Finding Out if a Floppiness is a Virtue

[SmallyetDeadly]

I recently bought a frankshave silvertip with a ~22mm knot. Floppy as heck but loads up a soft soap like Cella easily enough and provides a luxurious face lather experience. I was very pleasantly surprised that it is capable of this in addition to being a nice face painter for bowl lathered creams.

I will give it a bash on a triple milled soap at some point but judging by the loading time for Cella it will be possible but probably too much work to bother with on a regular basis when I have good soap brushes to use.

I think floppy helps you to aerate the lather and lends itself to a good flow through in general.

 

[Bristlingbeardofodin]

My Vulfix 2234 is my favorite brush and lathers hard soaps as well or better than my stiffer brushes.

 

[infotech]

After my month with Kent, I concluded that despite what many think ( and you know who you are ), they are soft but not floppy brushes. It gave me great shaves from hard soaps, so I'm going to take the floppiest brushes I have, the Vulfix 2234 and C&E BBB and see what they can do with triple milled Harris Almond soap next week.

I used my Kent Bk4 solo for a good year. It's a nice brush and all, but I concluded that it is indeed a floppy, mop of a brush. Sometimes I wonder if it's because I used it for so long that the knot became floppier than normal. It has one good use IMO: creams from a bowl and painting the lather on. It crushes to the handle anytime I try face lathering or apply the slightest amount of pressure... there's just zero scrub action.

 

[beginish]

I used my Kent Bk4 solo for a good year. It's a nice brush and all, but I concluded that it is indeed a floppy, mop of a brush. Sometimes I wonder if it's because I used it for so long that the knot became floppier than normal. It has one good use IMO: creams from a bowl and painting the lather on. It crushes to the handle anytime I try face lathering or apply the slightest amount of pressure... there's just zero scrub action.

Mine is about 6 months old. Perhaps they're putting more hair in the knots for some of the newer brushes. Alternatively, we have different definitions of floppy .

Back to the 2234 today. I did everything the same as yesterday, except for loading about 10 seconds less. One thing I noticed is that the lather is less slick with the Vulfix than other brushes. I wonder whether some of the slickness I get with denser brushes and shave sticks is from soap that stays on the face and does not get incorporated into the lather. With the Vulfix, soap incorporation may be more complete as a result of the brush's better flowthrough.

 

[CFSoto]

Sound like a great experiment, Bob.

I initially thought this one

Was too tall. It's Finest so not "floppy" per SE, but headed there. Recently it's been building the best lather I've known. Great brush.

Ken

Hello Ken,

Please identify this Big brush(above) for me. I think I know,but not quite sure. Thanks.

Craig

 

[beginish]

Sound like a great experiment, Bob.

I initially thought this one

Was too tall. It's Finest so not "floppy" per SE, but headed there. Recently it's been building the best lather I've known. Great brush.

Ken

Is that the 3/3, Ken?

Since my last post, I've moved from the Vulfix 2234 and it's soft tips to the Crabtree & Evelyn Best Badger (made by Edwin Jagger) and it's prickly tips. I know this is probably quibbling, but this brush feels closer to Pure than it does to Best. Regardless, it's even floppier than the Vulfix owing to its higher loft. Like the Vulfix, I've been using the Harris Almond soap (if you haven't tried a DR Harris soap, please navigate now, right now, to your favorite internet shaving soap purveyor and order some, any scent.....you can thank me later.....go ahead, I'll wait). I soaked the brush, gave it a shake and loaded from the puck. I think the prickly tips made it load more easily, but I got a lot of decent protolather on the surface of the soap, and proceeded to face lather. Once again, I got a very nice, protective lather. Like the Vulfix, it was less slick than with denser brushes, but it did a very nice job. I think that I have sufficiently disproven to myself the notion that floppy brushes can't be used with soaps. In fact, though I prefer a denser, scrubbier brush, the Vulfix in particular delivered a very pleasant face lather. I'll be honest, though. I don't like the C&E, as it's just too prickly. I think it will make a nice addition to a newbie PIF.

 

[kbuzbee]

Is that the 3/3, Ken?

It is. Tall at 63mm but very dense and of course Finest hair is pretty stiff. Wonderful brush overall.

Great experiment!

Ken