Looking for Brush selection advice

Hi All,

New wet shaver (about a month) and am looking to get a new brush. Currently using the 9.99 drugstore brush that I think is boar hair. It's shed about 15% of its hair already! I have a budget of around $75.00 +/-. I'm looking at Best Badger as it seems to be the swiss army knife of brushes as far as face and bowl lathering. I'm looking for something with low to no shedding, and fairly tightly knotted. Currently looking at the Simpson Colonel and Commodore brushes. I don't know too much other than what I gleaned from the wiki and various posts. Any and all advice / spanking is welcomed.

Thanks!

Mike

lots of brushes to choose from. simpsons are nice, I would look for a joes brushes. love mine and right in your wheel house and they are custom. why not take an artisan brush to start your journey. I am in a new career just trying to find my holy grail brush from all the expensive upper end companies. still using my blood red resin joe shaver till that happens.

Take a look at Whipped Dog badgers. They get a lot of love here. You can get one for $25-30 and spend the other $$ on creams or possibly a boar, like a Semogue 1305.

Whipped dog brushes are great value for money. The one I've had for about 18 months is by no means put to shame by the far more expensive Kent and Shavemac brushes I have.

Cumberland Sausage said:

Whipped dog brushes are great value for money. The one I've had for about 18 months is by no means put to shame by the far more expensive Kent and Shavemac brushes I have.

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What knot size would you recommend? 22, 24mm? Did you go with the resin handle or did you get the firehouse handle made? Thanks!

I just got a 22mm silvertip set deep from Larry about a week ago. His resin handles are awesome. No flaws, good weight. I can't comment on the pure badger brushes, but I think the silvertip is great and can be used for both types of lathering if set deep.

Do you face or bowl lather? Do you use mostly soaps, croaps or creams?

i_dont_bite said:

Do you face or bowl lather? Do you use mostly soaps, croaps or creams?

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As I'm still learnin' I'm currently using creams as they're easier to lather. However, I do want to start checking out some soaps as well as there are a lot more opportunities to experiment and collect. Hence, I think I'll need a brush with good "backbone"? I mostly use the bowl, but have done face lather as well.

allenfamilia said:

What knot size would you recommend? 22, 24mm? Did you go with the resin handle or did you get the firehouse handle made? Thanks!

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I got the 24mm silvertip knot, set 5mm deeper than standard in the resin handle. Works very well for either face or bowl lathering, and hasn't lost a hair that I'm aware of.

Another vote for Whipped Dog. Excellent prices. Excellent products. Exceptional service from Larry.

It's a no brainer.

I started out with a Tweezerman and decided on a Simpson Colonel in Best Badger for my second badger brush. It pretty much nipped my shaving brush acquisition disorder in the bud. I love the thing! Don't get me wrong, I still lust after other brushes, but I just don't think I'll be pulling the trigger in the foreseeable future. Now boar brushes, on the other hand, are a whole different issue!

Buy em all, theres my advice.

Welcome to B&B! My favorite is the B&B Essential boar brush from West Coast Shaving http://www.westcoastshaving.com/Badger-Blade-Items_c_107.html which is made by Omega. You can't really go wrong with anything from Omega or Semogue, and the prices are so low, that you can really play around with different ones while you figure out what size, shape, etc. you prefer.

Check out Joe's Brushes in the Vendor Classifieds, see what he has.

Knot set deeper is key if you get a WD and want it versatile. To my mind, one of your first thoughts is dead-on: Simpsons Colonel X2L in Best is a "swiss army knife" brush, well-priced for a Simpsons. Still, a lot more pricey than WD, which can be specified to be incredibly similar.