Combs & Brushes

Combs and brushes have been used by cultures across the world from the Neolithic period to the present. Before 1800, most combs and brushes were made from organic materials, including broken seashells, tortoise shells, jagged stones, ivory, wood, and animal bones and hair.

In 1777, William Kent opened the first hairbrush factory in London, importing a wide variety of fine bristles from merchants across India and China. In 1854, Hugh Rock patented the first modern hair brush in the United States, and in 1898, Lyda A. Newman invented a synthetic hair brush with detachable handles and air chambers for ventilation. The addition of ventilation chambers was especially important because it allowed hair brushes to be used simultaneously with hair dryers to achieve increasingly complex and modern hair styles.

Most contemporary combs and hair brushes are made of plastic or a combination of plastic handles and nylon bristles. However, natural fibers continue to be prized for their delicacy and are still used to create high-end hair brushes.

Quick Facts

• On June 6, 2015, the John Toomey Gallery sold a René Lalique hair comb with sea holly decoration made of horn, silver, gold, and glass for $205,500
• Kent’s hairbrush factory, known today as Kent Brushes, made hundreds of thousands of brushes for English soldiers during the first World War
• In addition to taming and styling locks, combs have also had the important historical role of removing lice from hair and beards