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:

    On board ship there are many sources of joy of which the land knows nothing. You may flirt and dance at sixty; and if you are awkward in the turn of a valse, you may put it down to the motion of the ship. You need wear no gloves, and may drink your soda-and-brandy without being ashamed of it.
    Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)

    The sources of poetry are in the spirit seeking completeness.
    Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)

    I brush my hair,
    waiting in the pain machine for my bones to get hard,
    for the soft, soft bones that were laid apart
    and were screwed together. They will knit.
    And the other corpse, the fractured heart,
    I feed it piecemeal, little chalice. I’m good to it.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
    —Bible: Hebrew Song of Solomon 4:1.