I've brushed-out my locks before. It's not impossible. Requires one helluva lotta patience and time and effort. I cut my locks to about 4" in length, then got to them with a whole bottle of conditioner, and a metal comb. I ended-up with a buncha blisters on my hands, and broke the metal comb in two different places. But I got them out. I had to trim about another inch of the ends, as they were kinda straw-like, but after a fw washes, the rest of the remaining hair settled down and looked fine. It's not something you can really know (i.e. how they're gonna look, or what condition they'll be in) until you actually do it though...