Thread: Source for Badger Hair

Originally Posted by Utopian

The conclusion of that paper is that a basic tenet of evolution has been reinforced for the ten thousandth time.

More like 100,000th at least.

Shearing Badgers. *sigh*

X

Cornelius' post shows exactly how these rumors start. Dovo or another brush maker mentions their hair is sourced in Europe, or from a European supplier. Exactly what most of use, and most dealers would want us to think. The supplier though buys iin Asia. Now there may be a real European producer but for the most part the asian rumors seem to pan out.

So, Badger hair is indeed sourced in Europe (sort of) but originates in Asia. Now we know "the rest of the story".

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

So, Badger hair is indeed sourced in Europe (sort of) but originates in Asia. Now we know "the rest of the story".

Sourced in Europe, originating from Asia, From European badger (species) which live in Asia.

Perfectly clear, how did we fail to understand it sooner?

What's being said in the last few posts makes the most sense. And Tony, I wondered if there is confusion when suppliers in Europe are involved which makes it easy to fall in the trap of thinking that the hair is also European. And yet I think that it's possible that a small amount of hair is European in origin. A small cottage industry like Semogue is the kind of place that, if such a thing were possible, that's where you'd find it. Leon is still sleuthing to get the final answer. In any event, I think that it's healthy to air out controversial subjects like this instead of squeching attempts to do so. We all learn more when we're challenged.

Originally Posted by blaireau

All, I found this link on this subject. It appears that a group of scientists studied the DNA of several European shaving brushes and came up with the startling discovery that most of the badger hair used if from the Eurasian badger! Here is the link.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...ef32af406b1427

That's quite an achievement, since hair doesn't contain DNA, and if the hairs aren't ripped out of the skin no tissue (the hair sac) comes with it, which is the only source for DNA from strands of hair. This is at least how it applies to humans, and since most mammals grow hair the same way I wouldn't suspect it to be much different in badgers.