When was the brush made?

With straighteners, hair dryers, and curling irons at our fingertips it’s easy to overlook one of the staple tools in our haircare arsenal—the hairbrush. Most of us use one every day, whether it’s for a quick detangle or careful styling—but the hairbrush as we know it didn’t always exist.

The history of the hairbrush begins with the comb. Found by archeologists at Paleolithic dig-sites around the world, combs date back to the origins of man-made tools. Carved from bone, wood, and shells, they were initially used to groom hair and keep it free of pests, such as lice. As the comb developed, however, it became a decorative hair ornament used to display wealth and power in countries like China and Egypt. It was from this display of wealth that the comb’s cousin—the hairbrush—was born.
In ancient Egypt all the way to Bourbon France, elaborate hairstyles that include ornate headdresses and wigs have been used to display wealth and social status throughout history. Because of their primary use as a styling tool (instead of a grooming tool), hairbrushes were an indulgence reserved exclusively for those with the money to purchase them. Even as late as the 1880s, each brush was unique and carefully hand-crafted—a task that included carving or forging a handle from wood or metal as well as hand stitching each individual bristle. Because of this, brushes were usually bought and gifted only on special occasions, such as weddings or christenings, and cherished for life. However, as brushes became more popular, brush makers had to create a more mainstream process for manufacturing to keep up with demand.
In 1777, William Kent founded Kent Brushes in Hertfordshire, England, a company which became the first known hairbrush manufacturer. The company created its brushes from wood and bristle—most commonly made from animal hair or feathers—with each brush taking up to 12 individuals to craft. After 230 years, Kent Brushes still holds the title as “the world’s oldest hairbrush manufacturer.”
After reaching significant developmental heights in England, modifications to the classic hairbrush continued overseas in the United States. Multiple entrepreneurs contributed to the development of the hair tool, including Hugh Rock, a designer who patented his ornate brush sets in 1854, as well as Samuel Fiery, whose patented brushes date from 1870 and included not only natural bristles, but also elastic wire teeth.

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And there’s another reason brushes were extremely important with natural bristles and combs made from horn became even more important in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to Susan Holloway Scott, an author of historical fiction who has over 50 books in print and also blogs about history at TwoNerdyHistoryGirls.com. Scott says, “instead of sudsing up with shampoo, women cleaned their hair with a daily brushing regime. First they massaged a fat-based, scented pomatum into their hair to condition it, followed by dusting with a protein-rich powder from ground bones that absorbed the excess oil and dirt like modern dry shampoo. Then came the most important part of the process: a vigorous brushing or combing to sweep out the excess powder and dirt, and also carry the pomatum to the ends of the hair. The result for these ancestors of the ‘no-poo movement’ obtained glossy, conditioned hair that held the elaborate styles of their day.

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It took over 100 years and an industrial revolution before the invention of the automatic brush-boring machine in 1885, which allowed for hairbrushes to be churned out at a more marketable speed. It was in this same year that Mason Pearson also created “the original rubber-cushioned brush,” a design that was perfected in the 1920s and remains popular in most modern hairbrushes.
However, it wasn’t until Lyda Newman entered the hairbrush arena that brushes as we know them today truly took form. In 1898, Newman, an African-American inventor, hairdresser, and women’s rights activist, modified and patented the hairbrush to include durable synthetic bristles as well as a ventilation chamber that enables easier cleaning, along with a storage place for any debris pulled from the scalp or hair. For those who use hair dryers, variations of Lyda Newman’s ventilated brush are likely bathroom staples. However, the creation of the round styling brush is credited to French stylist, Patrick Alès, who in 1965 decided to “break free from styling hair with hot rollers” in favor of creating a “blown out” look using a round brush of his own invention.
Today, there is almost as great a range of hairbrushes as there is an array of hair types. Some brushes, such as the Kent Brushes, are still handcrafted with carefully selected wood and bristles, while others are made exclusively of plastic and rubber. Some brushes are for styling, while others remain simple detangling and grooming tools.
So the next time you grab your favorite brush, take a minute to marvel at the time and innovation that has gone into taming your tresses!

