The Elaborate Art Of Making Natural Makeup Brushes – Process Of Dyeing And Bleaching Goat Hair

Have you ever wondered what the secret behind flawless makeup is? The brushes that get made with packed natural fibers are the ones that remain preferred. This is because they can move even the smallest particles. The ones that help you brush the makeup evenly across your face.

While using a foundation, highlighter, blush, using the right brush is crucial. This is something I can vouch for from my personal experience. Goat hair makeup brushes have the best bristles that make it impossible to get a bad application. These are available in different quality grades and are hand-made. The tips are soft and provide medium to full application.

Have you ever wondered how one can dye and bleach goat hair? It is a laborious process involving six major steps.

Choosing the right kind of goat hair for your application  

This is the most crucial step. After all, the grade of natural fiber defines the quality of bristles. It also defines the quality of the application. There is no clear distinction as such between goat hair. They get distinguished based on white peaks, thin light peaks, and medium-light peaks. These are fibers that get gathered from most of the goats (USDA, 2011).

If you look into the industry norm, there are two kinds of goat hair in use when it comes to designing makeup brushes. The goat hair of hui tui is milky white. It requires the addition of a strong substance like concentrated sulfuric acid. This gets used during the fermentation and peeling process. Goat hair of hui tui has white tips. This does not need any addition of strong chemicals during the process. It has excellent water absorption properties. It also has the essence of natural hair.

After natural fibers get identified, the next step is to select the dye stuff for designing.

Differentiation and certification of dyestuff

You would have noticed that not all makeup brushes are of the same color. This is because each brush bristles undergoes a different kind of treatment. Moreover, the production of dyes is a messy process. Some dyes don’t adhere to the standards prescribed by the regulatory bodies. Hence, it is a must to distinguish which one is not harsh on the skin.

In most cases, black dye gets used for dyeing natural wool. But, this is not the natural color of most of the animal fibers. In fact, almost all of them are raw white in color when processed. No good-quality brush color is ever going to fade. If it does, then it is due to the poor dyeing process.

There are two ways in which dye application gets made in makeup brushes. One is fading and the second is non-fading black. In the case of fading black dye, the brush releases a certain amount of dye during the initial washes. You can perform a simple test to identify a fading black dye brush. Do this by soaking the brush in warm or hot water for about a minute.

Non-fading black gets dyed at a high temperature. This actually damages the quality of hair. Performing a simple test can reveal if your makeup brush has non-fading black dye. All you need to do is to take a white piece of paper and rub the brush head back and forth a couple of times. You need to rub it firmly. If there is no discoloration, then the makeup brush has got dyed with non-fading black.

Carrying out the dyeing process at higher temperatures is not ideal. This is because the hair scales fade whenever opened. It is acceptable for the brush to have mild floating color when washed for the first time. But, if the color is fading even after many washes, then it is a substandard variant. Usually, dye manufacturers provide an SGS test reports. This is to prove that their products adhere to the production standards.

What kind of goat hair is used for bleaching?

Once you bleach goat or animal hair, you cannot dye it any further. This is because the process uses oxidative bleaching agents. These agents are alkaline in nature. But, the dyeing process requires the addition of acidic substances. This process accelerates the process and to stabilize the pigment. This is the reason why bleached animal hair cannot get dyed.

Moreover, the dyeing process of animal hair requires heating and soaking. But, it becomes difficult to heat and soak it for a long time without harming the natural fibers.

What kind of wool dyes better?

Goat hair of Shui tui is the most ideal for dyeing. But, using it also has its shortcomings. It is easy to cross color Shui tui’s hair with a clear level of layering. Also, the hair tip color is quite heavy, and the body is lighter. Whenever dyeing special hair, hui tui must get used. For example, when dyeing white and black hair tips, hui tui hair must get used. Shui tui’s hair body is gray, which cannot meet this need.

Dyeing process

The first thing while dyeing goat hair is to relax the handles of the animal hair to make it fluffy. The next step is to loosen the wool in the dyeing bucket. Pour clean water and prepare it for heating. Once the thermal toner gets added, the temperature gets increased to 80ºC-100ºC. High-pressure water gets used to soak the paint. This maintains the temperature of hair at a constant temperature for 4-6 hours. Stop the supply of hot water and boil the clean water. Add acid and fixing agent for raising the temperature to 80 degrees Celsius. Open the high-pressure water column for cleaning. Drain the water and take out the hair to prepare for dehydration. A centrifuge gets used for dehydrating, and then the hair gets placed in an oven. It would take about 12-18 hours for the oven, depending on the length of the animal hair.

Bleaching technology

There are two bleaching processes employed for dyeing goat hair. The oxidative bleaching employs hydrogen peroxide for bleaching Shui tui hair. This ensures stable whiteness. The other process is the reductive bleaching process. Sulfated urea amine and sodium hydroxide are the bleaching agents used. (Paul, 2003). But, the end result is not as good as the oxidative bleaching process.

In summary

The process of dyeing and bleaching goat hair is elaborative. It depends on various factors. It requires a deep study of the kind of natural fibers available. Also, choose the right chemical process to dye the natural fibers. Use a process that won’t alter their natural chemistry also demands thorough research.