How Many Hairs in a Brush?

[Hannah's Dad]

Is there anyone ‘out here’ who knows approximately how many individual strands of hair are used to create a badger knot (such as this dense Mozingo 26mm ZT3 knot)?

I’m certainly not going to count them myself.

 

[Rudy Vey]

I heard there are about 1000 hairs in each millimeter size, so yours would be 25-27000 individual hairs. Could be off a couple thou up or down. Guess nobody ever counted them....only the ones that shed...

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I heard there are about 1000 hairs in each millimeter size, so yours would be 25-27000 individual hairs. Could be off a couple thou up or down. Guess nobody ever counted them....only the ones that shed...

Thanks, Rudy! I just knew that you would have the answer.

That’s a lot of hair; a few lost shedders every now and then shouldn’t really be a concern, right?

 

[Owen Bawn]

I'm gonna be safe and say with confidence that there are well in excess of 45 hairs in most brushes.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Actually, here is some info from Shavemac's website, guess I mixed gram with mm up:


"The diameter and the weight of the materials for the brush head required are initially determined through the borehole of the brush handle. For example, approximately 14 grams of badger hair are needed for a 21 mm diameter. The badger hair required is weighed using precision scales with weights upwards of 0.1 g. Incidentally, one gram of badger hair is made up of approximately 1000 hairs."

So my initial number was a bit high, expect something like 22-23000 hairs in your brush....guess also depends on the type of hair, thin three band silvertip might be more, and the thick stemmed two-bands, like D01 or Manchurian might be less.

 

[ScottChapin]

Actually, here is some info from Shavemac's website, guess I mixed gram with mm up:


"The diameter and the weight of the materials for the brush head required are initially determined through the borehole of the brush handle. For example, approximately 14 grams of badger hair are needed for a 21 mm diameter. The badger hair required is weighed using precision scales with weights upwards of 0.1 g. Incidentally, one gram of badger hair is made up of approximately 1000 hairs."

So my initial number was a bit high, expect something like 22-23000 hairs in your brush....guess also depends on the type of hair, thin three band silvertip might be more, and the thick stemmed two-bands, like D01 or Manchurian might be less.

I guess the question would be: how many hairs are there in square cm or mm of hair.


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[Kyle89]

Regarding the brush I used today, I can conclude with absolute certainty that it has 1 less bristle today than it had yesterday.

 

[Rudy Vey]

I guess the question would be: how many hairs are there in square cm or mm of hair.


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based on Shavemac's info and basic math, the 26 mm knot would have approx 21500 hairs (using the area of the 21 mm compared to the area of the 26mm, but let's not split hairs....

 

[ScottChapin]

based on Shavemac's info and basic math, the 26 mm knot would have approx 21500 hairs (using the area of the 21 mm compared to the area of the 26mm, but let's not split hairs....

I guess I was thinking weight would not be the determinate, because different lofts would have the same count.


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[DEPenguin]

but let's not split hairs....

Yes! I was waiting for that. I feel much better now. Thanks Rudy!

I will confess, the first thing that popped in my head when I ready the thread title was an image of a jar filled with jellybeans.

 

[macintoshBR]

Simpson’s website states that the more dense brushes like the Chubby series carry over 20,000 individual hairs

“Many of our hand-made Simpson shaving brushes, particularly the Chubby series (widely regarded as the finest & most densely packed shaving brushes in the world) contain in excess of 20,000 individual hair strands within their knots”

 

[BigJ]

Great thread!!

Short answer, more hairs than I have fingers and toes!!

 

[Stubblebum]

more hairs than the number of ants on the Tennessee Ant Hill

 

[SgtCrppls]

Very interesting thread, thanks

 

[luvmysuper]

Just running a quick math calc, with an individual hair diameter of .01mm, (assuming it is similar to a human hair in width) a 26mm knot should hold approximately 36,000 hairs with zero spacing. So a little less than that for inefficiency and cylindrical spacing, 20,000 is not unreasonable.

 

[ScottChapin]

Just running a quick math calc, with an individual hair diameter of .01mm, (assuming it is similar to a human hair in width) a 26mm knot should hold approximately 36,000 hairs with zero spacing. So a little less than that for inefficiency and cylindrical spacing, 20,000 is not unreasonable.

I was thinking along those lines and how a 26mm brush would hold hold 53% more hair than a 21mm brush. Then I thought of “dense” brushes.

Two brushes of equal diameters might have a significantly different count depending upon how they’re packed.


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[Rudy Vey]

I was thinking along those lines and how a 26mm brush would hold hold 53% more hair than a 21mm brush. Then I thought of “dense” brushes.

Two brushes of equal diameters might have a significantly different count depending upon how they’re packed.


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..and do not forget the hair thickness, this might be the most important factor here

 

[ScottChapin]

..and do not forget the hair thickness, this might be the most important factor here

Yeah. Too many variables.


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[Stubblebum]

So, how many brushes per badger does that work out to?

 

[lancre]

but let's not split hairs....

(G R O A N)