About Horse Hair:

Horse Hair is a natural fiber reinforcement used in traditional lime plastering to give extra cohesion and flexibility. Historically, a variety of animal hairs were used, most commonly the hair of horses, oxen or cattle, pigs, and goats.

The advantage of horse hair is that it is tough and textured enough to make excellent plastering reinforcement while remaining thin enough to be used in single-coat applications. When plastering directly to masonry, plaster relies on suction and typically does not need hair. However, because plastering over the lath requires the formation of keys that protrude between the lath, hair was traditionally added to strengthen the keys and ensure a good bond.

While modern stucco systems do not typically require hair, hair can still be added to give extra authenticity to a historic repair plaster or when attempting to use traditional materials and methods in modern construction.

Uses of Horse Hair:

• Reinforcing lime-based plasters including Ecologic TOPCOAT Platinum and TOPCOAT Customized material used as the base and/or the Brown “Leveling” coats
• Single finish coats of lime plasters over Ecologic TAKCOAT Platinum usually are free of hair because the final coat is thin unless needed for historic authenticity.
• Reinforcement for lime plaster brown coats for modern strawbale, hempcrete, and thick leveling coats for brick and stone buildings.
• Added for more authentic repair or replacement plasters in structures that have existing historic-haired plasters. A preferred alternative to synthetic fiberglass fibers.