I mostly use my Denman brush under the shower, with conditioner on the hair, in sections and with the help of water pressure. If I'm doing a bun, after detangling each section in braids, I'll unbraid all the sections, detangle again and pray that each hair trand doesn't try to hug eachother a la Ladylibra.
I don't usually brush it down but rather apply the moisturizers and sealers (when I remember to seal) and maybe some aloe vera gel (the kind you can apply on sun burns since I'm trying to get rid of this products from years back before I knew LHFC) and tie it down with a scarf. That's good enough for me!
But I ain't gonna lie, one time I decided to brush with my Denman boar bristle brush and oooo wee it looked so good! I only brushed the surface of the hair to lay it down. Now I can see what I've been missing! But I don't do it often at all. This year I did it more though (like 5 times I think).
Hopefully, my shea butter will help smooth the hair out...