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The range of brushes available to artists is enormous, and choosing the right brush can sometimes be difficult. Do you sometimes find yourself at a loss, not knowing which brush to buy? Or do you tear your hair out when you realise you’ve bought the wrong one?
When choosing a brush, there are many aspects to consider, such as the type of paint you work with, the shape, width, length and thickness, and of course the quality. The type of hair is perhaps the most important component of a brush; it determines many of its properties and therefore what you can do with it. Below is an overview of some hair types and their applications.
Before we look at different hair types, let’s list some basic terms and generalities. These terms are used throughout the article and are therefore useful to know when discussing brush hairs.
Regardless of the hair type, we also refer to all hairs collectively as filament. These consist of natural hair (from animals), synthetic hair (made from nylon or polyester fibres) or a mixture of both.
Hair types have their own characteristic shape, which not only determines whether they are suitable for use in a brush, but also for what purpose.
The most common hair shapes are a variation on these two shapes:
○ conical — wide at the root and tapered at the tip
○ cylindrical — equally wide at the root and tip
Individual hairs sometimes also have a belly, just like the head of the brush. This thickening can occur at different places in a hair.
The very tip of each individual hair is called the ferrule, which can be pointed or blunt. It can also have a split tip, as in pig bristles. The shape of the toe helps determine the properties and capacity of a brush.
Texture
The outer layer of an individual hair (cuticle) has a scaly texture in both humans and animals. In animals, this always has a spiky or crown-like pattern. The crown-like pattern resembles a stack of paper cups that are half nested inside each other (coronal; see image).
These overlapping scales keep an animal dry and warm in extreme winters by increasing the surface area and retaining moisture. Human hair also has a scaly pattern on the outside, but these scales are more like roof tiles, overlapping each other rather than stacked like paper cups.
When it comes to painting, the unique large scale surface is the first characteristic that makes Kolinsky, for example, a perfect brush hair. When grouped together in the brush, these millions of scales absorb large amounts of paint, resulting in the high absorbency that is unique to sable brushes.
Although pigs are often caricatured as pink animals with smooth skin, they do indeed have a coat of coarse, long hairs. Together with mud, these hairs form an insulating layer that helps protect their skin and regulate body temperature. They also offer protection from the sun and insects.
The hair from the pigs back is mainly used for brushes because it is the strongest; the hair from the sides wears out or breaks when the animal lies down. The hair can be white, brown, grey, black or spotted. Only the white hair is used for professional brushes, while the darker hair is used for cheaper brushes. The hairs are cooked and dried. This cooking process is essential to ensure that the hairs retain their shape.
In the past, a lot of pig hair from Europe was used, but nowadays most of it comes from China. The types of pig hair are named after the region they come from — the best known are Chunking, Shanghai and Hankow.
➽ da Vinci | MAESTRO2 5923 brush ○ cat’s tongue ○ extra long — Chungking hog hair
A variation on the interlocked setting of the hairs: the interlocked effect. This is a technique developed by da Vinci, in which the straight hairs are interlocked — more or less curved against each other — by heat after they have been glued into the ferrule. The result is a supple tip — dimensionally stable and resilient — with a smooth, even brush stroke. Pig hair brushes are traditionally used for oil paint, but you can also use this brush for tempera, acrylic paint and casein.
Pig hair is very stiff — so stiff that it was even used as a balance spring in the first pocket watch. It also has a split tip and a scale structure, which allows it to hold paint well. The split tip also allows you to spread the paint evenly. If you were to cut the tips of the brush, it would definitely leave streaks. If you look closely at a hog hair brush, you can see the split hair tips with the naked eye and see that they point in all directions. As a hog bristle brush is used more, the bristles will open up more and the brush will take on a more bristly character.
However, not all of the many pig bristle brushes sold have split ends. Maintaining the split ends during the production process requires attention, and it is cheaper to cut the bristles straight across. That is why you will find hog hair brushes on the market with varying percentages of split bristles, e.g. 15% split bristles and the rest cut straight across. There are also artists who prefer to use brushes with straight-cut bristles.
The filament of hog bristles is also often interlocked. This means that the hairs interlock with each other. The natural curvature of the hairs is directed from the outside inwards, so that the hairs interlock, as it were. This makes the brush more resistant to fraying and allows stiff paint to be spread more smoothly and evenly — it also means that the hairs spring back into shape after cleaning.
➽ da Vinci | Series 2475 spalters ○ flat & wide — hog hair
Hog hair is also often used for spalters. In da Vinci’s premium 2475 series, you will find them in widths ranging from 20 mm to no less than 500 mm.
