Badger hair shaving brushes - source????

J

jfk

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So I've just started the introduction to the world of real traditional wet shaving. I've used a cheapo starter DE razor (and love it!) and ordered a starter 'kit' .... but I'm a bit concerned about the source of badger hair brushes. As a fairly ethically-minded shopper and a vegetarian too, I'm a bit worried about exactly where do the badger pelts come from for badger hair brushes? .... answers on a postcard please....
 
Mostly from China as far as I'm aware.

If you dont like the idea of using a badger hair brush, there are alternatives. There are boar hair brushes, also, natural and synthetic bristle brushes.

Paul @ connaught shaving has a good selection of all of the above.
 
This one is a can of worms!

China doesn't have the greatest record for animal welfare (or human for that matter) so many people are not hugely comfortable about badger hair. Personally I have concerns but they are not sufficient to stop me buying the odd badger brush. I just do so knowing that there is a possibility that the animal which died to make my brush may not have been dispatched as humanely as I would wish.

I have just ordered a horse brush (the horses are not killed to harvest the hair) and am keen to see how that performs.
 
Anyone who has concerns about badger hair should just stick to imitations and synthetic brushes. They can create adequate lather and if applied paint style will give a wholly satisfactory shave.
Not quite relevant, but I've just been watching a badger paint brush being used to clean a Turner painting at Petworth House. The woman using it could not explain where the hair came from when asked by the presenter! She just said it was the best hair to use.
 
I have family in agriculture. My father grew up on a farm. The general joke in Denmark where I'm from is: "Ohh, your brother got the farm, that means you are either a surveyor or a policeman. He's a policeman...

Back to the thread:
The animals that are "harvested" for our brusghes are breed with the sole purpose of producing hair for brushes. They would not exist if not for the brushes. I don't know about the quality of hairs from a badger, but pelth from other animals, eg mink, would suffer if the animals are not cared for. A big problem for mink farmers (and in particular the mink itself) are protest actions made by well meaning activists breaking into farms and setting the mink free. This actually stresses the mink, which we can all agree is not good for the animal. And the pelth become unuseabla if it is stressed.

The same goes for animals slaughtered for their meat: if stress is induced during the slaughter, the meat will the damaged (i'm lacking a better word)

I agree that there is an ethical question whether or not we should animals. I also think we must view this topic through slightly different optics when we now the animal in question is breed with the sole purpose of being used for a comnsumer product.

I personally prefer badger to boar, and have never tried a synthetic, but I will get there some day.

/Max
 
mstrunck said:
Back to the thread:
The animals that are "harvested" for our brusghes are breed with the sole purpose of producing hair for brushes. They would not exist if not for the brushes. I don't know about the quality of hairs from a badger, but pelth from other animals, eg mink, would suffer if the animals are not cared for. A big problem for mink farmers (and in particular the mink itself) are protest actions made by well meaning activists breaking into farms and setting the mink free. This actually stresses the mink, which we can all agree is not good for the animal. And the pelth become unuseabla if it is stressed.
Max
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I understood that badger's are indeed culled for their meat and fur because they are considered to be pests, no problem with that. I'd be surprised if they were captive bred, they are not best suited to it.

American mink released into the UK countryside by the well meaning is an unmitigated disaster, it might stress the mink but not as much as the surrounding wildlife. They are indescriminate killers capable of wiping out native small mammals and birds with ease which is why they are also classified as pests.
 
For those that don't want a (dead) animal on their face, I've read a fave review on B&B on the new Muhle synth 'Silvertip Fibre'. I'm debating to get one of them for a travel brush and give it a go.

But then again, yet another brush :roll:

Must say that I like the ec (ethically correct) Vie Long horse brushes, not for being ec but for being good brushes. Would prefer it if they'd stop painting them as badgers though.

/m
 
cubert said:
Badgers. Dead badgers.
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Oh no!!! Rev-O said they take them for a haircut and I was happy with that explanation till you burst my bubble ;)

As far as I have read the source is mostly from the Asian continent but specifically where and how I do not know. It is a choice you make, as suggested above if you have any concerns just stick to synthetics or imitations which if used correctly will do the job. Of course this leaves more money to spend on razors, blades and soaps
 
I hd exactly the same dilemma. In the end, man_of_leisure PIFed me his old Kent badger brush, which I promptly fell in love with. I'm temped by a Vie Long as I've heard good things about horse hair brushes, and, of course, the hair is obtained by grooming the horses, so it's totally ethical. ATM, my other brush is a TOBS synthetic which is OK, but does suffer the problems mentioned in the B&B thread about this new Muhle synthetic - i.e. the bristles are reluctant to sply and, when they do, it's hard to control how far.
 
antdad said:
What about boar? At least boar is tasty and not so cute.
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Unless its a baby boar they apparently are cute.

Where is everyone getting the horses are not killed for the hair for the brushes, I thought it came from the tens of thousands that are slaughtered every year across europe for there meat and leather. as that would make more sense than having a stack of horse out the back that you go groom every time you want a brush :roll:
 
Ethical-schmethical.

The official line seems to be

- That badgers are a pest species in China (and also in the UK if for the last 5 months all your cattle has had a movement restriction on them because of a +ve test for bovine TB) and the hair is a by-product of dealing with the pest.

- That badgers are tasty, and the hair is a by-product of this.

- That badgers are commercially farmed for their hair.

Anyway, I'm off to eat a badger sandwich and sniff my shaving brush.
 
cubert said:
Ethical-schmethical.

The official line seems to be

- That badgers are a pest species in China (and also in the UK if for the last 5 months all your cattle has had a movement restriction on them because of a +ve test for bovine TB) and the hair is a by-product of dealing with the pest.

- That badgers are tasty, and the hair is a by-product of this.

- That badgers are commercially farmed for their hair.

Anyway, I'm off to eat a badger sandwich and sniff my shaving brush.
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Agreed except that there is no good scientific consensus as to badgers being a reservoir for TB.
 
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