Brush for painting

Paintbrush

Paintbrushes

ClassificationBrushUsesPainting

A paintbrush is a brush used to apply paint or ink. A paintbrush is usually made by clamping bristles to a handle with a ferrule. They are available in various sizes, shapes, and materials. Thicker ones are used for filling in, and thinner ones are used for details. They may be subdivided into decorators' brushes used for painting and decorating and artists' brushes use for visual art.

History

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Paintbrushes were used by man as early as the Paleolithic era in around 2.5 million years ago in order to apply pigment.[1]

Old painting kits, estimated to be around 100,000 years old, were discovered in a cave in what is now modern South Africa.[2]

Ancient Egyptian paintbrushes were made of split palm leaves and used by ancestors to beautify their surroundings. The oldest brushes ever found were also made of animal hair.

Parts

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Brush parts

• Bristles: Transfer paint onto the substrate surface
• Ferrule: Retains the bristles and attaches them to the handle
• Handle: The intended interface between the user and the tool[3]

Trade

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Brushes for use in non-artistic trade painting are geared to applying an even coat of paint to relatively large areas. Following are the globally recognized handles of trade painter's brushes:[4]

• Gourd handle: Ergonomic design that reduces stress on the wrist and hand whilst painting.
• Short handle: The shorter handle provides greater precision when painting small spaces such as corners, trims & detail areas.
• Flat beavertail handle: This shape is rounded and slightly flattened to fit perfectly into the palm of the hand whilst painting.
• Square handle: Square shaped handle with bevelled corners is featured mainly in trim or sash brushes and is comfortable to hold when painting.
• Rat tail handle: This handle is longer & thinner than the standard making it easy to hold to give greater control.
• Long handle: Rounded and thin, a long handle is easy to hold like a pencil giving great control & precision when cutting in & painting tricky spaces.

Brush handle styles

Decorating

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Decorators' brushes

The sizes of brushes used for painting and decorating.

Decorating sizes

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Decorators' brush sizes are given in millimeters (mm) or inches (in), which refers to the width of the head. Common sizes are:

• Metric (mm): 10 • 20 • 40 • 50 • 60 • 70 • 80 • 90 • 100.
• Customary (inches):

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Decorating shapes

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• Angled: For painting edges, bristle length viewed from the wide face of the brush uniformly decrease from one end of the brush to the other
• Flat: For painting flat surfaces, bristle length viewed from the wide face of the brush does not change
• Tapered: Improves control, the bristle length viewed from the narrow face of the brush is longer in the center and tapers toward the edges
• Striker: Large round (cylindrical) brush for exterior painting difficult areas

Decorating bristles

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Bristles may be natural or synthetic. If the filaments are synthetic, they may be made of polyester, nylon or a blend of nylon and polyester. Filaments can be hollow or solid and can be tapered or untapered. Brushes with tapered filaments give a smoother finish.

Synthetic filaments last longer than natural bristles. Natural bristles are preferred for oil-based paints and varnishes, while synthetic brushes are better for water-based paints as the bristles do not expand when wetted.

A decorator judges the quality of a brush based on several factors: filament retention, paint pickup, steadiness of paint release, brush marks, drag and precision painting. A chiseled brush permits the painter to cut into tighter corners and paint more precisely.

Brush handles may be made of wood or plastic while ferrules are metal (usually nickel-plated steel).