TIP! The stiff character and scale structure make hog hair very suitable for working with oil paint. It is strong enough to pick up the stiff oil paint with the brush and can leave expressive brushstrokes and marks in the paint.
The split end of a hog hair also allows it to absorb water. However, once it becomes saturated, it tends to revert to its natural curvature and becomes virtually useless. When used with acrylic paint and ink, the hair is therefore suitable for dry brush techniques, but not so much with water. If you do use it with water, the brush will become so saturated that water and paint will accumulate in the filament. As a result, the brush will no longer be able to form properly, the curvature of the hairs will change, most of the paint will be lost and you will lose control altogether.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
Another natural hair is goat hair. It is not conical, but cylindrical and — unlike straight pig hair — wavy in shape. It comes from long-haired goats, which are shorn annually, and can be white, black or grey.
Goat hair is fluffy and porous. Its specific properties vary depending on the part of the goat it comes from. For example, the hair on the body is soft and retains water well, while the hair on the tail is stiffer. After shearing, it is cleaned, washed and combed to obtain uniform hairs.
➽ da Vinci | Drawing brush 2485 ○ goat hair
Another classic application: a drawing brush that you can use to wipe away (eraser) residue from graphite or chalk — goat hair is so soft that it won’t smudge your drawing!
➽ Léonard | Chiqueteur 6643RD ○ twweméch ○ bout carré — Tibetan goat hair
Another classic application: a chiqueteur is used for decorative techniques such as faux marbre and faux bois.
Because of its soft nature, goat hair was often used for cosmetic brushes in the past. Nowadays, synthetic hair is increasingly being used for this purpose. Not only are the production costs lower, but first-class goat hair is also becoming increasingly scarce.
In the West, black goat hair — sometimes mixed with pony hair — is still used for watercolour brushes, especially for wash brushes. The soft texture of goat hair makes it possible to create soft edges and colour gradients. It has a softness that synthetic hairs simply cannot match at this point. That is why such brushes are considered by some watercolourists to be the G.O.A.T — Greatest Of All Time.
Grey and white goat hair is also mixed with other types of hair to produce imitation badger hair brushes.
➽ HOLBEIN | HIRARAKE Oriental spalter ○ flat & wide — goat hair
This hake spalter — made in Japan — is perfect for working with ink (Sumi-e), washing watercolours, wetting paper, blending oil paints and applying shellac when working with gold leaf.
➽ R&F HANDMADE PAINTS® | Hake spalter — goat hair
The super-soft goat hair of these traditional Oriental brushes does not scorch or melt when working with liquid — and therefore hot — wax paint. Also perfect for classic and modern calligraphic techniques in ink and washes in, for example, casein.
TIP! Goat hair brushes are mainly used in Japanese and Chinese painting and calligraphy, where Sumi ink is used. Goat hair is ideal for this because it can absorb a lot of water and ink. Hake brushes and spalters are very famous and are also ideal for washes and glazes in watercolour paint. What’s more, the resilience of these brushes ensures a long life, making them a valuable investment.
Goat hair spalters can also be used to apply gesso and primers. And last but not least, they are often used for encaustic painting, which involves working with warm beeswax.
➽ Find these brushes on the wesite here!
The squirrel hair used for brushes always comes from the tail. These hairs are relatively long and thin and are conical in shape with a thick belly and pointed tip. The hairs are not very resilient, but they absorb a lot of water and can be shaped very well into a point when combined.
That is why squirrel hair is often used in watercolour brushes, ink brushes, liquid paint brushes and pinstriping brushes. It is also used in gilding techniques and porcelain painting.
➽ Léonard | Series 5079 PS sword drag — Kazan squirrel hair
Kazan squirrel hair is excellent for sword drags. It absorbs a great deal of ink and releases it evenly. Perfect for drawing lines, writing letters and creating fine ornaments and decorations.
➽ da Vinci | Petit Gris Pur 418 French wash brush ○ round — Kazan squirrel hair
This brush is bound in the traditional French manner. In the past, brushes were often bound in a sleeve wrapped with thread or string, which was cut from a hollow (goose) feather. This traditional technique is still popular, especially in France, particularly for wash brushes. Nowadays, however, a transparent plastic sleeve is usually used.
