August 2, 1938 – Petroleum Product replaces Hog Bristles
Weco Products Company of Chicago, Illinois, promoted its “Dr. West’s Miracle-Tuft†– the earliest toothbrush to use synthetic nylon developed by DuPont chemists just three years earlier. Americans would soon be brushing their teeth with nylon bristle toothbrushes instead of hog bristles, declared the New York Times.
“Until now, all good toothbrushes were made with animal bristles,†noted a 1938 Weco Products advertisement in Life magazine. “Today, Dr. West’s new Miracle-Tuft is a single exception. It is made with ‘EXTON,’ a unique bristle-like filament developed by the great DuPont laboratories, and produced exclusively for Dr. West’s.â€
Pricing its toothbrush at 50 cents, Weco Products guaranteed “no bristle shedding.†Before the invention of nylon, “the world relied on toothbrush bristles made from the neck hairs of wild pigs from Siberia, Poland and China,†notes the Royal Society of Chemistry. Learn more in Nylon, a Petroleum Polymer.
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