Art

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Short handled brushes are usually used for flat or slightly tilted work surfaces such as watercolor painting and ink painting, while long handled brushes are held horizontally while working on a vertical canvas such as for oil paint or acrylic paint.[5]: 51 

Art shapes

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The styles of brush tip seen most commonly are:[6][3][5]: 52–59 

• Round: pointed tip, long closely arranged bristles for detail.
• Flat: for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. They will have longer hairs than their Bright counterpart.
• Bright: shorter than flats. Flat brushes with short stiff bristles, good for driving paint into the weave of a canvas in thinner paint applications, as well as thicker painting styles like impasto work.
• Filbert: flat brushes with domed ends. They allow good coverage and the ability to perform some detail work.
• Fan: for blending broad areas of paint.
• Angle: like the filbert, these are versatile and can be applied in both general painting application as well as some detail work.
• Mop: a larger format brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application as well as for getting thinner glazes over existing drying layers of paint without damaging lower layers to protect the paintbrush
• Rigger: round brushes with longish hairs, traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. They are useful for fine lines and are versatile for both oils and watercolors.
• Stippler and deer-foot stippler: short, stubby rounds
• Liner: elongated rounds
• Dagger: looks like angle with longish hairs, used for one stroke painting like painting long leaves.
• Scripts: highly elongated rounds
• Egbert: a filbert with extra long hair, used for oil painting

Types of brushes Brushes used in one stroke painting

Some other styles of brush include:

• Sumi: Similar in style to certain watercolor brushes, also with a generally thick wooden or metal handle and a broad soft hair brush that when wetted should form a fine tip. Also spelled Sumi-e (墨絵, Ink wash painting).
• Hake (刷毛): An Asian style of brush with a large broad wooden handle and an extremely fine soft hair used in counterpoint to traditional Sumi brushes for covering large areas. Often made of goat hair.
• Spotter: Round brushes with just a few short bristles. These brushes are commonly used in spotting photographic prints.
• Stencil: A round brush with a flat top used on stencils to ensure the bristles don't get underneath. Also used to create texture.

Art sizes

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Artists' brushes are usually given numbered sizes, although there is no exact standard for their physical dimensions. From smallest to largest, the sizes are: 20/0, 12/0, 10/0, 7/0, 6/0, 5/0, 4/0 (also written 0000), 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 2 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch. Brushes as fine as 30/0 are manufactured by major companies, but are not a common size. Sizes 000 to 20 are most common.[3][5]: 51 

Art bristles

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Closeup of an oil paintbrush

Bristles may be natural—either soft hair or hog bristle—or synthetic.[5]: 50  Types include:

• watercolor brushes which are usually made of sable, synthetic sable or nylon;
• oil painting brushes which are usually made of sable or bristle;
• acrylic brushes which are almost entirely nylon or synthetic.

Turpentine or thinners used in oil painting can destroy some types of synthetic brushes. However, innovations in synthetic bristle technology have produced solvent resistant synthetic bristles suitable for use in all media. Natural hair, squirrel, badger or sable are used by watercolorists due to their superior ability to absorb and hold water.

Soft hair brushes

The best of these are made from kolinsky sable, other red sables, or miniver (Russian squirrel winter coat; tail) hair. Sabeline is ox hair dyed red to look like red sable and sometimes blended with it. Camel hair is a generic term for a cheaper and lower quality alternative, usually ox. It can be other species, or a blend of species, but never includes camel. Pony, goat, mongoose and badger hair are also used.

Hog bristle

Often called China bristle or Chungking bristle. This is stiffer and stronger than soft hair. It may be bleached or unbleached.

Synthetic bristles

These are made of special multi-diameter extruded nylon filament, Taklon or polyester. These are becoming ever more popular with the development of new water based paints.

Art handles

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Artists' brush handles are commonly wooden but can also be made of molded plastic. Many mass-produced handles are made of unfinished raw wood; better quality handles are of seasoned hardwood. The wood is sealed and lacquered to give the handle a high-gloss, waterproof finish that reduces soiling and swelling. Many brush companies offer long or short brush handle sizes.

Metal ferrules may be of aluminum, nickel, copper, or nickel-plated steel. Quill ferrules are also found: these give a different "feel" to the brush, and are staple of French-style aquarel wash brushes.

References

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