MUHLE Silvertip Fiber pass around

[CHSeifert]

The Black Fibres is much softer than the Silvertip Fibre, but the 21mm Silvertip has a bit more backbone. I primarily bowl lather and both of these brushes do a great job lathering. I have a Frank Shaving synthetic that I love, an Omega Syntex that I'm iffy about, and a HIS 28mm Synthetic that are sitting and collecting dust because of the two Muhle brushes now.

So if I do both (face and bowl lathering)- the black fibre 23 mm go 25 mm would be my best choice for bowl lathering and the 21 mm silver tip fibre for face lathering ?

I prefer a smaller knot with more backbone for face lathering and softer bigger knot brush for bowl lathering - hence I prefer my Kent BLK8 for bowl lathering and my Simpssons The Duke 2 in Best for face lathering.

[CHSeifert]

Nah I'm done with Muhle honestly. I'll keep my Black Fibres brush and my 21mm brush, but I'll only buy second hand from now on so they don't get a penny of my money again. I contacted them about the 23mm brush and got one email back and then never heard back from them again. Worst customer service ever. It's just a shame too because I love their razors and love 2 out of the 3 brushes I bought from them. They have a world class product and third rate customer service.

Think you should give them a second chance......

I've dealt with Mühle Germany several times, also just asking them questions via email and always got great customer service from them - top notch service IMHO

Maybe the US rep guy for Mühle is where the problem lies......

[alex2363]

Think you should give them a second chance......

I've dealt with Mühle Germany several times, also just asking them questions via email and always got great customer service from them - top notch service IMHO

Maybe the US rep guy for Mühle is where the problem lies......

Sometimes emails or not a perfect communication, many glitches can occur, just try again.

[OldGreyGuy]

I have a number of brushes with 23mm or greater width knots that I use to face lather in boar and badger. If the 23mm is somehow too big then I'll think about the 21 but unless I am flinging lather round like some crazed cartoon parody then it will probably be fine.

[donoma]

I should have posted earlier, but I mailed the 23mm Muhle Sythetic Brush to Songwind last week and was delivered Friday 5/11.

[Songwind]

Day 2 with the brush was mostly an exercise in frustration because I suck at face-lathering when the product is on my face before the brush is applied. We won't speak of it.

Day 3
This morning's shave went well. I used the brush after a gentle squeeze with Mystic Water soap. Again, it loaded well, and whipped up a lather quickly. I'm still figuring out the water characteristics of the brush, so my lather wasn't all it could be (too dry) but that's to be expected with a new brush. I was careful to use the tips of the brush with gentle pressure rather than trying to splay the brush out, and got a good coating easily. The brush is more than soft enough to make working the lather into your beard easy and comfortable.

This evening I tried a test lather with another of my soaps, and instead of squeezing or just letting it run out, I gave it a couple of downward pumps. This worked out well for me - I am used to starting fairly wet with my boar brushes, and have never gotten the same quality of lather with the popular "damp brush" method. I got a great lather, partly palm-lathered and partly bowl lathered. The lather stayed in the brush very well, even under pretty vigorous use.

I have noticed the drying time isn't as fast as I first thought. It's tricksy. Both hanging and standing, the outside gets completely dry fairly quickly, but the center stays wet for several hours. Shaking the brush back and forth with a "flicking" motion will fling the water out. Regardless, it dries in a matter of 5 hours, not 12-18, so that's a great improvement.

[Songwind]

Day 4

I'm getting the hang of the water content of this brush, and had a marvelous lather with D. R. Harris Arlington soap. Today I loaded the brush on the soap after two downward pumps of the brush, then lathered on my face. I got a good protective lather with plenty for all three passes. The brush tips worked nicely on my face, and the extra "scrubbing" was no problem for my skin to handle from this very gentle brush. I like the fact that I can feel the hairs working on my face rather than the brush seeming like a single unit.

Between last night's palm lather and this morning's face lather, I noticed a way in which this brush reminds me of my horse hair brush. It seems to hold its payload of lather inside rather than ending up with a large load of lather hanging about on the outside of the brush. Did anyone else have this experience, or is this just a consequence of the way I face-lather?

[BestFaceForward]

I received my 23mm a few days ago and have been using it everyday. I must concur with all of the comments -- this brush is excellent. My only issue is the difficulty balancing the backbone of the brush with the prickliness of the brush's tips. I like the backbone of this brush more than my Jack Black synthetic brush (which I've been using for the last few years), but I favor the Jack Black tips as they are softer and definitely don't give you a prickly feeling when applying the lather. The water and warmth retention of the brush closely resembles real badger, along with its overall performance. I am very happy with this brush, and plan to use it daily (the brush dries very fast so it can be used daily).

