Kent Brushes

Kent Brushes made hundreds of thousands of brushes for the War Office during WWI. A soldier's kit included a hair, tooth, shaving, cloth, shoe blacking, shoe polishing and button brush. Special toothbrushes were made for the Indian troops with wooden handles filled with vegetable fibre as the use of either bullock bone or pig bristle was prohibited... by their religions. In WWII the Kent factory was hit seventeen times by German air raids. However the workers showed amazing courage and endurance amidst the falling bombs and carried on work using tarpaulins to cover the gaping holes in the roofs. Kent has been producing brushes for 230 years and is the longest established UK manufacturer of hairbrushes. The company currently make over 250 different brushes. The company export to 52 countries. Kent uses 12 processes in making most brushes, with some going through as many as 20 processes before inspection, including cutting, shaping, bristling, finishing, and buffing. With an extremely stringent quality control procedure in place all the company's hairbrushes are inspected and finished by hand. In a top secret operation during the Second World War, Kent made shaving brushes in which maps and compasses could be concealed for forwarding to overseas British prisoners of war to enable them to find their way home in the event of escape. The work was carried out in a special locked and windowless room at the Kent factory with access allowed only to a chosen few.Read More