<h2>USE</h2>
<p>Hog hair or hog bristle brushes are stiff, strong, and durable. Having frayed ends, the bristles are usually <strong>not appropriate for watercolouring</strong>, as they aren't able to soak up a lot of water, but they are sometimes used for adding texture or scrubbing away faulty layers of watercolour.</p>
<p>Exactly because they don't absorb a lot of fluid, <strong>they can be used well with oil and acrylic paints</strong>, as you can more easily move paint around. With their rough ('flagged') ends they don't allow for much precision, hence they are often formed into larger and rougher brushes, and can be used for covering larger areas, for grounding, or for more expressive approaches and impasto techniques.<br />
However, by whipping the brush the ends will fray more, making the hairs softer, allowing them to be used for softer brushwork or even blending. This softening naturally occurs the longer you work with hog hair brushes.</p>
<h2>IDENTIFICATION</h2>
<p>To identify these brushes - which is not easy - you can look at the colour, and the structure of the hairs.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>As organic hairs, they are usually quite easy to tell apart from synthetic ones (unless the latter are made to imitate animal hair), as the shafts are <strong>a lot more 'noisy'</strong> (see images below), both structure- and colour-wise.<br />
Synthetic brushes also tend to have tops with much straighter cuts:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Lfuxn.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Lfuxn.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
</li>
<li><p>Another, surefire way to distinguish organic hairs from synthetic ones is to <strong>burn</strong> them: organic hairs will burn as separate threads, and have a distinctive bad smell, while synthetic hairs will melt together and smell of chemicals.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Hog/boar bristle brushes are (almost) always a <strong>broken white</strong>, and don't have a strong sheen to them, especially when compared to most synthetic hairs.<br />
Sometimes a streak of black paint is added to make them look like badger hairs:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Lmhh8.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Lmhh8.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
<sup><a href="https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/finishing/brushes/30271-badger-double-brushes" rel="noreferrer">source</a></sup></p>
</li>
<li><p>As mentioned before, hog hairs tend to fray at the tip, and this is visible in the brushes as having <strong>a distinctly diffuse tip</strong>, more so than with ox hair, for example:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/NP92e.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/NP92e.jpg" alt="tip of a hog hair bristle brush" /></a><br />
<sup>edited from <a href="http://www.yudatools.com/html/en/products/paint_brush/PBB001_hog_bristle_paint_brush.html" rel="noreferrer">original</a></sup></p>
</li>
<li><p>The hairs are also quite <strong>inexpensive</strong>, so the brushes are usually on the cheaper side of a producer's brush spectrum.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There aren't any clear-cut differences with other organic brushes, so I hope this is sufficient information to help you distinguish hog hair brushes from others.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-09T17:26:25.563Z
I am not an expert on what hair most brushes come from. But I work in a tool store, and it is very common for the inexpensive brushes to have a 'wirey'/natural look appearance to them. [As shown in the last two images Joachim provided] 
They are usually used for quick, "get the job done" brushes for painting houses. Very commonly tossed in the garbage after use for being inexpensive.
Lyssagal
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-09T19:11:04.747Z
Yeah, it's a pity how cheap stuff is overproduced and undervalued.
Joachim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-10T05:20:41.500Z
So,the hog hair has flagged/split ends.Is this visible?
Fariha
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-10T07:49:48.413Z
@Fariha Yes, see the fourth bullet point under 'Identification'.
Joachim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-09T16:44:54.863Z
2020-08-09T16:44:54.863Z
Joachim
<p>How can I know if my brushes contain pig or hog hair? And for what purpose are these brushes actually used; acrylic, oil or watercolor?</p>

<material-identification><paint-brushes>
How to know if brush contains hog/pig hair or not?
Fariha
# How to know if brush contains hog/pig hair or not?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-09)

How can I know if my brushes contain pig or hog hair? And for what purpose are these brushes actually used; acrylic, oil or watercolor?

**Tags:** material-identification, paint-brushes


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-08-09. Score: 5

## USE

Hog hair or hog bristle brushes are stiff, strong, and durable. Having frayed ends, the bristles are usually **not appropriate for watercolouring**, as they aren't able to soak up a lot of water, but they are sometimes used for adding texture or scrubbing away faulty layers of watercolour.

Exactly because they don't absorb a lot of fluid, **they can be used well with oil and acrylic paints**, as you can more easily move paint around. With their rough ('flagged') ends they don't allow for much precision, hence they are often formed into larger and rougher brushes, and can be used for covering larger areas, for grounding, or for more expressive approaches and impasto techniques.  
However, by whipping the brush the ends will fray more, making the hairs softer, allowing them to be used for softer brushwork or even blending. This softening naturally occurs the longer you work with hog hair brushes.

## IDENTIFICATION

To identify these brushes - which is not easy - you can look at the colour, and the structure of the hairs.

* As organic hairs, they are usually quite easy to tell apart from synthetic ones (unless the latter are made to imitate animal hair), as the shafts are **a lot more 'noisy'** (see images below), both structure- and colour-wise.  
  Synthetic brushes also tend to have tops with much straighter cuts:

  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Lfuxn.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/Lfuxn.jpg)
* Another, surefire way to distinguish organic hairs from synthetic ones is to **burn** them: organic hairs will burn as separate threads, and have a distinctive bad smell, while synthetic hairs will melt together and smell of chemicals.
* Hog/boar bristle brushes are (almost) always a **broken white**, and don't have a strong sheen to them, especially when compared to most synthetic hairs.  
  Sometimes a streak of black paint is added to make them look like badger hairs:

  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Lmhh8.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/Lmhh8.jpg)
  [source](https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/supplies/finishing/brushes/30271-badger-double-brushes)
* As mentioned before, hog hairs tend to fray at the tip, and this is visible in the brushes as having **a distinctly diffuse tip**, more so than with ox hair, for example:

  [![tip of a hog hair bristle brush](https://i.sstatic.net/NP92e.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/NP92e.jpg)  
  edited from [original](http://www.yudatools.com/html/en/products/paint_brush/PBB001_hog_bristle_paint_brush.html)
* The hairs are also quite **inexpensive**, so the brushes are usually on the cheaper side of a producer's brush spectrum.

There aren't any clear-cut differences with other organic brushes, so I hope this is sufficient information to help you distinguish hog hair brushes from others.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I am not an expert on what hair most brushes come from. But I work in a tool store, and it is very common for the inexpensive brushes to have a 'wirey'/natural look appearance to them. [As shown in the last two images username_1 provided]  They are usually used for quick, "get the job done" brushes for painting houses. Very commonly tossed in the garbage after use for being inexpensive.  
> **username_1**: Yeah, it's a pity how cheap stuff is overproduced and undervalued.  
> **username_0**: So,the hog hair has flagged/split ends.Is this visible?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Yes, see the fourth bullet point under 'Identification'.  

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