I use silicone ones....the one I currently have is easily 4 years old and gets a lot of use egg washing bread.

Me two. I still have a couple of bristle brushes in the bottom of the tray, but my silicone ones do all my jobs and come out of the DW perfect. One is a beautiful, translucent white handle with rich blue, single row of fat ... not bristles.... Tentacles? Worms?! (Oh, for an interrobang!). It's mostly for sauces, or thicker yet stuff like jam. The very traditionally shaped, head to toe Pepto pink (gag!) one with a number of rows of fine hairs is best for washes or dusting. The deep red handled one with the translucent, medium width, white strings marching together in a special triangular shaped clump which is most excellent for nooks and crannies. They're all old and good as new.

I use silicone now, having resisted for a long time. They work better than I expected and are so easy to clean.

I have a couple of silicone ones but they're both very floppy. I want one with stiffer "bristles"!

I much prefer the feel of using natural bristle, but the cleaning aspect of silicone won me over a while back. I don’t miss the constant lookout for dropped hairs, either.

I switched to silicon a few years ago, and it works fine for what I use it for, which tends to be basting more often than brushing pastry. However, silicon works perfectly well for brushing on an egg wash. I like that I can wash it in the dishwasher, and I have several of them, different sizes.

Years ago I picked one up at a ChefSupply store. And a silicone pot cover. Expecting after a trial week or two to toss them. Use that puppy all-the-time. Made a batch of mini meatballs resting in fridge. I'll give them a quick miso glaze the last few minutes after baking in the oven tonight. Right into the dishwasher. Amazed at how well it holds whatever thick or thin I use it for.

I don't trust Amazon unless I am familiar with the brand like Dioro seamless silicone. But not sure if they make a brush. Really want a set of three in various sizes. I've even used mine for a salad dressing at the table. A light vinaigrette can be stirred and drizzled on a green salad. Much better than a shake and pour. (for most dressings). I got lucky on the firm/floppiness of the brushes. I know how to clean the traditional brushes but often some oil remains and gets rancid in a drawer since they take forever to dry and hold oil deep in the ferrule.

My different silicone brushes have different amounts of floppiness. Only the hairy pink one is really floppy. Maybe something to look forward to, when things are more normal, is a store crawl to find the perfect amount of flop.

I've also gone over to the "dark side" and use silicone brushes. I used to buy good soft paint brushes, as they were cheaper than pastry brushes and available at my small town hardware store when I couldn't get a pastry brush without a 50 mile drive. I got a couple of silicone brushes as gifts, though, and like them a lot. One is pretty stiff, has a single row of large diameter bristles with a small ball on the end of each, and it's great for things like BBQ sauce and other thick sauces. I have a small one with fine bristles which gets used for pastry, things like egg wash or melted butter on top of just baked rolls.

No more stray bristles on my dinner rolls and no more rancid brushes in the drawer, the silicone just goes into the dishwasher and comes out ready for more use.

Annie

I have bristle and silicone and don't like the silicone at all. I buy cheap bristle brushes and throw out when needed. I usually have several in varying states of decay.

I too have gone to silicone brushes.... for all the reasons mentioned. I have one lonely soft bristle brush that I keep exclusively for lightly dusting-off excessive flour, etc.

I've been looking at silicone brushes now, I think I need to give them a try again. Some have really fine strands.

I never had a bristle one. I had seen other people's and they had dark dirty areas near the base. I used my fingers, spoon or fork to put a wash or coating on things. Until I discovered silicone. I have several. They do wash perfectly in the dishwasher.

It's true that some people don't wash their brushes well. OTOH, oil can discolor natural bristles, and that shows more at the base.

I got so tired of replacing my old brushes. Either they were some type of plastic bristle, which often melted when hitting a hot pan, or boar bristle that eventually left broken hairs on food. Four years ago I tried a silicone brush and I have never purchased any other type since then. I bought an extra silicone brush, and they are both still in perfect shape.

I have 2 different sized silicon brushes I bought for marinating things for the grill. I don't own a pastry brush. But the smaller of those brushes has come in handy for pastry brushing, on the rare occasions such a function has been needed. So... no replacing, yet.

Oh... and I don't own a rolling pin, either. Wine bottles repurpose for that extremely well.

LOL! I own a couple of regular rolling pins and a couple more specialty ones. I've used a wine bottle. The real thing works a lot better!

I have a goose feather brush that's decades old, used only to brush melted butter on phyllo (so much easier). But for everyday uses, silicone is great.

Every time I’ve tried to substitute a wine bottle for a rolling pin, by the time I emptied the wine bottle, I forgot why. 🥸

I think I still have a bristle brush somewhere in the back of a drawer but haven't used it for years. I have one short handled silicon brush and a long handled Craftsman silicon brush that came with this grilling set that my son gifted me for Christmas a couple years ago. No roasting my hand as I brush sauce on wings and meat!

Craftsman grilling set.

I do have several rolling pines. I have an old heavy one that was Grandma's, a french style wood pine which is my least favorite, a plain flat "dowel" type pin, a springerle pin, a couple of embossed pins for shortbread. Grandma's gets the most use.

A million years ago in another life, when the ex and I were still running the bar and grille, I would roll out pie crust with a Kessler's bottle. I'd take an empty one, fill it with ice water and roll. It worked, but a rolling pin works better! I used to shake my head and the number of people who would stop at the local bar/grille for a piece of homemade pie and a cup of coffee, we shoulda been a local diner, LOL. We did sell far more food than we did alcohol, except on Friday and Saturday nights when we had live music, so during the week we WERE kind of the neighborhood diner!

Annie