Mason Pearson is an old English company that makes hair brushes which are supposed to be really good for your hair–they claim to draw the oil along the shaft of the hair, making it shinier and stronger. The bristles are a combination of boar bristles and nylon.
Does anyone have experience with these brushes? What do you think?
I thought that boar bristle brushes were supposed to be bad for hair–that they break it off. What gives?
It was a nice brush, but not really suited to my hair type (coarse, very thick and wavy, slightly longer than shoulder length). I didn’t notice any benefits in terms of shininess/ strength, and my hair never felt properly brushed, as the bristles didn’t seem to get all the way through my hair down to the scalp. It felt as though brushing my hair simply flattened the top few layers.
Maybe if I’d had a pure nylon one (shown on their site as being suitable for long hair) I’d be more positive.
Overall though, I’m a little sceptical of the claims they make, and that they may just be trying to justify their high prices.
I had a boar bristle brush (not a Mason Pierson, though), and it worked ok for smoothing the outer layer of my hair, but my hair was too thick for it to be really effective.
A good horn comb or wooden comb works just as well (better, IMHO) at distributing your hair’s natural oils.
A hairbrush is not automatically damaging to hair, unless you’re ripping it through your tangles. But I found that whenever I tried to use mine, I was creating tangles and mats, especially on the underneath layer where the brush wasn’t reaching. YMMV, but I think combs are just better for everything. Mason Pierson does make good seamless combs; I covet one.
I have a Fuller nylon hairbrush. It’s rusted at the base of the bristles. I imagine if I pitched a fit that they’d replace it.
Hmm, off to Fuller’s website. Thanks for reminding me.
My mum, age almost 75, has always used one and her (short wavy) hair always looks good & healthy (but then its hasn’t been dyed or permed and seldom even sees a hair dryer).
Like mother like daughter I was “started” on a Mason & Pearson. And yes my hair was glossy in those days of regular brushing, 100 strokes a night etc.
However as I got older and brushing less frequent I got the impression that it skated over some of the larger tangles but then I have very thick, curly hair and, as I said, this was when there was longer between brushes (because it fuzzed out any curls/ringlets).
I never noticed any problems with breakage.
They seem to last forever too - look on it as an investment - I’ll check when I’m next home but off the top of my head Mum’s is thirty years plus!
My mother has very thick, wavy color-treated hair, so she bought one of the mixed bristle ones. She raves about it, and her hair is shiny and looks like it has less of the after coloring flyaways that her daughter, whose hairbrush cost a dollar, can’t really boast. 
I do steal hers sometimes, with her permission of course, and it makes my hair feel a lot smoother overall. YMMV, of course. Hair is a tricky thing.
And they do really last forever. My grandma has one too.