Kent Infinity Silvertex

Just got this in from west coast shaving and thought I'd post my review. I'm no expert, but I'll try to help those who are considering this brush and the more experienced can throw in their two cents as well.

The brush is small, first off. Compared to my Whipped Dog 20mm (no drilling), VDH Boar, and Escali Badger, it's a midget in both handle size and loft. Perfect for traveling which is why I bought it-that and the fact I don't have to worry about odor or drying time. I face lathered with La Toja Stick and first it was very stiff, it was my first lather with it, so it was to be expected I assume. Towards the end of face lathering, when the brush was loaded with soap, it started to splay nicely and got me a very thick and luxurious lather. I did have to dip it in the sink a few times to get the consistency right. Not sure if it's because the brush is new or it just doesn't hold a lot of water. I'm new to Synthetics as this is my first one so keep that in mind. It was very soft at the tips and not scritchy at all. I might actually like the small handle as it felt nice in the hand during my face lathering.

I like this brush and glad with the purchase. Got it for ~$25 off WCS.

The Infinity is my favorite brush. It IS small, but I find the size ideal for slop-free face lathering. What I really like is the combination of soft tips and scrubbiness; there's no other synth brush quite like it, although others are softer and more luxurious. You do need to add more water, as you say, but that's generally true of almost all synth brushes.

It's my daily driver, but it should make you an ideal traveling brush!

Based on the many positive reviews I saw on WCS, I recently purchased a Kent Infinity Silvertex. My first synthetic. Look forward to using it.

I do not understand how you can recommend this brush?

I bought a Kent Infinity brush a year ago. It has very soft tips that feels great against the skin and a beautiful, functional handle. Sadly the loft is way too high so the brush has no backbone at all and is floppy. It takes too much hard work and time to whip up lather in a bowl and facelathering is totally out of question. It is like a joke, a totally useless brush.

It is a waste of a lovely handle so pulled the knot out and is now waiting for a 22mm bulb shaped finest badger knot from China that I will set with a loft of about 51 mm. I made this decision since I just bought a Frank Shaving brush in best badger 24mm fan shape with a 53mm loft that is totally avesome. It makes lather in no time, has exactly enough backbone and is pleasantly soft but faint little scritchy. But it is not broken in yet. In total, shipping fees included, I will have spent more money on the Kent Infinity brush than what the Frank Shaving brush costed me.

I also bought the infinity for traveling, but I find its a fine brush any time. It does feel a lot less floppy than my Plisson, and has a bit more scrub to the face feel. I use it for face lathering, and the handle,is perfect for that. I've bowl lathered as well very successfully. It's a good overall synth.

Like you, it was my first synthetic. I was so new to the world of wet shaving I didn't know it what it was when I ordered it. Since buying it, I have bought other, what I consider to be, better synthetics (some about the same size and others larger) but the Infinity is still in my rotation.

I have been investigating some forum threads and it seems like a lot of people like this brush a lot! So maybe my judgement is too harsh?

Maybe I got a monday sample with a too high loft but otherwise I see that if you lather with cream instead of soap these kind of floppy brushes are very much appreciated. I bought the hard Kent shaving soap at the same time as the brush and never tried it with a shave cream. I never got the brush to splay either and maybe because of that it felt even more floppy? If I had used more brute force in order to brake it in maybe it would have splayed and become less floppy?

Smedjan said:

Maybe I got a monday sample with a too high loft but otherwise I see that if you lather with cream instead of soap these kind of floppy brushes are very much appreciated.

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I never use my Infinity with a cream. Always with a soap. I use tubbed soaps at home, and I use Arko stick on the road. Sometimes I bring one of those tiny Maggards soap samples on the road and use the Infinity to bowl lather it in the hotel room coffee mug. I always get a pleasurable lather from my Infinity, and have no complaints about the splay, the loft of the face feel.

I travel a lot. I am sometime gone on tour for weeks at a time. I started using a small inexpensive badger brush in my travel kit. When i discovered the virtues of using a synth for travel, I bought a L'Oc Plisson and took it out on tour for 3 weeks. It was a big improvement over the El Cheapo badger. I found it to be incredibly soft, but found it to have almost no backbone. After that first trip with the Plisson, I got the Infiinity. It was an impulse buy to fill out the free shipping minimum on a Connaughts order, so it was incredibly inexpensive. It was 8 pounds which translates to $12 and some change. I have never been happier with my travel shaves. It is the perfect travel brush. I find myself using the Plisson at home when I desire the ultimate luxury softness in a small package. My 30mm WD synth is the softness king on the big brush side of things. Now that Larry has the 24mm synths back in stock, I have one on order. I have a feeling the Plisson will drop out of my rotation when that thing arrives. But the Infinity is keeper.

BradWorld said:

I never use my Infinity with a cream. Always with a soap. I use tubbed soaps at home, and I use Arko stick on the road. Sometimes I bring one of those tiny Maggards soap samples on the road and use the Infinity to bowl lather it in the hotel room coffee mug. I always get a pleasurable lather from my Infinity, and have no complaints about the splay, the loft of the face feel.

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Maybe you like to work hard Bradworld? The joy of good exercise!

I always got lather from it but the time and the effort it took compared to other brushes was not worth it.

Actually "no backbone" is not right, it had some kind of backbone but then it flopps away making a long letter c on the chin and therefore the backbone becomes useless. A couple of times the lather ended up on my bathroom wall instead of my chin. I have never seen anything like it! Therefore I gave up on this brush. It felt silly to continue trying. But maybe with some violence it finally would have splayed and become less floppy?

Smedjan said:

Maybe you like to work hard Bradworld? The joy of good exercise!

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To each his own Smedjan. Sorry you didnt like it. It works for me.

I am glad you like it Bradworld and I hope it will give you many years of joy!!!

I wanted to like it but I am curious on why peoples opinions differ so much?

It could have been a big lump of glue inside the handle that kept my brush from splaying and getting good. -The handle looked quite filled with a yellowish foam glue on the inside of the handle after I had pulled the hairs out with nippers. It could also be that my technique is so much different because I previously have only used a boar brush for about 20 years or more.

The thing is that I am able to adapt my technique, and I tried for about a year SO probably it was he brush...