Experienced painters will have several brush styles and sizes to choose from throughout their work on a painting. Depending on the medium and surface, different brushes work better than others. The types of hair or fibers that make up the tip of the brush are very important in the ease of painting and the price of the brush. In general you can choose natural hair, bristle, synthetic fibers, or blends of synthetic fibers with natural fibers.

Quality of natural hair brushes are determined by the shape of each individual hair, as in how much of a point does it come to and how tapered the point is. It is also important how tightly the hairs stick together when wet. Spring and strength of the hair determine durability. Natural fibers hold water in the structure of the fiber and release liquids in a more controlled manner than synthetic fibers.

Red Sable brushes are said to be the best quality and are the standard that all brushes are held to. Red Sable brushes come from any red colored weasel, the males produce longer hairs than the female, and each hair comes to fine point. The collection of hairs will hold tightly together when wet, making them excellent for applying media like watercolor and thinned oil and acrylic paints to smooth surfaces like paper or ceramics in even strokes. Other animal hairs like fitch, mongoose, and badgers are used to make brushes of comparable quality at a lesser price. Sabeline brushes use ox hair that has been bleached and dyed to look like red sable.

Camel hair brushes are not made from camel hair, but and number of animals including pony, squirrel, goat, or ox. These brushes are of a lower quality than sable and are good for lettering or mop brushes to blend oil paints. School-grade brushes are often made from pony hairs taken from the mane because the long hairs can produce several brushes. Cutting the hairs removes the natural tip of the hair. “Camel hair” can be blended with synthetic fibers to increase absorbency and performance without a great increase in price.

Bristle brushes come from the stiff hairs of pigs, boars, or hogs. The stiffness is ideal for applying thick media like oil and acrylic paints to slightly textured surfaces like canvas. The natural tips are “flagged” or split acting as little brushes. If the ends are blunt, that indicates the hairs have been cut and it is not a quality brush. A quality bristle brush will also have an interlocked construction, meaning the natural curve of the hairs all point to the center of the brush, leading to superior shape retention.