How hairbrushes are made
Each bristle tuft is folded over a loop of steel wire and driven into a drilled hole like a tiny staple.
- stations
- 8
- things upstream
- 47
- raw sources
- 15
- steps from the ground
- 8
The short version
Boar bristles come from pigs, so they are boiled clean, sorted by thickness and trimmed before any brush is built. Handles are injection molded from plastic or shaped from wood. A tufting machine drills each hole, folds a bundle of bristle or nylon over a bit of steel wire and drives it in, and a shaver trims the stray tips.
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Mold or shape the handle
Plastic handles of ABS or polyacetal are injection molded. Wooden ones in beech or rosewood are cut, shaped and sanded.
Goes in -
Mold the cushion pad
Cushion brushes get a rubber mat that sits in the head and lets the pins flex, so tangles give before hair snaps.
Goes in -
Boil the boar bristle
Bristle arrives in bundles already sorted by thickness and length. It is boiled to clean out impurities, and some is bleached white.
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Trim the bundles
Each bundle is checked by hand and run through a heavy trimmer top and bottom to an even length. Nylon pins are cut from filament for detangling brushes.
Goes in -
Drill the tuft holes
A tufting machine clamps each head and drills rows of small holes. Hole angles vary slightly so the finished tufts splay in the right directions.
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Staple in the tufts
The machine grabs a measured pinch of bristles, folds it over a small piece of steel wire, and drives the fold into a hole. Too much force snaps the bristles, and too little leaves them loose.
Goes in -
Shave stray tips
A shaver clips bristles that stick out too far. Many brushes keep deliberately uneven lengths so the tips reach the scalp.
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Check for loose bristles
Inspectors look for loose or uneven tufts and test that the handle is solid before packing.
Worth repeating
- The earliest US patent for a modern hairbrush went to Hugh Rock in 1854.
- Lyda D. Newman patented an improved hairbrush in 1898 with bristles spaced wide enough for easy cleaning.
- The vents in a vent brush let more air through the bristles but do not make hair dry any faster.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and hairbrush starts as these 15 raw sources.
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Sources
Cite this page: "How hairbrushes are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/hairbrush