Brush shopping, what are your basic requirements?

[blade08]

So I thought it would be fun for everyone to share their basic requirements when shopping for a new brush. I have a few myself:

- Only synthetics.
- Preferably made in Europe/EU where I live.
- Medium sized knot, about 19 mm to 21 mm.
- No wood or real horn handles.
- Under 100 euro

 

[Anchovie666]

Any new brushes other than Vintage are Synthetic
Country of Manufacture is not a Deal Breaker - most of mine are North American
Knot size is usually 24mm or larger
Handles are mostly acrylic but I won't pass on a nice wood
I like to keep the price under $30

My last brush purchase was a Semogue Torga C5 Onyx ($38 - a bit on my high side) with a black wood handle. LOVE it!!
Shame on me I didn't even realize Semogue made a Synthetic and such a good one. Total black knot with a black handle.

 

[Omega48]

Possibly 30mm. Badger under $200, synthetic or boar under $100.

 

[DesertIguana]

Function v/s Fancy, Price Point v/s Pricy.

My Omega was $8.00 & Spreads Lather, aka Works.

 

[Acmemfg]

Best and easiest criterion is just to call Rudy Vey and start from there

 

[BigJ]

For me: badger (other than pure), 19-20 mm, dense and something different from what I have!!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Price: £40 GBP or less

Knot size: 17mm to 21mm

Handle colour: Ivory if made by Vulfix/Simpson, black if made by anyone else.

Bristles: Pure badger, synthetic, or mixed hair. Might consider best badger.

 

[PolishDawg]

omega boar, 10 bucks...lather monster, I will buy another to rotate....the shave knot cracked around the ring but isn't dropping bristles, it popped out...the fake chrome flaked off, but oh well...it makes lather efficiently...enough so that I can do a shave in under 10 minutes.

 

[WThomas0814]

Bristles: Boar, bleached or unbleached

Knot diameter: 26 mm or larger

Loft: no requirement, but, most of my brushes are 57 mm. I have an SOC (24x55) and a Zenith Big Scrubby (28x50), a 26x57 Zenith, and 5-6 that are 27-28x57

Handle material: no requirement (I have Cherry, Olive, resin, aluminum, and copper)

Handle color: no preference (black, ivory, blue, multicolored, Italian flag, wood)

Handle type: retro, long (70-ish mm)

 

[Proper Irish]

Going forward, I’m only looking for brushes with somewhat longer, skinny paintbrush style handles (like the shape in this picture) and a 24mm knot.
Been having a hard time finding one though, all the brushes Ive found in this general shape seem to have 26mm or larger knots.

Knot-wise- I’m good with boar, badger or synthetic, as long as it’s high quality. I’d like to try the STF or G5A synthetic knots next.

 

[Barley]

I'm just starting out, so my basic requirements are:

1 Badger, 1 Boar, 1 Synthetic.

All with different handle shapes.

I feel after a couple of rotations I'll figure out my favorite and go from there.

 

[Phoenixkh]

When I first found B&B, I only had one shaving brush. That was my first quest here... learn about different brushes. I started with synths so that's what I searched for here. I tried a bunch of them.... didn't like even one of them.

After that, I met @Chan Eil Whiskers and started reading his brush selection journey and soon discovered, after buying a few that he loved, we share the same likes and dislikes when it comes to brushes. Man, did that simplify my search for brushes I'd enjoy.

I sold off or gave away quite a few brushes and am left with a few select badgers, 4 boars I only use in DecemBOAR and two synths my wife now owns.

I haven't bought a new brush for months now as I'm content with what I'm using... but SV releases a 30mm limited edition brush every so often, usually in the fall. One of these years, they'll release one in a handle I won't be able to resist. I'm actually looking forward to that. <eg>

 

[BrianP]

Boar
diameter 27-30 mm
loft ~50

If diameter is <26
loft should be ~45

and boar....gotta be boar,
preference for plain bristle -- no fake badger stripey bit

Current brush rotation: a number of omegas including the connaught jade (closest to a daily driver I got), Plisson size 8 HMW, and a wee scot (love it).

 

[Phoenixkh]

When I first found B&B, I only had one shaving brush. That was my first quest here... learn about different brushes. I started with synths so that's what I searched for here. I tried a bunch of them.... didn't like even one of them.

After that, I met @Chan Eil Whiskers and started reading his brush selection journey and soon discovered, after buying a few that he loved, we share the same likes and dislikes when it comes to brushes. Man, did that simplify my search for brushes I'd enjoy.

I sold off or gave away quite a few brushes and am left with a few select badgers, 4 boars I only use in DecemBOAR and two synths my wife now owns.

I haven't bought a new brush for months now as I'm content with what I'm using... but SV releases a 30mm limited edition brush every so often, usually in the fall. One of these years, they'll release one in a handle I won't be able to resist. I'm actually looking forward to that. <eg>

 

[musicman1951]

My favorite handle is the cherry wood SOC - perfection for me. I have 5 (some quite old, no problems ever). I like the size and the shape and I try to get as close to that as I can when there are choices.

I like to stay under $200, and under $100 is even better. Three of my top five brushes were in the $70 range, but the other two were $180 (my favorite) and $240 so there's that.

No smaller than 25mm.
No nasty scritch!
Good backbone.
A pretty handle is nice, but plain is not a deal breaker.
No synthetics unless Wald figures out how to make an even better knot.
Probably badger.

 

[jimmyrules712]

No wood

I'm curios - why do you avoid wood? Just personal preference?

 

[blade08]

I'm curios - why do you avoid wood? Just personal preference?

Yes, just that.

 

[Marco]

The Simpson golden sticker.

 

[blethenstrom]

Going forward, I’m only looking for brushes with somewhat longer, skinny paintbrush style handles (like the shape in this picture) and a 24mm knot.
Been having a hard time finding one though, all the brushes Ive found in this general shape seem to have 26mm or larger knots.

Knot-wise- I’m good with boar, badger or synthetic, as long as it’s high quality. I’d like to try the STF or G5A synthetic knots next.

View attachment 1803505

If you can order from ItalianBarber you can look at their RR400 24mm synthetics.

 

[Tha Baron]

Badger with backbone
Two band is favored
Simpsons, Shavemac, RV, Oumo
Cool handle
Preferred knot is 24, but also like bigger and smaller
I like all high quality brushes that aren’t floppy or ultra soft
I want interesting variety