In general, all squirrel hair for brushes comes from Canada or Russia. Russian squirrel hair is of superior quality and is available in lengths from 4.2 cm (1 2/3 inches) to 9.3 cm (3 2/3 inches). Canadian squirrel hair is shorter and is mostly used for student-quality brushes or school brushes. Russian squirrel hair comes in black, brown and blue (black-blue) colours. The grey squirrel is called Talakhouty, the brown squirrel Kazan and the blue Sacamena. The latter is mainly used in brushes for pinstriping and quill brushes. Quill brushes have a plastic sleeve that is held together with wire, keeping all the hair fibres together. In the past, this plastic sleeve was usually made from a goose or swan feather.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
The mustelids (Mustelidae) are a family of the order Carnivora. The family is spread across the globe and consists of approximately seventy different species. The family includes stoats, weasels, polecats, badgers, otters, minks and martens. The hair of various mustelids is used to make brushes, and when people talk about a marten hair brush, they don’t actually know exactly what type of hair has been used.
For example, polecats and badgers are also mustelids, but brushes made from their hair are not usually referred to as marten hair brushes — I will therefore discuss them separately below.
Here, I will limit myself to the best quality Kolinsky red sable hair, for which the soft hair of the male Siberian weasel — Mustela Sibirica — is used. The cold climate in which the animal lives gives it a thick, full coat. This Kolinsky hair is of the highest quality and price; a kilogram costs as much as £12,000!
Because the thickest part of the hair is not at the tip but slightly away from it, the brush almost automatically takes on the shape of a belly, which serves as a reservoir for water and paint. The hairs have very long, conical, thin tips and are extremely resilient, which the English call “the snap or spring”. The brushwork is superior and precise, with wonderfully fluid movements and a perfectly even flow of colour.
➽WINSOR & NEWTON™ | Series 7 watercolour brush ○ round — Kolinsky red sable hair
Queen Victoria also enjoyed painting. That is why she commissioned this series of brushes in 1866. Today, this brush is still handmade according to her instructions. Many people still consider it to be the very best watercolour brush!
➽ Escoda® | RESERVA 2820 brush ○ cat’s tongue — Kolinsky-Tajmyr red sable hair
This specific Kolinsky variant comes from the northernmost Tajmyr peninsula in Siberia. This brush is ideal for oil paint, tempera, acrylic paint and casein. Its medium stiffness, combined with the shape of the brush (cat’s tongue), allows you to apply almost pointillistic strokes.
➽ da Vinci | ARTISSIMO 428 French wash brush ○ round & spherical — Kolinsky red sable hair
Another wash brush bound in the classic French style — perfect for watercolour washes and calligraphic techniques in ink.
Please note!
There are also cheaper versions available, which use a mix of different types of generic sable hair. These are sometimes marketed under misleading names — theoretically, you could even still call them Kolinsky. These can include both good and not-so-good brushes. The care taken by the brush maker in selecting and treating the hair and in the production of the brushes makes all the difference here. Therefore, check all the references you can find about the brushes, their characteristics and the brush manufacturer, as these can vary enormously from brand to brand.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
The polecat is closely related to the weasel and the stoat. In general, the three species are easily distinguishable, but colour variations sometimes occur that make identification difficult. The polecat is also the wild ancestor of the ferret, which is considered a subspecies. It is a true ground dweller that digs a lot and does not climb often. The hairs used for brushes mainly come from the tail of the polecat from Poland and Siberia.
➽ Léonard | Series 242RO ○ round — sable hair
A perfect brush for painting with oil and acrylic paints, especially for applying fine details and drawing lines.
➽ da Vinci | BLACK SABLE 1840 brush ○ flat — sable hair
Professional brush for classic, realistic work — for example, glazing and fine painting techniques — in oil paint and possibly acrylic paint. The perfect balance between the best qualities of hog and sable hair. It is more durable, stiffer and more voluminous than red sable hair and absorbs less moisture. It has exceptional softness and resilience, leaving a barely visible paint stroke. The hair is so soft that only a few brush makers at da Vinci can work with it without it slipping through their fingers!
➽ Léonard | Series 329RB ○ round bombé — sable hair
The hairs are very strong and conical in shape, with a thick belly, and have lower elasticity than Kolinsky but are roughly equal in quality to red sable.
The hairs have a high paint and water absorption capacity and are therefore suitable for watercolour and liquid techniques. However, as there are relatively few long hairs available, they are usually only used for oil paint brushes. The hairs are also popular in France to produce quill brushes and brushes for painting porcelain. There, they are called “putois”.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
The most well-known use of badger hair is perhaps in shaving brushes. The familiar dark stripe running through the light hair is also typical of painters’ brushes and brushes. In addition to the light grey with dark brown stripe, there are also completely dark badger hairs.
