From what I understand, a lot of ladies are finger combing and smoothing their hair with their hands. I am not there yet and I would imagine that this method becomes easier as your hair gets longer. When I am a full APL I will attempt to use this method more often. Now I am using my seamless combs and it does not seem to be causing any adverse effects.
These are the two that I use:
Another thing that makes me wonder about the no combing thing is that maybe it does not reduce the breakage in your hair it just hides it because when you smooth and detangle your hair with your fingers it is less likely that you will see any broken strands, with a comb it is much more evident. This is a method I will try to use but if it does not work for me I don't think it will be such a big deal.
I haven't brushed my hair in over a year, I am going to have to ween myself off of combing if that is the right thing to do.