Lijun Shaving Brushes

[cosmicdoom]

Alright, so admittedly, my brush knowledge is not great. I have an Omega boar, a Vulfix Grosvenor, a Vie-Long Zurito....and a Lijun 22mm Finest.

Am I missing something here? I was under-impressed with everything until I got the Lijun in a trade. It is super dense and soft, lathers like a beast and has great back bone.

Do the Simpson's, Thater's et al have that much much on the Lijun to warrant a price tag of 300%-2000% more?

And as a side note, how to the Frank Shaving and Ace Shaving knots compare to both Lijun and the Big Dogs?

[mftoms59]

I had a Lijun & 1980 and really loved it, as you said it was dense with firm, springy backbone, scrubby without scritch and built lather fast. I've had a FS in Silver-Tip, though it was a different Grade, it lacked density & backbone though the tips were nice and soft, worked nicely for Creams. Between the two, I'd pick the Lijun always, i've never tried an Ace, I'd say they're just as good as the TGN knots I own and would likely buy one again if I needed a Brush.

Besides V-L Horse Hair brushes, I own two Shavemacs and a couple of TGN Badgers; Black & Best, so my experience with other well known manufacturers are limited. I do love the Shavemac knots and the ability to Customize my Brush handle & knot.

[TonyJ]

... It is super dense and soft, lathers like a beast and has great back bone.

Do the Simpson's, Thater's et al have that much much on the Lijun to warrant a price tag of 300%-2000% more?

I have EJ silvertip, Thäter silvertip, kent bk4 and Lijun silvertip and I can say honestly that Lijun gives best bang for the buck. Those other's are NOT absolutely better so much what the price tag gives. I don't meant to offend and if people have money it's their own to spend where they want to. I have spent my extra money for many kind of shaving gears because I'm a kind of variety hunter and enjoy that thing mostly in my life. So there is nothing wrong to enjoy your great lijun brush and keep the costs low. I agree totally those characters super dense, soft, lather's like a beast and great backbone so I ordered another lijun (finest) what I'm waiting for atm. At the end it's your own choice how deep you want to go. I would never ever spend hundreds of dollars ( euros) for one, any kind of shaving gear (brush, razor what ever). I can't comment nothing about frank's or BD's.

[merkur59]

I have compared Lijun and FS and IMO FS has better loft/knot ratio for backbone without being stiff.

My FS 24/52 is excellent for both face and bowl. However with respect to customisation, for the best bang for your buck, go with whippeddog. The knot is denser than FS.

[Slash McCoy]

Premium brand brushes do not work any better than a sturdy but cheap Chinese badger. You are not paying for a more effective brush. You are paying for craftsmanship and more expensive handle materials and whatnot. Pride of ownership. Appearance. Those qualities are worth the price for some of us. Some of us are satisfied with a molded plastic handled black badger for $10. In this matter truly YMMV. My favorite brush is a massive 30mm Frank Shaving silver tip that cost me I think $34. That's about the most I will pay for a brush but I can see how one might think that some of the "better" brushes might be worth a couple days wages. Like I said YMMV.

[Arved]

My favorite brush is a massive 30mm Frank Shaving silver tip that cost me I think $34. That's about the most I will pay for a brush but I can see how one might think that some of the "better" brushes might be worth a couple days wages. Like I said YMMV.

Hmmmm.... It seems the current biggest is a 2.8cm (28mm) knot for $49.99 + $6.99 S&H.

Has it been a while, or is it something that will probably come up again?

[kiwimike]

I cant comment on the other brushes but I have recently purchased a FS 24mm silvertip and love it.
Its dense, well made, heavy, and despite being a soft brush it will easily pick up hard soaps and face lather them.
Its a pleasure to use and produces slick creamy lather that I have been getting great shaves out of.
Worth every penny, and more.

[vocalistbob]

Not all Chinese brushes are created equal, but I have two DeLong silvertips that are extraordinarily soft - and I mean softer than any of the big boys. My next brush purchase will be a Lijun 24mm silvertip. I am curious to see how it compares with the Delongs. And since this IS China, they could be the same brushes under different names.

[Slash McCoy]

Hmmmm.... It seems the current biggest is a 2.8cm (28mm) knot for $49.99 + $6.99 S&H.

Has it been a while, or is it something that will probably come up again?

I got this one a couple years ago. I do know his prices went up drastically a few months ago.

[turtle]

I've had one for a while. Nice brush @ a low price.

[WickedSwde]

I'm really satisfied with the Lijun I have. I wanted something big and "cheap" and that's what I got.

[StuMcB]

Cant say about the Lijun brush but I do own three FS brushes. The tiny custom 18/21 finest traveler, nice and scrubby. The 26/55 horn chubby and it's synth brother. All three have given me great lathers and look fantastic, no quality probs at all. In fact the chubby HAS YET TO SHED A SIGLE HAIR!!! I do also have 5 Simpsons a couple of Omega boars and a vintage Kent. The kent has to softest tips of all of them but the FS are my go to brushes. The only simpson that gets in now and again is my Duke 2 followed by my Eagle G1 in pure.

