Thread: How do you determine what a brush is made of?

My wife gave me a antique mug and brush this morning for Valentine's Day (I've mentioned this in two other posts Junk Shop Finds and Valentine's Day Present):



So what I am trying to determine now is what sort of bristles are on the brush:



They are very soft and pliable.



Does anyone have any ideas?

It is either boar of some synthetic. I never used a synthetic brush, so I'm not strong there. My guess would be boar, just because they are more common than synthetic brushes.

I suppose there would be a burning hair test of sorts, perhaps someone else will chime in? My guess is a synthetic would smell of burning plastic but let's hear what the others have to say.

I also think it is synthetic, boar bristles are much thicker. As a test you can do a test lather, if it stinks a little bit it is definitely a boar. If there´s no sting at all maybe it is a synthetic brush. IMO

Boar, not at all;
that's Baby Virgin Badger, very rare, the little guy never lived long enough to get his bands.

I used this white hair Valentine's Day present brush for the first time today -

Results: it turned into a mass of knotted hair that took me 15 minutes to brush and comb out -

I won't know the results until it drys.

Originally Posted by MrBlimp

I used this white hair Valentine's Day present brush for the first time today -

Results: it turned into a mass of knotted hair that took me 15 minutes to brush and comb out -

I won't know the results until it drys.

That's a typical result with horse. it doesn't look like it but to tell you the truth I have a horsehair shoe brush made in Brazil and it looks exactly like that.

Horsehair; baby virgin badger; whatever it is, the one thing it isn't, is a good brush to work up a lather and spread the lather on your face. That is, unless you want to spend time combing it out after every use.