Thread: Why a Badger, and not a horse?

I have an antique morris chair that's stuffed w/ horsehair. About 125 years old and still going strong. As for other hair for shaving brushes, I know my dad had an old shaving brush that he picked up in a yard sale before I was born (1951) that was made from sable. I used to watch him shave and he'd swipe my cheek w/ the lather. Even to pre-school skin, I remember it as one of the softest things I've ever felt. Don't know whatever became of it. I suspect he sold it to someone as I remember in high school he bought an Ever Ready boar bristle brush at the corner drug store, and the owner commented it was the first he'd sold in years. One of my nephews got the Ever Ready, I got several of dad's old Gillette Super Speeds and a couple adjustable Fat Boys. I passed some on to family members, and kept 2 Super Speeds.

Another second-hand confirmation on the horse-hair brushes. Fell out of favor WWI (thereabouts) because of anthrax transmission. This is also why so many brush manufacturers stated quite prominently on their wares that their bristles were 'sterilized'. To my knowledge, Simpson's is the only company that still maintains that bit of history on their brush decals.

FWIW,
Ed

Originally Posted by dunkmiller

"Bald as a horse" it just doesn't sound right does it ?

You just reminded me of another possible one....

What about Beaver?


I mean, 'horse' was just a suggestion. My point was, what made them settle on badger, of all the furry creatures roaming this earth, and our propensity to manhandle them....why Badger? Especially, since they are a bit 'reluctant' to give up the ol' coat?

C utz

My understanding is that Badger hair retains water better than any other type of hair.

And it has very soft tips that load up with lather well, while they're gentle on your face.

As I remember from my previuos career in the paint industry:

We sold 100% badger bristles (about $150 a piece) to the artist painter. It was used to soften out brush strokes made by other brushes. In Dutch this is called "dassen" and a "das" is a badger. So, roughly translated: "badgering".

All the other brushes used for house-painting are made of boar. (or for the modern waterbased acrylics, nylon).

The reason badger is used for our shaving brushes might be, of it's great ability to retain water and is soft to the touch. While as boar is retainig water because of its split ends, because of its hard bristles it is not that soft to the touch.

Beaver hair cannot be used for a shaving brush, because of it's natural oils it will not hold any water. (Beavers tend to swim under water...)

So, I think the choices we have are mainly due to the bristles that are/were used for painting.

This also explaines the sable brush from Dennis. Sable brushes are the top for oil paintings and quite expensive too. Sable has gotten far too expensive to produce a affordable shaving brush.

Just my two cents.

I have a horse hair shoe shine brush. Probably about 10 years old or so.

Up in the far north we use wolverine hair, but they don't like it nearly so much so there's a pretty high casualty rate in the industry.

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