Dad’s short answer: Some will on any vacuum — anyone promising zero tangle is overselling. What separates machines is whether hair migrates off the ends where you can pull it free, or winds into a rope in the middle that needs scissors.

What a good anti-tangle design looks like

The good ones use a fin or rubber-style roller rather than stiff bristles, with a comb or scraper built into the housing that strips hair off as the roller turns. It ends up in the bin instead of on the brush.

The ones that struggle use bristle rollers that grab hair and hold it in the middle. Over a few weeks that builds into a rope, which slows the roller, strains the motor and eventually works into the end bearing. That's how a brush roll dies.

One point in favour of corded uprights: on most of them the brush roll pops straight out for cleaning, and plenty ship with a small comb for exactly this job. Two minutes a month and the machine stays like new.

The spots people forget

The axle ends, where hair packs into a hard donut that stops the roller spinning freely. There's usually a cap that pops off.

The wand and hose on a corded machine. Hair and lint collect at the bends, and a partial clog there quietly kills your suction while the machine sounds perfectly normal.

The handheld brush head. These are the smallest brushes and they wrap fastest — on the handheld I rated highest, occasionally cutting hair off the head was one of the things I listed under what to know.

If anyone in your house has long hair, or you've got a shedder, treat brush design as a top-three spec rather than a nice-to-have.

Dad’s Take: Every vacuum tangles a little. The question is whether it costs you two minutes a month or ten minutes a week.