A badger hair has a conical shape with a thick belly just below the tip. The part at the root is relatively thin, giving a badger brush its bristly character. Badger hairs have a soft tip, making them ideal for blending paint on canvas or, in shaving brushes, for applying shaving soap to the skin.
Badger hair is very expensive, which is why there are many imitation brushes available, often made from goat or pig hair with a stripe painted on. However, the difference is clearly noticeable because goat hair is more cylindrical and pig hair has split ends.
Have you ever wondered how classical painters achieve such subtle colour transitions in their portraits? The answer is the badger brush!
Using the famous oil painting technique known as “sfumato” and a flat brush, painters such as Da Vinci, Georgio Vasari, Jan van Eijk, Roger van de Weyden and Vermeer were able to create inimitable colour transitions in the paint layer.
Sfumato literally means “to disappear like smoke” and involves applying numerous thin glazes to create soft tonal shifts and gradations between light and shadow, as well as adding subtle transitions of light and dark.
See here the soft transitions in the skin in “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” through the application of very thin, almost transparent layers of paint and the use of a badger hair brush to “polish” the paint together. This can also be seen in the light accents on her lips and in her eyes.
➽ da Vinci | Series 99 badger brush — badger hair
This type of brush is also ideal for decorative techniques such as faux marbre or faux bois.
➽ da Vinci | Series 408 fan brush — badger hair
With a fan brush, you can create subtle colour transitions — also known as blending — and soften lines and edges. You can also use it to apply all kinds of decorative effects. For example, you can use it to efficiently apply hair, leaves and grass. You can also use it for gilding with gold leaf or metal leaf.
Do you work a lot with oil paint and use techniques that require subtle colour transitions? Then you undoubtedly have a badger hair brush at home. If you are not yet familiar with this brush, it will be the discovery of the year for you!
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
Horse hair or Pony hair is cylindrical in shape and has low elasticity. It is simple and very soft hair. It is cheaper than squirrel hair, but more expensive than goat hair, and although it comes in various colours, brown hair is mainly used for the production of artists’ brushes. In general, the hair is taken from the horse’s mane and tail and grows back naturally on these parts of the body.
Horse hair is the second most common choice for the production of make-up brushes after goat hair. Horse hair brushes are perfect for eyeshadow and blush, as they have excellent colour release and blending properties. They are also soft on the skin.
Horse hair does not easily form a nice point and is therefore almost exclusively used for inexpensive watercolour brushes or brushes for tempera and acrylic paint. It is also often mixed with squirrel hair to make cheaper, soft school brushes. It is therefore also called camel hair.
Horse hair is also widely used in the production of bows for string instruments.
➽ HABICO | Lasur® 151 ○ glazing brush for oil paint — pony hair
A brush specially developed for glazing techniques in oil paint, made from extremely densely bound pony hair. The special shape of the tip allows for delicate, smooth and soft colour transitions. To achieve this effect, the brush should be held in a dry state and moved in a circular motion above the applied oil paint — the hairs should only lightly touch the surface. This distributes the paint over the surface and leaves no brush strokes behind.
➽ HABICO | AquaLasur® 151F ○ glazing brush for watercolour paint — pony hair
This brush is ideal for delicate wash techniques. The special shape of the tip and the dense bristles make it possible to remove paint from the paper down to the white of the paper without damaging the paper surface. Because it can hold a lot of paint, this brush is also perfect for glazing techniques.
➽ HABICO | DuoPastello® 523 ○ pastel brush — pony hair
With this double-sided brush, you can apply soft pastels, chalk and charcoal very finely and evenly to the paper, blending and smudging. Use the round flattened tip for larger areas and the smaller flat tip for details.
Horsehair is often mixed with squirrel hair to make cheaper, soft school brushes. It is therefore also called camel hair. It is also widely used in the production of bows for string instruments.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
Ox hair comes from the inside of the ears of oxen from Europe and South America. The hair is cylindrical in shape, long, strong, durable, very resilient and retains its shape well. However, its soft texture makes it unsuitable for making pointed or round brushes, so it is almost always used for flat brushes.
Due to its high elasticity, it is quite common for the hair to be added to brushes with a different hair type to make them more resilient and versatile.
Ox hair brushes are widely used for watercolour painting and work particularly well for applying washes. Ox hair is also found in oil paint brushes.
Ox hair was already being used in the 4th century BC by the Etruscans for their frescoes in Tarquinia and by the ancient Egyptians for decorating the pyramids.
