For consumers with textured hair, the ability to pass a brush or comb through wet hair with minimal snagging, tangling or friction is vital for treating and styling the hair more easily and for minimizing hair breakage. Conditioning products for textured hair, therefore, are designed to be very lubricating, and usually contain higher than average levels of conditioning agents such as silicones, vegetable oils and vegetable butters.

This test for textured hair uses small, custom-made bundles of coily hair.  After treatment with test products, the hair is kept moist throughout the testing by lightly spraying it with water.  An Instron tensile tester measures the frictional forces as hair tresses are pulled through a wide-toothed comb at a controlled rate.

Validation studies have shown that the test can discriminate between different levels of conditioning on coily hair. This ease of comb test can, therefore, be used to support a wide range of product claims (softness, smoothness, moisturization, etc).