[Songwind]

Day 6
I've ended up face-lathering with this brush most days. It works very well for that - perhaps a tiny bit big, but not bad overall. This morning was RazoRock XXX. One quick downward pump, 20 seconds loading, and plenty of lather.

I think it might have just a smidgen too much backbone for me to use it as a face-lather brush every day. I'm getting a bit more irritation from my shaves the past few days, and I wonder if it's just that the brush on my face ups the ante that tiny bit.

All in all, it's an excellent brush, and six days of using it hasn't really changed my initial impression, just confirmed it.

[OldGreyGuy]

I have been advised that this has shipped:

Attachment 242807

Muhle 33 K 252

Now comes the wait while it comes from the UK to Australia.

It has arrived!

[wimbouman]

It has arrived!

Yes! Congrats.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

[GDCarrington]

It has arrived!

I think your headed for some great lather making!

[OldGreyGuy]

Yes! Congrats.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

I think your headed for some great lather making!

I was very impressed with the brush this morning. I had used Cella the previous day with a boar brush and so it was a pleasure to follow up with another Cella shave to compare. I started with just dipping the brush in water and shook it out until it was quite dry and then loaded the brush, went to the face and just dipped the tips in the warm water in the basin as required. No problems getting a typical thick creamy Cella lather and the initial load was sufficient for three passes of my ARC Weber with a Personna Lab Blue, no nicks, cuts or weepers so the brush and lather have done their job.

Pretty happy with that first use as I get the feel for this brush I am happy that it can only get better.

Folks, I face lather and prefer a bigger brush so I went for the 23mm knot. It is fine although I can see some folks may want to go for the 21mm. A very soft brush but with some backbone.

[mistervee123]

After following this thread for so long, I couldn't take it anymore. Since I prefer small brushes, I ordered the Muhle faux horn handle in the 21mm size. I don't know if this synthetic "hair" really goes through break in period, but I lathered up a half dozen bowls of Proraso and Kiss My Face creams, then used the last bowl for a shave. I'm not ready for a full blown technical review, but here are some anecdotal observations.

The Muhle is a good looking brush, and the handle is of very high quality. It's hefty, well finished, and I like the faux horn. The silvertip fibres are silverish at the base, dark in the middle and gray at the top, opposite of the badger silvertips I have. The fibres have slight blue-purple irridesence in the dark areas, as someone else noted. They are also much shinier than natural hair--but this, of course, has no effect on how the brush functions.

The brush does a very good job of lathering, I will say that, but I don't think it surpasses natural badger, at least not my Simpsons and Thaters in best, super, or silvertip. The Muhle seems to excel in flow through. Not as much lather seems to stay in the core as it does with my badgers. Dry, the brush seems to feel similar to my Duke 1. Once it is wet and full of lather, this changes a bit, and the knot seems to tighten, rather than splay out. During application, I did notice a bit of sharp prickle from the bristle tips, especially during the initial touch on the face when applying lather in circular motions and again at the initial touch when finishing off the lather with painter strokes. The sharpness of the tips was a little startling since I didn't expect this sensation, and it is so different from any of my badgers. I don't know if the prickle will disappear, but I would guess that the tips will soften with time and use.

BTW, OldGreyGuy, I'm surprised you're enjoying that Weber so much considering you are a BOTOC member. I understand however, since I have the DLC Weber and like it a lot, rating it in my top 3 razors.


ALSO, does anybody know how to make pictures smaller? I resized and shrunk this photo twice, and it still uploads too big. If you have tips or suggestions, please PM me. Thanks.

[itaforte]

I just go in to town to see the Muhle brush waiting for me and I immediately lathered it up! I'll wait a week to post my whole review, but after just one lather this brush has already surpassed expectations.

[OldGreyGuy]

BTW, OldGreyGuy, I'm surprised you're enjoying that Weber so much considering you are a BOTOC member. I understand however, since I have the DLC Weber and like it a lot, rating it in my top 3 razors.

Me too. Since I got the Weber I have only used the Weber, SC New, LC New, Ikon OSS, Fatip Grande and I am planning on how to fit my new Tradere into the rotation. I have a couple of Techs, a Superspeed, 2 x EJ89 and a Gillette Fatboy that are sitting in the drawer crying out to be used, I'm getting the feeling that a couple of these are probably about to go on B/S/T.

[itsmedave]

Me too. Since I got the Weber I have only used the Weber, SC New, LC New, Ikon OSS, Fatip Grande and I am planning on how to fit my new Tradere into the rotation. I have a couple of Techs, a Superspeed, 2 x EJ89 and a Gillette Fatboy that are sitting in the drawer crying out to be used, I'm getting the feeling that a couple of these are probably about to go on B/S/T.

