Why badger hair? Why not the thousands of other fur animals?

I've read a small bit on why badger hair is "ideal", namely that they're soft and that they absorb water just as human hair does. And, there are other grades within badger hairs... But, why not any other animal species, besides boar? Is it out of convention and/or availability of the furs en masse for the given quality? Is there hair from a different species that is superior in quality, durability, etc. (besides, say, endangered animals)? Or, how about a specific camel species that only roam the Sahara desert region? Or, how about Asiatic bears? Or, is, say, the hairs from a horse in the butt region where cordovan leather comes from "better"? Or, how about from a donkey's... I acknowledge that a lot of this has to do with preferences, but there seems to be a general consensus, at least as far as the shaving brush industry is concerned, as they seem set with badger hair as the gold standard.

I'm not suggesting we go out and hunt all these animals or whatnot just to find out - I'm simply questioning why badger hair is the most commonly accepted hair used to make shaving brushes, and/or if there is a better alternative, whatever better may mean with respect to (e.g. durability, softness, etc.).

Thanks in advance.

Besides badger, swine's hair and horse hair is used as well. Maybe the reason is that badger has quite long hair in the fur. I have three dogs, two have short hair, i.e. too short for anything brushwise, one has longer hair, but this is way too soft. I think badger is used because it has the proper length and does not lose its resilience even when the hair is sticking some 60 mm out of the handle.

Hmm ... different animals ... ever tried to pluck a lion's manes, for instance?

I think that badger, horse, and boar were both convenient and available. Badgers because they were hunted for their pelt anyway, and horse plus boar for obvious reasons.

I am sure that through the millennia, all varieties of hair have been tried and the choices have come down to badger, boar, and horse. I am guessing that we are the beneficiaries of all this trial and error.

BSAGuy said:

I am sure that through the millennia, all varieties of hair have been tried and the choices have come down to badger, boar, and horse. I am guessing that we are the beneficiaries of all this trial and error.

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A giraffe hair knot would be cool though.

That's good, Eeyore!

Eeyore said:

A giraffe hair knot would be cool though.

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I thought I read somewhere that badger shaving brushes first showed up in France in the 1700's. I'm sure there was a period of trial and error. Badger brushes were a luxury item, more so back then, only for rich people. My guess is that high end brush makers experimented with a number of different wild animal furs before landing on badger as the ideal. How many animal's have hair that has just the right combination of length, softness and backbone for making a brush to use on the face? I suspect, but don't have any proof, that boar and horse brushes evolved along a different, more utilitarian, line. For one thing, horse hair shaving brushes were far more common in Europe before World War I, when an anthrax scare shut down production. Horses and pigs are common animals, easy to get the hair from, and make brushes that work well enough.

Maybe a good experiment would be to take the phylogenetic tree of badgers and try hair from the most closely related species?

Maybe skunk would technically also work but getting the funk out of that one might be tough.
Just a wild guess and I am not gonna scrape off some road kill and try for myself

I want a sasquatch knot. Or Yeti. Set in a Unicorn horn handle

iPen said:

I've read a small bit on why badger hair is "ideal", namely that they're soft and that they absorb water just as human hair does. And, there are other grades within badger hairs... But, why not any other animal species, besides boar? Is it out of convention and/or availability of the furs en masse for the given quality? Is there hair from a different species that is superior in quality, durability, etc. (besides, say, endangered animals)? Or, how about a specific camel species that only roam the Sahara desert region? Or, how about Asiatic bears? Or, is, say, the hairs from a horse in the butt region where cordovan leather comes from "better"? Or, how about from a donkey's... I acknowledge that a lot of this has to do with preferences, but there seems to be a general consensus, at least as far as the shaving brush industry is concerned, as they seem set with badger hair as the gold standard.

I'm not suggesting we go out and hunt all these animals or whatnot just to find out - I'm simply questioning why badger hair is the most commonly accepted hair used to make shaving brushes, and/or if there is a better alternative, whatever better may mean with respect to (e.g. durability, softness, etc.).

Thanks in advance.

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I was under the impression that badger hair is hydrophobic. Boar definitely does absorb water though.

Because shaving is supposed to be macho and badgers and boars are rough, tough, SOB's. It's all about being a REAL MAN

Would Chuck Norris shave with a bunny tail brush? I...don't...think...so

My porcupine brush has great scritch.

Why limit yourself to fur?

August West said:

My porcupine brush has great scritch.

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I find that my goose down brush is about as soft as a pillow.

paintflinger said:

I was under the impression that badger hair is hydrophobic. Boar definitely does absorb water though.

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Don't know where that idea comes from. Badger absolutely absorbs water

BradtheImpaler said:

Because shaving is supposed to be macho and badgers and boars are rough, tough, SOB's. It's all about being a REAL MAN

Would Chuck Norris shave with a bunny tail brush? I...don't...think...so

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Chuck Norris shaves with the whole bunny, one that he chased down and caught his bare hands

Musikmann said:

Maybe a good experiment would be to take the phylogenetic tree of badgers and try hair from the most closely related species?

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Actually that would be otters?

Eeyore said:

Actually that would be otters?

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You are probably correct. And I think the weasel family and they have recently determined badgers and skunks are closely related.

Musikmann said:

You are probably correct. And I think the weasel family and they have recently determined badgers and skunks are closely related.

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Somehow a skunk hair brush sounds problematic lol

Sable hair is used for artist paintbrushes. Also camel hair and goat hair. I suspect camel would be rough, and the other two might be a bit floppy.

Other gents have already noted that you want long fibers that hold water reasonably well, and are reasonably soft but have some backbone. The source also needs to be adequate to demand. Horse hair and pig bristle ought to qualify, and apparently we have enough badger too.

But brushes in the USA have aways been made of imported materials, even the boars and horses. During WWII this was a problem, so bristles were rationed and various companies explored domestic alternatives. I understand that these included steer tail hair, and was also the first time nylon brushes were made. But once the war was over we went right back to badgers and boars.

Parenthetically the badgers in the USA are not at all the same as Eurasian badgers. However I have never heard exactly why they might be unsuitable for brushes, game laws aside.

I've read that goat hair has been used for shave brushes, I'm not 100% sure it is correct though.

Getting the skunk out of the skunk is pretty doable. I've gotten it out of my dog several times : ). This article from 1911 references artist brushes made from skunk. Here is a modern article talking about different properties of hair for brushes. If anyone wants to try skunk, I've seen several pelts for sale on the bay.

At one point when I was researching Zenith brushes, I came accross a reference to cosmetic brushes they made from skunk. I realize now that it was a mistranslation from google. They were probably referring to the European polecat.

Parenthetically the badgers in the USA are not at all the same as Eurasian badgers. However I have never heard exactly why they might be unsuitable for brushes, game laws aside.

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I thought that most badger was farmed these days. The temperament of the Eurasian and American badger are significantly different, I wouldn't want to try to handle an American one.