Before I was afraid of very curly hair brushing my baby 20 months, because the friction of the pillow still left sparkling with dreadlocks in the back ... I always put argan oil before brush gently from bottom and without drawing but it was not a cakewalk. I saw my husband take the Tangle Teezer frankly dry and brush my little man! I thought I would scream and maybe not. he did not flinch, it does not look to shoot him at all and now takes the brush for brushing alone! Personally I still gently even with Tangle Teezer but actually it is no longer an ordeal. For my hair, not particularly tangled, it is very flexible and I have to spend more time because the spikes fold instead of pulling on the nodes, so he must brush longer but more hair pulled !!!