I Made A Human Hair Paintbrush – Artist Experiment

As a dad who finds hair all over the bathroom floor, it got me thinking (yes that I’m weird), but instead of throwing it away can I make a human hair paintbrush that actually works?

The short answer is Yes, you can make a paintbrush out of human hair.

While it may not be the most conventional material when thinking of paintbrushes, human hair can be used to create a paintbrush that can add a specific character and texture to your artwork.

What you need to also know is that making a paintbrush out of human hair will be too fine, the effort to make one is too much and the quality of the human hair paintbrush is very low.

So, while you can technically make one, I wouldn’t make one again.

The difference between human hair and animal hair when it comes to paintbrushes

When it comes to using hair to make paintbrushes, there are a few key differences between human hair and animal hair.

While animal hair is the more traditional choice for paintbrushes, human hair can offer some unique benefits as well.

One of the main differences between human hair and animal hair is its texture.

Human hair tends to be finer and more delicate than animal hair, which can make it a great choice for creating fine lines and delicate details in your artwork.

I had always thought that a benefit of using human hair for paintbrushes is that it is a sustainable and eco-friendly material.

My thinking was that instead of using animal hair, which can be harmful to animals and the environment, using human hair would be a good way to recycle a natural material that would otherwise go to waste.

The problem with using human hair instead of animal hair or synthetic hair is that human hair is more prone to breakage and can be more difficult to use when painting.

Also, human hair paint brushes struggle to hold large amounts of paint, so they are better suited for using thin and light paints.

Let’s learn how to make a human hair paintbrush

So, how do you make a paintbrush out of human hair? The process is actually quite simple. Here’s a step-by-step guide but keep in mind that this step sounds easier than actually doing it:

1. Choose your hair: The first step is to choose the hair that you want to use for your paintbrush. You can use your own hair or hair from a friend or family member. Just be sure to clean and sanitize the hair before using it. I tried using my daughter’s hair which is chemically unaltered as she’s only 10 and it is quite long. This did not work for my human hair paintbrush. I tried using my own but my own hair is so rare these days I wouldn’t have enough to make a brush. My son on the other hand has nice thick hair, it is also short and quite firm. So I used his.
2. Trim the hair: Next, trim the hair to the desired length for your paintbrush. You can use scissors to trim the hair to the right length. I salvaged some from my son’s haircut and the hairdresser looked at me stranger than usual. I did not explain myself for obvious reasons.
3. Bundle the hair: Once you have the hair trimmed to the right length, bundle it together using a rubber band or piece of string. You can adjust the thickness of the bundle to create a thicker or thinner paintbrush.
4. Attach the hair to a handle: Finally, attach the bundle of hair to a handle to create your paintbrush. You can use a variety of materials for the handle, such as a wooden dowel or a bamboo skewer. Simply wrap the end of the hair bundle around the handle and secure it with glue or thread. I first tried using an old brush handle and tried to crimp the hair bundle into the metal tip but that did not work. My next idea was to glue it to a disposable chopstick. That worked better.
5. The results were less than what my imagination had come up with, the human hair paintbrush looked like a miniature witch’s broom from a toy. This was indeed a bad idea.
6. I dipped the human hair paintbrush into a variety of paints and found that it was useless in heavy paints such as oils and acrylic paints. It was close to useless with watercolors and gouache paints. Where it did seem to work ok was with inks and washes. Anything that was a lightweight medium worked well. Anything heavy and the human hair paintbrush would droop and be hard to manage and control.
7. Here is a website I found called Hannah Elizabeth Caney who made her own human hair paintbrushes. Clearly she is way more skilled than I am at this. Her human hair paintbrushes look amazing take a look below!

What is the problem with human hair as a paintbrush?

When it comes to using a human hair paintbrush with oil paints and mediums, it’s important to keep in mind that human hair is not as durable as animal hair.

Because human hair is more delicate, it may not hold up as well over time when used with oil paints and mediums.

Additionally, human hair may not be as absorbent as animal hair, which can impact the way the paint applies to the canvas.

On paper with ink, I found human hair to give a quirky result that someone could turn into “their thing” as an artist.

Maybe this artist could just clump a bunch of human hair and tie it to a stick and paint with it rather than trying to make a traditional paintbrush using human hair.