Something being done to someone by someone else

Question

How would I say someone else is doing something to another person and not themselves? Like if my mom is a hair stylist and she's combing someone else's hair.  Like in "Mi madre se peina el pelo con un cepillo nuevo." Would I need to put something like "el pelo de la mujer" or with the personal a like "el pelo a la mujer"

Answer

Hola Nevaeh
If you want to say that your mum is combing a lady's hair, you'd say:
Mi madre le peina el pelo a la mujer.
or more simply:
Mi madre peina a la mujer.
The first one is using an indirect object pronoun (le) and the indirect object too (a la mujer).
The second one is simplified and is using the verb peinar (el pelo is implicit, so no need to mention it) with a direct object, this object being the lady. It has "a" because it is a direct object referring to people so it's a personal "a".
I hope it's helpful.
Saludos
Inma