Which shaving brushes are better, Rooney or Shavemac?

[franz]

The Emillion is a real beauty. Probably my favorite brush right now. What are you saying Greg? So what if it's ribbed for my pleasure?

 

[mftoms59]

I can only address Shavemacs, I own a Custom Finest Bulb, 50mm loft 21mm knot 49mm handle & Custom Silver-Tip Fan, 45/21 39mm handle. The Finest & Silver-Tip both have dense knots, the softness of the tips are close to the same, I've read the finest uses ~30% Silver-Tip Hair and from the feel I believe it. The finest made good lathers pretty much straight from the box and improved with use, the Silver-Tip needed to Break-in, due to knot density and the short loft, ~15-18 lathers, and also got much better with use.

Both can chew soaps and creams and depending on handle length will work in a bowl or your face, Bloom on the finest was moderate, the Bloom on the Fan is ~2 5/8" across the top and feels bigger than a 21mm knot on the face. Love the heck out of both, which have stiff backbone, and if your getting a High-End Badger, think about a Custom, the finest was < $100 and the Silver-Tip > $100, which included the Shipping.

Custom Menu #1; http://www.shavemac.com/shop/selfmade.php Custom Menu #2; http://www.shavemac.com/shop/product_info.php?currency=USD&info=1496

If you don't like any of the Handle choices, you could pick one from any Brush on the Site and specify your choice of loft height/shape, knot size and any engraving you may want. I did this for my Silver-Tip handle, same color, and even at 39mm it's very heavy: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...st-108-pls**?p=3386856&highlight=#post3386856
BTW, since receiving them in June, I've lost ~20 hairs between both Brushes.

updated link on original post

 

[Loric]

I cant speak to the lesser grades, however at Silvertip I would go with Shavemac over the "vanilla" Rooneys I have owned. Most of the Rooneys have been a bit on the mopy side. However when you start talking about premium brushes (i.e. Rooney Finest, XXL line, D01's) I think the Rooneys win hands down. Shavemac D01's are great brushes, and the 3 band truly has two band backbone. However Rooney Finest is a truly unique grade of hair with amazing backbone, unmatched density (for a two band) and a face feel that nothing else has. Some might fault the Finest for having some skritch, but after it breaks in the minimal skritch just feels right. The Heritage XL line is equally wonderful and unique. Somehow this two band has tips as soft as any other brush out there while maintaining great backbone. It also has a unique face feel, resembling more of a "gel" than the traditional brush. I think most any product from these two companies would be a good brush, so dont feel bad about picking out the one that speaks to you most directly.

 

[AndyPrice44]

I have a shavemac D01 3-band 26mm x 52mm, and a rooney heritage stubby 2XL in 2-band. I really like both brushes. The shavemac is softer at the tips and has a slight edge on density vs. the rooney. That being said, the rooney with it's 2-band hair has better backbone and is still very soft as well. I have begun to favor the rooney over the shavemac for this reason. Both very nice brushes. I couldn't part with either of them.

 

[CFSoto]

Overall.I'd say Rooneys are better.And specifically,Shavemac makes nothing that even comes remotely close to the superb quality of the Rooney Stubby 2XL and 3XL

.These,along with the Simpson Chubby2 and 3 in Super badger,are,IMO,the best brushes on the market. To each his own however.

Craig