Gen Z are splashing out £350 on a hairbrush made from boar bristles in order to achieve perfect shiny locks.
The brushes, popularised on TikTok, are supposed to cleanse human hair by distributing oils down from the scalp to nourish the ends.
But celebrities including former Love Islander Molly Mae and TikTok influencers are lapping them up, often taking the time to share the ‘life-changing’ product with their thousands of followers.
London-based manufacturer Mason Pearson sells boar bristle hairbrushes which cost as much as £347.20.
Meanwhile, one of the brushes from another popular brand, La Bonne Brosse, comes with a £138 price tag.
Model and internet personality Ambar Driscoll recently bought a La Bonne Brosse brush in Paris, declaring that the purchase was ‘worth every single penny’
Model and internet personality Ambar Driscoll, who is engaged to YouTuber Caspar Lee, recently bought a La Bonne Brosse brush in Paris. She claimed the purchase was ‘worth every single penny’.
‘This is not an essential item by any means,’ 26-year-old Ambar said in a TikTok video.
‘This is, of course, a luxury purchase. It is hopefully also an investment item as I plan to use this for many, many years.
‘It is so smooth on your hair. When you’re brushing and getting the tangles out, it doesn’t pull at all. It just feels lovely and smooth.
‘It’s like something out of a movie where a girl sits in front of a mirror and brushes her hair a hundred strokes a night. That’s what I do now.’
La Bonne Brosse’s boar bristle brush promises to naturally hydrate and nourish hair by ‘evenly distributing sebum from roots to tips’.
Keratin in the boar bristles is said to neutralise static electricity, leaving your hair smooth while giving you ‘a gentle scalp massage’.
Ambar seemed to agree with the latter point, saying: ‘It gives you this lovely scalp massage that is just so nice. This makes me enjoy brushing my hair.’
Meanwhile, fellow influencer Jess King, 34, told TikTok that the brush ‘feels amazing’, adding: ‘It’s absolutely stunning and I’m obsessed with it.’
Jess King, 34, reviewed a brush from La Bonne Brosse brush on her TikTok channel, sharing her opinions with her 20,000 followers
TikTok creator Maddy (pictured) from London, reviewed a Mason Pearson boar bristle brush for her followers
But not all of Ambar’s followers were convinced, with some slamming her as ‘out of touch’.
‘Love you but this is so out of touch’, one baffled fan wrote. ‘Boar bristles and £100 on a brush in this economy?’
Another commented: ‘We get it you’re rich.’
A third quipped: ‘My hairbrush was free because I took it from my sister.’
Others tried to draw Ambar’s attention to the ethical issues surrounding the manufacturing of boar bristle hairbrushes.
One concerned viewer said: ‘Or we could use hairbrushes that animals don’t have to suffer to make? Mad idea, I know.’
Someone else added: ‘It’s 2024. We can do better than kill animals to brush our hair.’
There is a lack of reliable information around how wild boar hair is harvested for the sought-after brushes.
La Bonne Brosse, which prides itself on using the ‘best quality boar hair’ for its brushes spoke about how it sources the bristles on its website
‘The hair for our hairbrushes comes from South East Asia,’ it said, ‘as there is unfortunately no longer a European supply chain (we are currently trying to recreate one but it will take time).
‘For our hairbrushes, we have selected the boar hair with great attention to quality and also to the conditions in which they were extracted.
‘We have excluded industrial breeding to favour artisanal conditions that guarantee the best animal welfare.’
La Bonne Brosse has been approached for comment.
Although the making of its boar bristle hairbrushes is a ‘closely guarded secret’, Mason Pearson told MailOnline: ‘Our boar bristle is sourced from a couple of trusted, long-standing suppliers in India.’
‘In Northern India, the black-haired domestic pigs run around freely in the villages, in the same way as we see chickens, geese and goats elsewhere in the world.
‘These are reared for food as the main alternative to beef, which is forbidden for consumption by the majority of the population.’
According to the brand, its bristles are ‘a by-product of the food chain’ and that ‘no pigs are harmed for the purpose of bristle collection’.
The London-based hairbrush manufacturer also claimed to it complies with EU Regulations on importing Products of Animal Origin.
Its spokesperson continued: ‘The regulations require that there is a veterinary certificate for the slaughterhouse inspected by a veterinarian approved by EU and a disinfection certificate to the relevant standard for the material from the processing plant.’
And Mason Pearson has certainly sparked curiosity – with influencers including @mizzmaddie92 getting it to see what results it could bring – even though it’s ‘an investment’.
Vegan alternatives to boar bristle brushes do exist, and are generally more affordable than their animal-bristle counterparts, with HairLust selling one for £24.95.
Another criticism of boar brushes is that they are difficult to clean, often trapping dirt, oils and harbouring bacteria within the densely packed bristles.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk