my frizzy, dry hair. Though the smaller surface area meant that I had to straighten smaller sections of hair at a time, it was perfect for the baby hairs at the front of my head. Even with the brush pressed against my scalp, I felt no discomfort from the heat. It did not give me salon-quality results, but my hair looked pretty good. There was some frizz, and the straightener made my dead ends quite a bit more noticeable (I’m way overdue for a haircut), but it didn’t look any worse than when I use my Revlon One-Step Volumizer and flat iron. I wore my hair out for several days with light touch-ups in the morning and received tons of compliments. The brush never became too hot to touch during use.
Its smaller size also meant that styling my hair took longer than with the larger Drybar straightening brush because I had to separate my hair into smaller sections. When I tried the Tymo Ring for a second time, I decided to use the Revlon One-Step Volumizer to dry my hair instead of my blow dryer. This combination gave me the best results of any I’ve ever tried at home. Overall, I loved using this brush, and I plan to buy it for myself so I can finally retire my old flat iron.
Ease of use: The Tymo does not grip onto your hair, so when I just brushed it through a section, I didn’t think that it straightened as well as I wanted it to. To compensate I used my free hand to hold the hair taut while I passed the straightening brush through it. This isn’t a deal breaker for me, but it’s something to keep in mind. But it’s also lightweight, it’s easy to switch between temperatures, and it runs completely quietly. Like with a flat iron, it makes your hair extremely hot, so I had to wait about 30 to 45 seconds after I straightened a section before I could touch my hair. I straightened my hair in about 40 minutes (excluding the 15 minutes I spent blow-drying). It saved me about 30 minutes compared with my usual routine.
Accessories: A glove, two hair clips, a detangling brush, and a storage pouch for the straightener are all included with the Tymo. When I wore the glove on the hand I used to keep my hair taut, I could touch my hair immediately after straightening it with no burning.
Cleaning: When I was done straightening my hair, I removed just a few strands of hair that were stuck in the Tymo Ring. I usually lose a lot more hair than that when I straighten my hair at home and at the hair salon.
Mary Beth Quirk
Mary Beth’s hair before and after styling with the Tymo Ring Straightening Comb.
Photo: Mary Beth Quirk/Consumer Reports
The setup: Before using the straightening brushes, Mary Beth allowed her hair to air dry overnight.
How it performed: It took just 10 minutes to straighten her dry hair with the Tymo Ring. She was happy with how well it straightened her hair and felt it did a better job than a hair dryer. “I like it better than a regular straightener in that the brush aspect is nice, and I think it’s better to have the hair gently guided by the brush tongs than the old straightener I used to use which would sometimes snatch my hair.”
Ease of use: She liked that the heat setting was easy to change and when she accidentally touched the power button while straightening her hair, it didn’t cause the brush to turn off. (The power button has to be pressed pretty firmly to switch the device on and off.) The brush’s small size and lack of grip were two other things she didn’t like. “The plates don’t really grab or hold on to your hair like the Drybar brush, so I had to go over a few spots a few times when my hair wasn’t catching in the brush.”
Accessories: Mary Beth didn’t find the Tymo accessories useful. She tried to use the glove but couldn’t grip her hair right with it on her hand.
Cleaning: Though she didn’t notice any more shedding than usual, if there were any strands of hair on the comb after styling, Mary Beth found it easy to remove them.
Tasha Massey
The setup: For this evaluation, she used both straightening brushes after blow-drying her hair.
How it performed: Tasha had previously bought the Tymo Ring for her daughter who is away at college, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked great on her hair too. With one pass through each section, her hair was straightened from root to end. “You could instantly see the results, and it was very different from the Drybar straightening brush.” The process took her just 10 minutes. She also appreciated that the brush did not become extremely hot to the touch at any point.
Although she was happy with the results, she didn’t think her hair was as smooth as it is after she uses a flat iron. “This would work in between washes when I am wearing certain styles like a ponytail or top knot and need to lay my hair and edges down without the extreme heat of a flat iron.”
Ease of use: She found the straightening brush comfortable to hold and easy to use, and the buttons were easy to reach with one hand.
Cleaning: Tasha described her experience removing strands of hair stuck to the comb as very easy.
Rashmi Jain
How it performed: She described her results with the Tymo Ring as just “okay.” It straightened her hair well but did not handle the frizziness. The Tymo required more styling time than the Drybar straightening brush—about 30 minutes total vs. 15 to 20 minutes with the Drybar model.
Rashmi felt that the Tymo Ring became too hot during use.
Ease of use: She described the brush as comfortable and had no issues switching between settings or removing any hair that became wrapped around the brush during use.
Drybar The Brush Crush Heated Straightening Brush
Unlike the Tymo Ring, the Drybar straightening brush has teeth more akin to a traditional paddle brush. They are smooth so they don’t grip onto hair as it passes through the brush. It has 10 temperature settings ranging from 350° F to 450° F. A small screen on the brush’s handle tells you the temperature the brush is set to at all times. After 1 hour, the brush automatically shuts off.
