Shave Brush - Sources of Brush Hair

Sources of Brush Hair

Because badgers are a protected species in North America and most of Europe, virtually all commercial badger hair comes from mainland China, which supplies knots of hair in various grades to brush makers in both China and Europe. In rural Northern China, badgers multiply to the point of becoming a crop nuisance, and village cooperatives are licensed by the national government to hunt badgers and sell the hair to processors.

Boar bristles are available cheaply from many sources. Brushes made in China or India with boar bristle are supplied wholesale for less than $1 each, while even the cheapest wholesale Badger brush costs at least $10; even the cost difference between badger brushes with resin handles vs. expensive horn handles shows that, except with exotic materials such as sterling silver, special woods, ivory, bone or custon materials, badger hair is the costliest element of a brush. While it is common for boar-hair brushes to have part of the bristles dyed to resemble badger hair, at least one Chinese company has begun offering a badger-hair substitute made from small horse hair. Brushes with nylon-only bristles are made in India.

Read more about this topic:  Shave Brush

Famous quotes containing the words sources of, sources, brush and/or hair:

    I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
    —P.J. (Patrick Jake)

    Poverty is the result of bad adjustment between the soul and its desires.... In the days of great poverty, I did not mind the sensation of hunger.... But ... to be deprived of tooth paste, to brush the teeth without it, was a dreadful thing, a daily discomfort.
    Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)

    Fair maid, white and red,
    Comb me smooth, and stroke my head;
    And every hair a sheave shall be,
    And every sheave a golden tree.
    George Peele (1559–1596)