Po prysznicu biorę szczotkę i grzebień, żeby włosy wyglądały lepiej.

Prysznicu is the locative singular of prysznic.

The preposition po often means after, and in that meaning it normally takes the locative:

• po prysznicu = after a shower / after showering
• po obiedzie = after dinner
• po pracy = after work

So the base form is prysznic, but after po it changes to prysznicu.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Polish has no articles, so po prysznicu can correspond to:

• after the shower
• after a shower
• after my shower
• after showering

In this sentence, the natural interpretation is simply after showering or after my shower.

Biorę is the 1st person singular present tense of brać, meaning to take.

So:

• ja biorę = I take

In this sentence it describes a habit or routine:

• Po prysznicu biorę szczotkę i grzebień = After the shower, I take a brush and a comb.

A learner may compare it with wezmę from wziąć. The difference is aspect:

• brać / biorę = imperfective, often used for repeated or habitual actions
• wziąć / wezmę = perfective, often used for one complete future action

So biorę is the natural choice for something I do as part of my routine.

Both words are direct objects, so they are in the accusative case.

But different nouns change differently:

• szczotka is feminine

  • nominative: szczotka
  • accusative: szczotkę

• grzebień is masculine inanimate

  • nominative: grzebień
  • accusative: grzebień (same form)

So:

• biorę szczotkę = I take a brush
• biorę grzebień = I take a comb

This is very normal in Polish: some accusative forms change visibly, and some do not.

In Polish, włosy is normally used as a plural noun for the hair on someone’s head.

• włos = one hair
• włosy = hair

So Polish often uses plural where English uses a mass noun:

• Mam długie włosy = I have long hair
• Umyłem włosy = I washed my hair

That is why the verb later also agrees in the plural: włosy wyglądały.

Here żeby means so that or in order that.

It introduces a purpose clause:

• Po prysznicu biorę szczotkę i grzebień, żeby włosy wyglądały lepiej.
• After the shower I take a brush and a comb so that my hair looks better.

So the second part explains the purpose of taking the brush and comb.

Do not confuse it with bo, which means because:

• bo = because
• żeby = so that / in order to

That is a very common question.

After żeby, Polish uses verb forms that look like past tense, but here they do not express past time. Instead, they express something like:

• would look
• should look
• look, in a purpose/wish/intended-result sense

So:

• żeby włosy wyglądały lepiej = so that the hair would look better / so that the hair looks better

Why wyglądały specifically?

Because włosy is plural non-masculine-personal, and the verb agrees with it:

• one wyglądały
• włosy wyglądały

So even though the form resembles past tense, in this structure it is just the normal pattern after żeby.

Because lepiej is an adverb, and that is what Polish normally uses with wyglądać in this kind of sentence.

• dobrze = well
• lepiej = better

So:

• wyglądać lepiej = to look better

By contrast, lepsze is an adjective form meaning better when describing a noun directly, for example:

• lepsze włosy = better hair

But in your sentence, we are not saying better hair as a noun phrase. We are saying the hair looks better, so lepiej is correct.

Because Polish often omits possessive pronouns when the owner is obvious from context.

Here it is clear that the speaker is talking about their own hair, so włosy naturally means my hair.

You could say:

• żeby moje włosy wyglądały lepiej

But that sounds more explicit or emphatic. In normal everyday Polish, leaving out moje is very common.

Yes.

• żeby = very common, everyday, neutral in speech
• aby = more formal or literary

So this sentence could also be:

• Po prysznicu biorę szczotkę i grzebień, aby włosy wyglądały lepiej.

That is grammatically fine, but in normal conversation żeby is usually more natural.

Polish word order is fairly flexible, but the original sentence sounds natural and neutral:

• Po prysznicu biorę szczotkę i grzebień, żeby włosy wyglądały lepiej.

Starting with Po prysznicu is a very natural way to set the time first: After the shower...

You can move parts around, but the emphasis may change. For example:

• Biorę po prysznicu szczotkę i grzebień...
• Szczotkę i grzebień biorę po prysznicu...

These are possible, but they sound more marked and less neutral.

So for a learner, the original order is a very good model to follow.