Paint brushes can be made from Natural or Synthetic hair. Natural hair comes from animals such as squirrels, sable, hogs etc. Synthetic hair is made from filaments of polymers such as polyester or nylon. Natural hair harvesting leads to animal cruelty and killing of animals such as squirrels. With quality synthetic hair available, there is no reason for use of natural hair. Synthetic hair is more durable, easy to maintain and brushes made from synthetic hair can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and cuts. The synthetic hair can be processed chemically to change its properties such as stiffness, abrosption and finish to make it suitable for a variety of paints like water, acrylic, oil etc.
Some manufacturers produce filaments specifically for making brushes having their own polymer formulae. The company Dupont manufatures bristles under the brands Tynex®, Orel®, Kulex®. These bristles have unique properties that have been built into the filaments such as abrasives to give better grip on the surface being painted, more stiffness where needed and hog hair replacement bristles for ecomonical brushes.These have revolutionized the painting industry where the quality of the paint was ever increasing, but the available brushes were not upto to the mark. But with the advent of synthetic bristles, brushes have also improved by leaps and bounds.
Brushes can now be manufactured keeping the needs of the professional painter in mind. Economical brushes for rough work, finish brushes for top class finishes and many more. Not only paint brushes, but artist brushes and makeup brushes have also benefitted from synthetic bristles. So, be kind to animals and use synthetic hair brushes.
This post is sponsered by Paint n Hardware.com