Van Gogh also liked to use ox hair brushes for his oil paintings. The stiffness of the ox hair enabled his powerful strokes and texture. With their long handles and short bristles, ox hair brushes offered precision and held a lot of paint for thick layers, while their resilience made it possible to mix all kinds of colours.
Another brush made from ox hair is the “Sabeline” brush. Sabeline is ox hair that has been bleached and then dyed red to resemble sable hair. In French, this is also called “Martrette”. This imitation marten hair is easy to recognise because the red dye does not adhere well to the entire length of the ox hair, so you can see thin, light stripes on the hair.
Sabeline brushes are ideal for water-based inks and paints. They are also suitable for solvent-based paints and inks, but keep in mind that solvents shorten the life of natural hair.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
Contrary to what one might think, camel hair brushes do not contain camel hair! Camel is a term used for brushes made from squirrel, goat, ox and/or pony hair or a mixture of these hairs. Regardless of the composition or specific blend of hairs, camel hair brushes are always soft brushes that are intended exclusively for thin, liquid paints and inks. Camel hair brushes are therefore most suitable for watercolours and fine lettering.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
Offering the most options and serving as a vegan alternative to natural hair brushes, synthetic brushes are very popular among artists, although some naturally swear by natural hair.
Synthetic hairs always have a single tip and a smooth, even surface. They are available in various diameters and colours, and the best quality synthetic hair brushes are achieved by using a perfect mix of different diameters and qualities of synthetic hair. Although synthetic hair offers a beautiful and cheaper alternative to natural hair, it is often less capable of absorbing and releasing paint and moisture. When using acrylic paint, synthetic hair will wear less often than natural hair.
Just like the many types of natural hair, there are also many types of synthetic hair with different shapes, properties and price levels. It is still important that you choose the right synthetic brushes for your technique and medium. Not all synthetic brushes are the same!
The development of synthetic hair
The very first synthetic hairs for brushes were produced in the 1950s by Dupont and carried the brand name Tynex. The hair was made of nylon and was mechanically formed. But although the nylon of that time may have been well suited for some applications, it was very stiff and not so suitable for softer brushes, such as those needed for watercolour.
The real breakthrough for synthetic brushes came when Dupont developed a chemical process to taper polyester fibres, allowing them to be adapted to different stiffnesses and thus made suitable for a wide range of media, from very soft watercolour brushes to stiff oil paint brushes.
This chemical process is still used today and works as follows. During production, the synthetic hairs are dipped in an acid and, depending on the depth and length of the acid bath, the hair takes on a more pointed shape or tip. The hairs are also still treated mechanically to achieve the correct shape.
Thanks to technological advances, synthetic brushes now perform almost as well as some natural hair brushes, but at a fraction of the price. The bristles are usually made of nylon or polyester.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
The mongoose is a small predator found in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Southern Europe. There are many species of mongoose, divided into many families, but perhaps the meerkat is the best known to us.
Although mongoose hair was once widely used to make paintbrushes, the mongoose is now an endangered species and its hair is no longer used for brushes. Instead, synthetic hair is used which, like natural mongoose hair, combines the suppleness of soft hair with the resilience of marten hair. It is stiffer than marten hair, but finer in structure than hog hair.
➽ I LOVE ART | Mongoose acrylic brush ○ round — synthetic hair
These synthetic hairs are characterised by their high elasticity. The slightly curved hairs at the tip allow you to paint thin, precise lines.
➽ I LOVE ART | Mongoose acrylic brush ○ flat — synthetic hair
Thanks to their good paint absorption and excellent shape stability, these brushes are perfect for working with acrylic and oil paints.
➽I LOVE ART | Mongoose acrylic brush ○ cat’s tongue — synthetic hair
TIP! Good basics + budget prices = I LOVE ART
You may still have an old brush made from original mongoose hair. Its good elasticity and resilience make it very suitable for oil and acrylic painting techniques. The hair is too coarse to be used for watercolour painting.
➽ Find these brushes on the website here!
Disclaimer
No animals are bred or kept specifically for their hair, and brush hairs are almost always a by-product of the meat industry. Some hairs are only found on animals that live in the wild, such as the Kolinsky weasel. If these animals were bred, they would never develop the thick coat that forms due to the cold and harsh conditions in nature.
© 2025 — text: Rob & editorial team Gerstaecker NL & GreatArt UK | © 2025 — images: Rob, individual suppliers & editorial team Gerstaecker NL & GreatArt UK
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