Jodhaira Rodriguez
Jodhaira’s hair before and after styling with the Drybar straightening brush.
Photo: Jodhaira Rodriguez/Consumer Reports
The setup: Before using the Drybar straightening brush, I washed, detangled, and dried my hair following the same process as with the Tymo Ring. I then straightened my hair with the brush on the highest heat setting.
How it performed: Straightening all my hair took about 30 minutes—10 minutes less than with the Tymo, thanks to its larger size. Though I followed the same prep steps and held my hair taut with one hand just like I did with the Tymo, I felt like my results were pretty different with the Drybar brush. My hair was frizzier than when I straightened it with the Tymo Ring and I wasn’t able to wear it out past the second day because my hair started to curl back up.
I know I blow-dried my hair pretty haphazardly before using both of the straightening brushes, but it was only with the Drybar brush that I heard some alarming sizzling sounds when I brushed through a section of my hair that wasn’t totally bone dry. I also made the mistake of brushing through a small tangle in my hair with this straightening brush and gave myself quite a scare when I noticed the large chunk of hair the brush pulled out of my head. I learned my lesson and detangled each section immediately before straightening it after this.
I liked that this brush clearly indicates the temperature setting while you are using it, but unfortunately, this isn’t the brush for me. It was hard to get the roots totally straight, especially around my forehead.
Ease of use: Switching between temperature settings was easy. Because it is shaped like a paddle brush and is lightweight, it’s also comfortable to hold. Like with the Tymo Ring, I had to hold my hair taut as I brushed through my hair to provide some tension while straightening. The brush makes no noise while it runs.
Accessories: There are no accessories included with the Drybar The Brush Crush Heated Straightening Brush.
Cleaning: The hairs that I pulled out of my head when I brushed through a tangle came off of the teeth very easily too.
Mary Beth Quirk
Mary Beth’s hair before and after styling with the Drybar straightening brush.
Photo: Mary Beth Quirk/Consumer Reports
The setup: Mary Beth prepped her hair by washing it the night before and allowing it to air dry overnight.
How it performed: Mary Beth loved the results she got with this straightening brush—more than with the Tymo Ring. “The grabbiness of the brush is really what does it for me,” she said. “I like it so much better than the traditional clamp of a straightening iron.” She was able to straighten her full head of long hair in just 7 minutes.
She also really liked that the brush maintained the perfect temperature and that her hair stayed at a comfortable-to-touch temperature too.
Though she recommends this brush, there’s one thing she doesn’t like about it—its price. “I’d balk slightly at the price unless it was on sale. I don’t really need or want a straightener, so I wouldn’t personally buy this, but if I did want one, I’d wait for it to be on sale, and then I’d pounce.”
Ease of use: While straightening her hair with the Drybar brush, she described feeling like she was just using a regular hairbrush. She said, “The buttons were great, very easy to use, and they don’t accidentally turn on or off if you hit them, which is nice.”
Tasha Massey
How it performed: Tasha had the same root straightening issues as I did with the Drybar straightening brush. She felt the brush straightened most of her hair well, but not as well as the Tymo Ring. It just could not get her hair straight enough for her liking. It took the same amount of time to straighten her hair with the Drybar brush. However, Tasha would not recommend the Brush Crush Heated Straightening Brush to a friend. “I’m not sure if this is the best product for someone with natural hair if you are trying to achieve silk press results.”
Ease of use: She didn’t notice any hair loss while straightening her hair and found the brush comfortable and easy to use.
Rashmi Jain
How it performed: Rashmi preferred this brush over the Tymo because it allowed her to straighten her hair more quickly. She described her results with the Drybar The Brush Crush Straightening Brush as “very good.”
Ease of use: She also really liked how comfortable the brush’s handle was to grip and its long power cord.
Cleaning: She said it was a little more difficult to remove hair stuck in the brush’s bristles than with the Tymo Ring.
The Bottom Line
The results were split 50/50 in this evaluation.
Mary Beth and Rashmi preferred the Drybar straightening brush while Tasha and I preferred the Tymo Ring. For me, the Tymo Ring’s ability to straighten my hair right at the root was the most important difference between the two models.
But if your goal is styling your hair in as little time as possible and your hair type is more straight/wavy, the Drybar straightening brush could be the better option. For hair with more texture, like Tasha’s and mine, the Tymo Ring is the straightening brush I recommend.
How We Evaluated Hair Straightening Brushes
Tasha Massey, Mary Beth Quirk, Rashmi Jain, and I spent several weeks using the two brushes at home as we would our usual hairstyling devices.
We each made note of the time it took to straighten our hair with each brush, how comfortable and easy to use they were, how well they straightened our hair, how hot they got during use, and whether we noticed any excessive hair loss after using them.
In addition to our at-home testing, I also recorded the temperature of the two brushes’ handles and heating surface after 10 minutes of use at the highest temperature.
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