Honestly, the Tradere and the Weber have made me rid myself of many other razors. I had about 20 or so a couple of weeks ago and I'm now down to 8. I'm not a collector and don't like to let things collect dust. The Muhles have done the same thing with brushes for me. I now have 4 brushes (Muhle BF, Muhle SF, FS Synthetic, and a Vie Long 13061M) which is down from about 13 before I had the Muhles.

[itaforte]

First off, I want to thank Codfish for the opportunity to try this brush! I greatly enjoyed its unique character, and it is definitely a winner.

Water retention: Does it hold water sufficiently enough?
This is the most surprising property of this brush. This synthetic brush holds an incredible amount of water, yet doesn't need quite as long to soak. I usually let my brushes soak when I'm showering, but on a few occasions it soaked adequately in only a minute or two. 10/10

Loading: Does it pick up soaps and creams easily? This brush very easily loads soaps! I'm not really a cream guy so my judgement on this wouldn't mean much. I found very little effort and time was needed to adequately load this brush. 9/10

Lather: Does it built and apply lather well?
The synthetic bristles also builds and releases the lather very well. I found that less soap was needed for this brush compared to my others because in my estimation more than 80 percent of the lather was released from this brush compared to roughly 70 percent from my natural hair brushes. 10/10

Application/Backbone: Does it allow for a soft/smooth/effective application of lather to the skin.
The feel of this brush is the hardest characteristic to describe. While it had great backbone and soft bristles, it still felt a little prickly. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but that's the best way I know how to describe it. I have very sensitive skin, so I'm sure many others won't share this opinion. This is really the only drawback I encountered with this brush. 7/10

Quality feel: Does the synthetic brush have the “quality” feel against the skin? Would it pass a blindfold test against naturals?
This brush does feel like a quality brush, especially considering the price, but IMHO it would not pass a blindfold test against naturals. 9/10 (due to the price point)

Appearance: Is the look of the brush attractive?
This brush is very attractive and distinct at the same time. The bristles have a slightly transparent characteristic that is a nice change from the typical. 10/10

Overall, I would rate this brush a 9/10 when considering the price point. It is a solid performer that dries quickly. In the future when finances permit, I will purchase this brush in a 19mm knot for both traveling and everyday use.

[Codfish]

First off, I want to thank Codfish for the opportunity to try this brush! I greatly enjoyed its unique character, and it is definitely a winner.

Water retention: Does it hold water sufficiently enough?
This is the most surprising property of this brush. This synthetic brush holds an incredible amount of water, yet doesn't need quite as long to soak. I usually let my brushes soak when I'm showering, but on a few occasions it soaked adequately in only a minute or two. 10/10

Loading: Does it pick up soaps and creams easily? This brush very easily loads soaps! I'm not really a cream guy so my judgement on this wouldn't mean much. I found very little effort and time was needed to adequately load this brush. 9/10

Lather: Does it built and apply lather well?
The synthetic bristles also builds and releases the lather very well. I found that less soap was needed for this brush compared to my others because in my estimation more than 80 percent of the lather was released from this brush compared to roughly 70 percent from my natural hair brushes. 10/10

Application/Backbone: Does it allow for a soft/smooth/effective application of lather to the skin.
The feel of this brush is the hardest characteristic to describe. While it had great backbone and soft bristles, it still felt a little prickly. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but that's the best way I know how to describe it. I have very sensitive skin, so I'm sure many others won't share this opinion. This is really the only drawback I encountered with this brush. 7/10

Quality feel: Does the synthetic brush have the “quality” feel against the skin? Would it pass a blindfold test against naturals?
This brush does feel like a quality brush, especially considering the price, but IMHO it would not pass a blindfold test against naturals. 9/10 (due to the price point)

Appearance: Is the look of the brush attractive?
This brush is very attractive and distinct at the same time. The bristles have a slightly transparent characteristic that is a nice change from the typical. 10/10

Overall, I would rate this brush a 9/10 when considering the price point. It is a solid performer that dries quickly. In the future when finances permit, I will purchase this brush in a 19mm knot for both traveling and everyday use.

Thanks for participating in the pass around, Joe. And thanks for taking the time to do a thoughtful and well-presented review. I'm starting to miss my brush. Thankfully, it's a few weeks away from coming home.

[bbarton713]

I received the brush today and it looks great. I'll be using it tomorrow to face lather a Palmolive shave stick. As to the questionnaire I believe I can answer a couple right off the bat:


Quality feel: Does the synthetic brush have the “quality” feel against the skin? Would it pass a blindfold test against naturals? There is a definite synthetic feel to the brush. I compared it with my 3-band super Simpson, 2-band simpson, TGN super, Thater 3-band, and a boar. It had a springy feel and it made me think of nylon. It wasn't unpleasant and I'm interested in seeing how it does with the other categories.


Appearance: Is the look of the brush attractive? This is a very attractive looking brush and on par with other brushes in that price range.