the Rolls Royce of hairbrushes
May. 2nd, 2014 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Next up in my shopping confessional is a hairbrush. Not just any hairbrush, though -- a Mason Pearson hairbrush, "the Rolls Royce of hairbrushes."
You must be wondering if a $180 hairbrush is made of unicorn bristles, is capable of making julienne fries, or at the very least is 10x better than any brush I've ever used before. Honestly I can tell you it's none of the above.
The history here is that my last brush had gotten really grody, as they tend to do, and I bought a new brush, a very highly rated Denman brush that was utterly horrific. It was really rough on my hair, made me basically rip my hair as I was pulling out small knots, etc. I do NOT know why that brush is so highly rated, because FUCK that brush.
I did some research about hairbrushes, and that's when I found out about Mason Pearson. Mason Pearson makes an entire line of brushes and combs, from pure, genuine boar bristle to boar bristle + nylon to just nylon. Everyone seemed to love their brushes, and I was intrigued enough to overlook the price and give it a try. (Remember, I'm the same person who went out of my way to buy a pricey professional-grade hair dryer and ended up LOVING that decision, so that probably influenced me as well.)
I decided on a pure boar bristle brush. The more I read about boar bristle, the more I felt that was the way to go. It's supposedly really good at distributing sebum, a naturally occurring oily/waxy substance created by glands in our skin to lubricate and waterproof, from the roots of our hair down to the ends. I have been on a recent kick to really take care of my hair -- I want to grow it long, but maintain its health -- so this was appealing to me.
If you have super thick hair, you would probably have to go with the boar bristle + nylon brush, because you'd need the nylon to really push through your hair. It doesn't have as much give as boar bristle. I do not, however, have very thick hair. It's medium thick, I would say, so I can get away with pure boar bristle.
It is a beautiful brush, especially if you get the original ruby handle. It's hard to tell from the photos because it's so dark, but if you hold the brush up to the light you see that it's a deep, dark red. The cost of the brush, I think, comes down to two things. One is that it's made mostly by hand and not mass produced. Two is that, like any designer label, it has a premium just for being Mason Pearson. To the company's credit, they fully recognize how costly it is and that one brush should in theory last one's lifetime, so it comes with very explicit care instructions and a cleaning brush. That's right, this hairbrush comes with a brush (now I've seen everything).
Of all the brushes I've ever used, it's definitely the best. At that price, I would hope that would be the least of its accomplishments. It could be my imagination, but it seems to take care of tangles more gently than other brushes. And this is going to sound weird, but I just like the way it sounds as it's going through my hair. It makes me feel like a horse, in a good way. It's sort of soothing. Strange but true.
HOWEVER, I wouldn't say that it's ten times as good as any other brush I've used in the past, with the exception of that Denman (once again, FUCK that awful Denman and all the people who gave it high ratings). It's not like boar bristle is an extremely rare commodity. I mean, you can get this highly rated Spornette brush thatjade_okelani loves for a fraction of the cost of the Mason Pearson.
It's possible that over time the MP will bear out in terms of worth. The reviews are full of comments about how it keeps people's hair soft and shiny, reduces split ends, and causes a lower rate of hair loss when brushing. I haven't had it long enough to confirm such wondrous results. So far, I just really enjoy using the brush, but would be cautious about recommending it to someone else.
You know what I also got though and really, really love, and think is worth every single penny? This Mason Pearson detangling comb.
As I mentioned above, I've been trying to take better care of my hair. I wash it every other day (as opposed to every day). I'm more diligent about using Biosilk after I wash it. And now I'm using this comb instead of a brush on my wet hair, which I read is very fragile in that state. This comb is AWESOME. It seems to glide through my wet hair like BUTTAH, and when there are tangles it is very gentle when getting them out. It's made of the same material as the handle of the brush. Highly rec.
You must be wondering if a $180 hairbrush is made of unicorn bristles, is capable of making julienne fries, or at the very least is 10x better than any brush I've ever used before. Honestly I can tell you it's none of the above.
The history here is that my last brush had gotten really grody, as they tend to do, and I bought a new brush, a very highly rated Denman brush that was utterly horrific. It was really rough on my hair, made me basically rip my hair as I was pulling out small knots, etc. I do NOT know why that brush is so highly rated, because FUCK that brush.
I did some research about hairbrushes, and that's when I found out about Mason Pearson. Mason Pearson makes an entire line of brushes and combs, from pure, genuine boar bristle to boar bristle + nylon to just nylon. Everyone seemed to love their brushes, and I was intrigued enough to overlook the price and give it a try. (Remember, I'm the same person who went out of my way to buy a pricey professional-grade hair dryer and ended up LOVING that decision, so that probably influenced me as well.)
I decided on a pure boar bristle brush. The more I read about boar bristle, the more I felt that was the way to go. It's supposedly really good at distributing sebum, a naturally occurring oily/waxy substance created by glands in our skin to lubricate and waterproof, from the roots of our hair down to the ends. I have been on a recent kick to really take care of my hair -- I want to grow it long, but maintain its health -- so this was appealing to me.
If you have super thick hair, you would probably have to go with the boar bristle + nylon brush, because you'd need the nylon to really push through your hair. It doesn't have as much give as boar bristle. I do not, however, have very thick hair. It's medium thick, I would say, so I can get away with pure boar bristle.
It is a beautiful brush, especially if you get the original ruby handle. It's hard to tell from the photos because it's so dark, but if you hold the brush up to the light you see that it's a deep, dark red. The cost of the brush, I think, comes down to two things. One is that it's made mostly by hand and not mass produced. Two is that, like any designer label, it has a premium just for being Mason Pearson. To the company's credit, they fully recognize how costly it is and that one brush should in theory last one's lifetime, so it comes with very explicit care instructions and a cleaning brush. That's right, this hairbrush comes with a brush (now I've seen everything).
Of all the brushes I've ever used, it's definitely the best. At that price, I would hope that would be the least of its accomplishments. It could be my imagination, but it seems to take care of tangles more gently than other brushes. And this is going to sound weird, but I just like the way it sounds as it's going through my hair. It makes me feel like a horse, in a good way. It's sort of soothing. Strange but true.
HOWEVER, I wouldn't say that it's ten times as good as any other brush I've used in the past, with the exception of that Denman (once again, FUCK that awful Denman and all the people who gave it high ratings). It's not like boar bristle is an extremely rare commodity. I mean, you can get this highly rated Spornette brush that
jade_okelani loves for a fraction of the cost of the Mason Pearson.It's possible that over time the MP will bear out in terms of worth. The reviews are full of comments about how it keeps people's hair soft and shiny, reduces split ends, and causes a lower rate of hair loss when brushing. I haven't had it long enough to confirm such wondrous results. So far, I just really enjoy using the brush, but would be cautious about recommending it to someone else.
You know what I also got though and really, really love, and think is worth every single penny? This Mason Pearson detangling comb.
As I mentioned above, I've been trying to take better care of my hair. I wash it every other day (as opposed to every day). I'm more diligent about using Biosilk after I wash it. And now I'm using this comb instead of a brush on my wet hair, which I read is very fragile in that state. This comb is AWESOME. It seems to glide through my wet hair like BUTTAH, and when there are tangles it is very gentle when getting them out. It's made of the same material as the handle of the brush. Highly rec.
