HS Code for Hair Brushes

Hair brushes are provided for in chapter 96 of the HTSUS under heading 9603, which covers brooms, brushes and similar articles. Toilet brushes used on the person point toward subheading 9603.29, where hairbrushes sit alongside toothbrushes, shaving brushes and similar personal-care brushes. The main branching factor for a hairbrush is its customs value per brush: brushes valued not over 40 cents each point toward one line, and brushes valued over 40 cents each toward another. Both lines carry a compound rate that combines a small specific charge per brush with a percentage of value, so the rate is not a single flat percentage. Confirming the per-unit value is the first step in exploring the most appropriate line.

Hair brushes have a natural home in heading 9603 of the HTSUS, which groups brooms, brushes, hand-operated mechanical floor sweepers, mops and feather dusters together. Within that heading, brushes that are toilet brushes for use on the person (hairbrushes, toothbrushes, shaving brushes, nail brushes and eyelash brushes) point toward subheading 9603.29, which is the branch to explore for an ordinary hairbrush.

The next branch inside the hairbrush provision is value rather than material. The subheading splits between hairbrushes valued not over 40 cents each and hairbrushes valued over 40 cents each, and that per-unit value determines which line and which compound rate to explore. Because the split is by value, the same brush design can point toward a different line depending on its declared unit price, so the customs value per brush is worth confirming before settling on a line.

The construction of the brush (a plastic handle with nylon bristles, a wooden paddle brush, a boar-bristle brush, or a vented or round styling brush) does not by itself move a manual hairbrush out of 9603.29, because the subheading is about the article being a personal-care brush rather than about the handle or bristle material. That is a useful thing to keep in mind, since plastic-handled brushes are sometimes mistaken for general plastic articles.

A practical approach is to confirm first that the article is a hand-operated hairbrush for use on the person, then establish its value per unit to choose between the not-over-40-cents and over-40-cents lines. It is generally better to stay within heading 9603 than to reach for the broad plastic-articles provisions in heading 3926, and an electric or heated styling brush that is a self-contained appliance can fall outside chapter 96 entirely and point toward the electro-thermic appliance headings in chapter 85 instead.

Both featured hairbrush lines carry a compound duty rate that adds a small specific charge per brush to a percentage of the value, rather than a single flat percentage. Hairbrushes valued not over 40 cents each are estimated around 0.2¢ each plus 7%, and hairbrushes valued over 40 cents each around 0.3¢ each plus 3.6%. Because the rate structure changes with the per-unit value, the customs value per brush drives both which line applies and the estimated duty. Preferential rates under free trade agreements or programs such as the Generalized System of Preferences may reduce or eliminate these duties for qualifying origins. These figures are estimates for general planning purposes only.