There’s very little white space in beauty, even though many brand founders want you to think there is. But one area that has remained mostly untapped is the hairbrush market. We have plastic, drugstore brushes (such as Tangle Teezer, Wet Brush and Unbrush) and luxury, high-end brushes (Mason Pearson, La Bonne Brosse, Yves Durif). There aren’t a ton of options for quality hair brushes in the middle — and there’s very little out there for travel.

That’s what Founder Isabella Di Stefano wants to change with her new brand, Original Heir. “Most people have no idea what hairbrush they should be using, what the bristles are actually doing or why one brush costs $10 and another costs $200,” she tells Fashionista via email. “Bristle material, flexibility, spacing and placement all change the way a brush interacts with your hair, and I felt those should be driving the product decisions.”

Di Stefano felt like the brush category was making customers choose between “something smart and something beautiful,” and she wanted both. She questioned why travel brush handles are so tiny, why the bristles are exposed inside your bag and other pain points, and set out to create a solution. But she also wanted it to be a tool “you actually want to pull out in public.”

Pronta Smooth

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That starts with two fully enclosed folding travel brushes: Pronta Smooth ($69) and Pronta Untangled ($59). The former features natural boar and gem-infused nylon bristles to help reduce static while smoothing the hair. The latter uses widely spaced, gem-infused TPEE bristles to work through tangles without brushing out your style.

Two full-size versions are coming in mid-November and are available for pre-order: Bella Paddle Brush ($99) and Doppio Paddle Brush ($89). Bella is for smoothing, with the same natural boar and gem-infused nylon bristles as the Pronta Smooth, but with a sculptural, metal design. Doppio is designed to be used when your hair is wet or dry (hence the name meaning “double” in Italian) and has the same bristle technology as Pronta Untangled. Both have elongated handles designed for better grip, control and reach.

Bella Paddle Brush

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Since Di Stefano has a background in creative strategy, consumer behavior and brand-building, with experience at Calvin Klein, Barbie and the CFDA, she partnered with bioengineer and hair scientist Sareena Karim (who previously worked with K18, L’Oréal and Dove) to experiment with different materials and bristle combinations, developing solutions to common hairbrush-related concerns such as static, breakage and uneven oil distribution.

“We think very carefully about what we put on our hair, but much less about the tool physically interacting with it every day,” Karim said in a statement. “Brushing involves friction, tension, static and mechanical forces, so the design of the brush matters. Our goal was to look closely at those interactions and create tools that are more thoughtful about how hair actually behaves.”

Photo: Kat Irlin/Courtesy of Original Heir

Original Heir is also making a case for the hairbrush as a beauty accessory in its own right. With chrome finishes, natural gemstones and sculptural silhouettes, the collection feels closer to something you’d display on a vanity than a tool you’d toss into a bathroom drawer. It’s a deliberate departure from the austere designs that have long dominated the category, and one that taps into the growing appetite for everyday objects that feel special.

“Beauty can get so serious. I love nostalgia, glamour, fantasy and the idea of making something as familiar as a hairbrush feel exciting again,” Di Stefano said. “We can be rigorous about the science and still have a lot of fun with the world around it.”

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