The Curling News has learned that hair brushes – manufactured with horsehair and/or hoghair – have been banned from the upcoming Tournament of Hearts and the Brier: the Canadian women's and men's championships.
To be specific, hair brushes have now been added to the previous sweeping equipment moratorium(s) issued by Curling Canada.
This latest initiative was led by the athletes – following numerous testing videos such as this one from Team Brad Gushue (Newfoundland and Labrador) – and as a result, Curling Canada has decided to support the player action in full. The organization's official adoption of the no-hair movement means that monitoring and enforcement now falls under each competition's official rules... clearly the optimum scenario.
However, the wording might be due for some additional fine-tuning, for the inclusion of hair in the moratorium is not absolute.
For example, athletes are permitted to bring hair brushes onto the field of play, and use them in pre-game practice sessions with the exception of the last-stone draw. The brushes are then not permitted during the game... but again, there are two exceptions.
The first is that hair brushes can be used as sliding devices.
The second sees skips and thirds permitted to use hair brushes in the house at the playing end, but those skips and thirds can only sweep behind the tee-line.
An official news release on this expansion of the moratorium is expected shortly.
The Tournament of Hearts begins Saturday in Grande Prairie, Alberta while the opening draw of the Ottawa Brier is slated for March 5.