A few years ago, Pauline Laurent and Flore des Robert, two beauty executives in Paris, noticed that an increasing number of friends were unhappy with the way their hair looked in social media posts. Hair loss and shedding — the normal, but still sometimes unsettling, amount of hair that falls out daily — seemed to be growing concerns, too. And, they noticed that sales of hair tools, like blow-dryers, were on the rise.
They had thought about starting a business, so they reached out to experts for advice.
“We went to see a lot of professional hairdressers — thank God from our jobs we knew them — and they all said, ‘You can try whatever treatment you want, but the first thing you have to do is invest in a good quality brush,’” Ms. des Robert said recently. She was on a business trip with Ms. Laurent to New York City, and both of them were sitting in — what else? — a hair salon in downtown Manhattan.
So in 2021 they introduced La Bonne Brosse, a collection of brushes and combs now sold by retailers that include Harrods and Harvey Nichols in London and Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris. In July, the brand also opened its own boutique, a short walk from the Louvre.
Its brushes are either 138 euros or 95 euros ($148 or $102) depending on size. There are versions for the holidays, too, in limited edition colors — one is solid black, the other navy blue embellished with a constellation of stars, in 12 iterations to cover all the zodiac signs (€168).
The executives said that, in addition to improving the look and condition of hair, they also wanted their brushes to promote craftsmanship. “If you think about it, the brush industry was born in France,” Ms. Laurent said, noting that in the 17th century the royal courts of countries like Germany and Austria bought their brushes in France.
“That tradition spoke to us,” she added.
The company works with several traditional manufacturers. The brushes’ molds are made in Brittany, in northwest France. The cellulose acetate for each handle and body is made by Décoracet, a family-owned company that, with some name changes, was founded in 1830. Its factory is about 300 miles southeast of Paris in Oyonnax, a town in what was once known as la Plastics Vallée, or the plastics valley. These days, the company, which also works with high-end eyewear brands including Maison Nathalie Blanc and Selima Optique, describes itself as “the only producer of acetate in France.”
The bristles are made of Southeast Asian boar or Italian nylon; La Bonne Brosse sometimes combines the two, as many brands do. Assembly is handled by Altesse Studio, which was established as La Maison Fournival-Altesse in 1875.
“We like to say that there are about 20 pairs of hands that go on a brush before we sell it,” Ms. Laurent said.
Altesse Studio actually makes brushes for several dozen brands, including the French luxury hair care brand Leonor Greyl and Officine Universelle Buly, which calls two of its offerings “the Rolls-Royce of hairbrushes.” (Options include an €87.50 brush intended “to detangle, ventilate and discipline the hair” and a €112.50 version for blow-drying.) Altesse Studio also has its own hairbrush line with items such as a gift box for the holidays that includes two brushes, at €340. It is based in Mouy, about 50 miles north of Paris, in the Oise region, which has been known for making brushes — for teeth, beards and horses as well as hair — since the 19th century.
Across the Channel
With distribution to about 30 countries and more than 140 years of history, Mason Pearson is the brand that comes to many people’s minds when they think of luxury hairbrushes. The company was founded by a man named, yes, Mason Pearson, who joined a collective of British brush makers in 1850, a few decades before the brand was officially established.
It still is in family hands: Michael Pearson, a great-grandson of the founder, is the owner, chairman and managing director. And, he said, “the technique’s still the same.”
That includes cutting boar bristles by hand with a guillotine-like machine; those bristles come mostly from two suppliers that the brand has worked with for more than 80 years. The bristles then are inserted by hand into each brush’s cushioned rubber pad.
The brushes’ bodies and handles originally were made of wood or precious materials such as silver; they have been plastic since the 1940s, although each year the company makes a limited quantity of hand-lacquered brushes from a stockpile of beech and plane wood that it has had for decades.
Mason Pearson offers brushes with bristles made of boar, nylon or a mix of the two. Prices range from 45 pounds ($58) for a pocket-size brush with nylon bristles to £205 for an extra-large boar-bristle brush in deep red. In general, many stylists say, boar bristles tend to be better for thin or fine hair, while nylon is better for thicker hair.
The distinctive curved silhouette of Mason Pearson brushes and its reddish-orange bristle pads have been imitated by many competitors but, Mr. Pearson said, “They’re look-alikes, not do-alikes.”
Experts seem to agree. “They are the world’s most superior brushes for finishing and definition,” David Mallett, a hairstylist with salons in Paris and New York, said of the boar-bristled classics.
Still, for blow-drying, he said, “you need a brush that can slide through hair very, very easily,” so he and his 41 stylists opt for something produced in a less rarefied manner: a brush by Olivia Garden, which sells items such as a three-quarter-inch round vented brush from its ProThermal line for $16.95.
Heritage and Luxury
There are other heritage brands that sell brushes still made the old-fashioned way, including Plisson, in Plérin in northwest France. There also is Shash, whose boar-bristle, wooden styles have mostly been made the same way for about 150 years. It is in Todtnau, a German town with a museum honoring the area’s tradition of brush making.
Newer brands are paying attention to their brushes’ craftsmanship, too. Last year Machete, in Atlanta, introduced a collection of brushes with handles resembling materials such as malachite and tortoise shell. They range from $68 to $200, depending on size, and are handmade in Italy with boar bristles that the brand says are ethically sourced from Italian farms. Crown Affair, from Los Angeles, makes its brushes by hand in Italy, too. They were introduced in 2020, and sell for $98 each.
Luxury fashion brands have taken note of the allure of a chic hairbrush as well. Celine has two, each with the company’s logo hot-stamped in 18-karat gold leaf on an acetate handle. There are two sizes, priced at €320 or €370. And Hermès sells a lemon wood hairbrush with goat-hair bristles for babies at €400.
The lofty prices suggest that these might be best suited as indulgent gifts, but, practically, “you don’t need to buy a super-expensive hairbrush for it to be good,” said Anabel Kingsley, the brand president and consulting trichologist (hair and scalp specialist) at Philip Kingsley, a British brand that offers hair treatments as well as products.
More important than the price tag, she said, are features such as flexible bristles and a cushioned bristle pad so, she said, “it’s not hard on your scalp.” The company’s brushes retail for £22 and £27.
“Potentially, the more expensive ones will last longer, depending on the materials they’re made of,” she added, “but you can buy a perfectly good one in a drugstore.”
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