Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The first time I used the brush the gold lettering started to come off. This didn't seem right to me so I wrote to Mason Pearson directly. Below is their detailed reply. It is worth noting that I never use hand lotion or products in my hair other than shampoo, conditioner and water. These brushes are an investment, and I would rather spend a little more and have the confidence of an authentic product from an authorized retailer. On Jul 7, 2014, at 10:46 AM, info <info@masonpearson.com> wrote: Thank you for your enquiry. We do not sell online, neither do we supply any websites with our products. As we are experiencing problems with forgeries at the moment, we cannot guarantee that the hairbrushes any website is selling are genuine Mason Pearson products as we do not supply direct any online stockist. Consequently, ‘Amazon’ is not an authorised stockist. The idea of forgeries as you would imagine is to pass them off as the original article that is why we can usually only tell if a hairbrush is a forgery, other than by purchasing through an authorised stockist, is by one of our brushmakers actually examining it, which means we may have to dismantle then reassemble the hairbrush in this process. There are usually no “tell tail signs to identify a replica” even the boxes and the enclosed leaflets have been very cleverly copied on the forgeries we have come across. Mason Pearson hairbrushes are still made virtually by hand as they were over 125 years ago when Mason Pearson Bros. Ltd. was founded. Consequently, as applies to the uniqueness of any hand-made item there is likely to be a slight variation in each item produced. Therefore, the impression (by hand) of the Mason Pearson logo and the amount of gold paint used may vary from brushmaker to brushmaker and hairbrush to hairbrush. So it is quite acceptable for there to be some variation. Also, the gold paint we use is not made up of the same properties as it used to be as some of the ingredients may no longer be available or have changed over the years and that can change the adhesive qualities A classic example of this is where paint use to contain lead, which of course, we are sure you are aware is now illegal but this did change the constituents that paint was made up of. This also applies to the plastic we use in the making of the hairbrush back/handle, they are not made up of the same properties as they used to be as some of the ingredients may no longer be available or have changed over the years and that can change the plastics qualities, the hairbrush back/handle is made of Cellulose Acetate. The old type of plasticiser (DMP) cannot be used for health reasons in the processing so is banned by the REACH regulations. So, as you can see and for good reason some ingredients are restricted by law these days. Consequently, we can only use the best raw materials that are AVAILABLE to us at the given time, which of course can change over time. The stamping is allied to this in that the newer plasticiser makes it harder to stick the gold to the surface. You might also like to bear in mind other factors that can affect the gold paint. The natural chemicals/oils from the hand/body can attack the gold paint and tarnish the gold effect, as can chemical residue from products such as hand/body lotions/perfumes/deodorant/hair products etc. and sometimes where hairbrushes are kept in bathrooms the moisture in the air can attack the gold paint, or where the hairbrush is kept where it is likely to be in the sun. We hope this information is helpful to you. Best wishes, Mason Pearson Bros. Ltd.