Brushes with Death
31 July 2008As a result of contemplating eventual replacement of my shaving brush, I have been looking into how three sorts of animal hair are harvested — badger, boar, and horse.
A type of badger bristle is used for the finest sorts of shaving brushes, but these bristles are got from killed badgers. As much as I would like a high-quality shaving brush, I do not want to do anything to promote the killing of badgers. (Their populations could be controlled without slaughter.)
Other shaving brushes (like some hair brushes) are made with boar bristles. Most boar bristles seem to come from killed boars, but there is actually at least one firm that shears living boars to harvest their bristles. I'll look into brushes from such a source.
(I can also get a synthetic-bristle shaving brush, though by all accounts these are inferior to natural-bristle brushes.)
I was under the impression that some shave brushes were made with horse hair, but seem to have been mistaken on that score. [Up-Date (2 August): I have indeed found some horse-hair shaving brushes.] In any event, I learned that some horses are raised for the hair of their manes or tails, which is clipped, but that most horse hair comes from slaughtered horses.
Tags: badgers, boars, bristles, brushes, fur, hair, horses, shaving, shaving brushes
Taylor's of Old Bond Street makes an imitation badger shaving brush that is supposed to be quite good for a synthetic bristle.
I have not tried it yet myself, but I plan to buy one when our shaving brush is due for replacement. I might even buy a wee one in a travelling case to show people my magnificent imitation badger.
Excellent! Thank you for that datum! I'm not actually sure that a shaving brush is made from shorn boar bristles (though I know that other sorts of brushes are), and perhaps this synthetic badger is better than natural boar.
I've found another firm, Omega Brush, which sells synthetic badger shaving brushes.
Badger & Blade offers a of reviews of eight different synthetic-bristle shaving brushes, and notes the existence of four more. Additionally, I found one from the Gentleman's Shop and another from L'Occitane:
Some raised, some razed.
Res verus.
Plenty of information about horse shaving brushes here: http://www.pogonotomy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=441
And here: http://www.bruceonshaving.com/2010/11/23/669/
Horse hair makes fantastic shaving brushes and was the hair of choice before an anthrax scare at the beginning of the 20th century (now no longer a problem).
The horse brushes we can easily buy in the West come from Spain and Turkey. I have and use both and can recommend them.
I hope this helps.
I'd like to see a reference to substantiate any claim that the horse hair used for shaving brushes (or for specific varieties of shaving brushes) is not derived from slaughtered horses. Most (though not all) horse hair used more generally is derived from slaughtered horses.
If I could obtain a horse hair shave brush without contributing to the death of the horse, I would certainly want to do so.