How to choose paint brushes

Synthetic or natural bristle brushes?

When painting furniture people (myself too) usually pay attention to choose the right paint - color, type, supplier. For a long time I didn't take take what type of brush to choose. But if you want to achieve the professional look, this is important as well. Basically, the choice of the right brush depends on the paint you are using: for water-based (acrylic) paint, use synthetic - polyester or nylon bristles. Oil-based paints apply best with natural or pure bristle brushes. The natural fibers absorb water, swell up and lose their shape, so using them with water-based paints will cause poor result. On the other hand, 

when using a synthetic brush with an oil-based paint the solvent in the paint slightly melts the polyester or nylon hairs of the brush, clumping them together. 

After this initial choice, there are number of other features to look, like eg. density (better brushes have more bristles and they are tapered) or length, but you need some experience to see what works bets for you. What is easy to test for everyone is to try tug a few bristles out of the brush - if this is done easily, take some other brush. I have three furry pets always moving around me, and I am used to struggle with hairs left on the paint film, but honestly, this is not what I like, and what is appreciated after all preps yoe9ve done. So, choose the good brush and enjoy your work.