[SliceOfLife]

Can't really divide it as eBay brushes and high end brushes. Let's compare Simpsons vs eBay (though most of these will carry over to other manufacturers)

Handmade knots
Better hair sorting
Higher quality material for handles
Turned handles vs molded/injected plastic
With relatively few exceptions, denser. In most cases far denser. (There were guys saying their FS were denser than their Berkeley when FS fans were spamming these forums up last year. I measured it. My Berkeley had 3-5 TIMES the hair of any of the three FS I had.)

You may like Lijun or FS brushes better. But there are pretty obvious reasons why Simpson, Rooney, Kent, etc brushes cost more. And when people go around with statements about how they don't use their duke or their Rooney Super or their whatever because their eBay brush is so much denser, it makes taking any of their opinions seriously require a level of gullibility I lack.


I've tried three different eBay makers. TGN knots were superior to all three by a LARGE margin. And TGN knots are direct price competitors with all but they cheapest of them.

[cosmicdoom]

So, I picked up a Frank Shaving brush in finest on the BST. Initial impression is that it is much less dense than the Lijun. That is not to say that it is floppy, just less scrubby. Like the Lijun, it has minimal scritch, but if you are having an otherwise irritating shave, you'll feel a bit of scritch. In general, both are quite soft.

Being less dense than the Lijun, the FS really shines in terms of flow through. It performed wonderfully in the bowl, both in terms of lather making ability and in terms of application.

The Lijun has the nicer handle, for sure. Just seems much more solidly built.

I have a 2 band SOC on the way (as well as an SOC boar), so we'll see how these inexpensive options compare to the next price bracket.

[cosmicdoom]

So, the Semogue 2 band arrived and I gave it a shave.

Impressions:
The handle is very light. I wish they would have added some weight inside of the handle, bit it doesn't affect performance.

The handle is very well made. Beautiful to behold and comfortable to, erm, hold.

The brush is very, very soft when wet. Softer than the Lijun or FS.

The density and flow through are right in between the Lijun and FS.

When loaded and whipped this brush widens out to a startling width. I'm sure you could still face lather, though. It is the perfect size for head lathering my shiny dome.

This is not to say that the brush is floppy. It has pretty nice backbone.

No scritch as of yet. If I experience some scritch during an irritating shave, time will tell.

It blooms to display a most aesthetically pleasing visage.

[Perished]

Here we go chaps.
Arrived today.








I ordered this Lijun on a whim around a week ago. Costing only £12 delivered from China, I thought what is there to lose. This is the cheapest brush I've ever bought, a whole £2 cheaper than my Semogue 1305.
Well first impressions, I'm more than surprised. The brush itself has a real quality fee about it. Heavy handle, with a very densely packed 'finest' knot at 24mm. Soft, very little scritch.
I'll shave with it tonight and post an update on how she performed. But having just test lathered it, and not lost a single hair, I think I'm in for a treat

[vocalistbob]

I have been contemplating buying a Lijun or a Frank brush and ended up pulling the trigger on a 28mm Frank Manchurian silvertip. This was the first one I found from either manufacturer with specs that suit my tastes - 28mm knot, 54mm loft, 52mm handle with a fan-shaped knot. Call it a poor man's Chubby or Stubby, although it wasn't exactly cheap - just cheap when you compare it to a Chub or Stub..

[Sully2]

I cant comment on the other brushes but I have recently purchased a FS 24mm silvertip and love it.
Its dense, well made, heavy, and despite being a soft brush it will easily pick up hard soaps and face lather them.
Its a pleasure to use and produces slick creamy lather that I have been getting great shaves out of.
Worth every penny, and more.

I too have a FS Silvertip I bought from E-Bay for the whopping sum of $21....and it is GREAT...period.

Personally I think Slash McCoy was dead on in his oration about brushes.

[keithmax]

I recently purchased Lijun super badger for $20 including shipping. I don't own any expensive brushes so I can compare this brush to the high end famous ones. I am happy with the brush, the tips are soft but it is so dense there is plenty of backbone. It tends to hog lather. It is dome shaped but I would prefer a fan as the soap tends to disappear from the tip quickly. It does provide tons of lather hidden inside.

[Invicta]

I recently purchased Lijun super badger for $20 including shipping. I don't own any expensive brushes so I can compare this brush to the high end famous ones. I am happy with the brush, the tips are soft but it is so dense there is plenty of backbone. It tends to hog lather. It is dome shaped but I would prefer a fan as the soap tends to disappear from the tip quickly. It does provide tons of lather hidden inside.

+1; I got a 24mm knot and it produces great lather from Proraso soap and a hard soap (both bowl lathered). Having to tease the lather out of it though.