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What was your first brush? What made you buy a second?

What was your first brush? And, if you have more than one, what made you buy your second? And any beyond that?

I ask because I have only one brush - a cheap Escali badger that got decent reviews - and I'm starting to think I want to try something else. So, rather than just asking for suggestions, I thought it would be interesting to see where others started, what they moved over to, and why. What did that first brush lack? Or what did that second brush offer that was different?

Did your preference for bowl lathering or face lathering affect your choice? Or your preference in terms of cream/soap? Any other considerations? Thank you for chiming in.
 
First brush was a Shea moisture synthetic. It was really crappy but I thought it was a badger brush.

I used it for almost a year and then was having trouble making lather so I came here and found out it was a synthetic.

My next brush was a tweezerman badger (same as your escali). It made lather much better but shed a lot of hairs and fell apart after a couple months.

Then I got a whipped dog silvertip and it was amazing. But it also shed hairs, so I've been buying new brushes constantly ever since.
 

Mike H

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My first brush was a Tweezerman, the reason I got a second brush, was because my first brush was a Tweezerman. :lol:
My second brush was a custom beehive from Rudy Vey.
 
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I bought this then-ivory brush at Floris, in London, in 1971. By 2000, it was worn to a nub. So I got another, no-name badger, used it for ten years, then, after it too wore out, I got a drugstore boar brush, which I still have.

But I kept my Floris handle, now nut-brown, and after I returned to DE shaving a year ago, I sent it off to Larry at WD for a silvertip rebadgering. Perfection. Use it every shave, looking for a good 30 more years.

As you can see, I was lucky. I certainly don't collect brushes (or razors), just very grateful that the ones I love work so well.
 
I acquired an AoS badger decades ago, when I first got a taste for warm lather.

Last year, getting into DEs I upgraded to a Parker silver tip.

By my birthday this year, I had BAD bad and allowed SWMBO to treat me to a terrific Chubby3 Super.
 
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My first brush was a Peerless 500, with a Pure badger knot. I found it NIB in an antique store for $9. This was the same day I found my first DE razor, a Slim H3, after scouring antique stores across three states over a period of about half a year.

I used that brush for about a month. Then I upgraded to the C&E Best Badger Brush, which at the time, was B&B's recommendation as THE must have brush. I used the BBB for about a year, then I got into boars.
 
Did your preference for bowl lathering or face lathering affect your choice? Or your preference in terms of cream/soap? Any other considerations? Thank you for chiming in.
I don't subscribe to the theory that certain brushes are for soaps and others for creams. Or that any given brush is better for bowl lathering and another is for face lathering.

A good brush is a good brush, and it will perform well no matter when or where its used.
 
My first brush is/was an Omega 48 Professional - a very nice brush in its own right. But then like you, I started to wonder "what else" is out there and picked up a Semogue Owners Club (boar). Now while the Omega is a very nice brush, the SOC is a great brush and the differences were immediately felt.

As with everything wet shaving though, personal preference/taste/style all play into it as well.

:blush:
 
This is a great way to approach the question of a second brush. Nicely done!

i started with a Parker badger. I don't remember which model. After a while, I decided I needed a better brush, but it had to be a badger. I got a Simpson colonel in best. I then decided I needed a "nice" badger, so I bought a Simpson Chubby 2 in best. Fast forward, I decided to get a boar, just to see what they're like. They were so cheap, I bought three Semogues: SOC, 620 and 830. I love my boars. I then bought a Vie Long Lord Randal horse hair. Then, an Edwin Jagger XL synthetic. I haven't used any o my badgers for months, as I love my SOC, horse and synthetic. All three of them together cost much less than my Chubby, which I don't plan to use again in the near term.

I'd be happy forever alternating between my SOC and my EJ synthetic. I am a scuttle latherer.
 
My first brush was a Vulfix 1000A that I got about three years ago. It was my only brush until a few months ago, when I decided I wanted to try making a brush. I got a nice silver badger knot from the Golden Nib and turned my own handle. After a month or so of break-in, it became really nice. This is now my everyday brush. The Vulfix got relegated to my travel kit, although I still think it's a great brush.
 
My first brush is Omega 11047.
Why did I buy a second?
I found 11047 is a bit too small, and I just wanted to try a pure boar,
and I bought Semogue SOC.
After using SOC, my boar began to proliferate.
Now I have the folowing brush:
Omega 11047
Omega 11137
Omega pro 49 (on the way)
Omega S brush (on the way)
Semogue 1800 (on the way)
Semogue SOC
Semogue 610
Semogue SOC 2-band badger (on the way)

I think I will stay here for a while, because I have purchased those legendary brushes.
Life is too short to have only one brush.
 
My first brush was one I inherited from my father about 45 years ago, when I started shaving. It was a Made Rite pure badger, and it worked well. At that point I was lathering in a cup. That took me 3/4 of the way through college and the hairs started to get sparse, so I switched to another more worn brush that my father no longer used. It was a nifty thing (don't know the manufacturer). Had a yellow handle that screwed off to reveal a little well in which you could put a quantity of soap for traveling or whatever. That lasted me through college, but was pretty second rate and worn with age. The first brush I actually bought myself was a Kent pure badger. At that time, around 1979 or so, brush lathering was really for the very few. Guys were using canned lather with hot lather machines and all sorts of other gimmicks. So the Kents at my local pharmacy were really cheap. I probably spent no more than around $30. My go-to soap was Noxema in a tube, and I lathered it in a cupped palm. I used that brush through the nineties, but got another Kent at a pharmacy upstate that was very inexpensive. Basically the same model of pure badger. I switched off between the two for the ensuing years which helped preserve them. At some point I got used to face lathering.

It's odd, but I wore these low to medium grade brushes into the ground for about the next 20 years until I first visited shaving forums about two years ago and began to realize that the heritage of great shaving brushes really amounted to something. I bought a best badger Edwin Jagger after that, then another, and today I have five top quality brushes. Visiting this forum caused me to devote attention to something that for most of my life was in the background and nearly invisible. That's a gift by my reckoning.

DGI
 
My first and so far only brush is a VDH boar. I'm actually pretty happy with it especially as it breaks in, but it won't last forever.

I plan on getting at least a couple of more brushes before too terribly long just because I'd like to try different types of knots and maybe see if there isn't some art to matching brush to soap or creme. After trying Proraso, I'm also wondering if maybe I shouldn't have a dedicated brush for extremely mentholated products.

Right now I'm looking at Vie-Long horse brushes as I quite like some of the styles, they have different stiffness based on the different tail/mane hair ratios as well. I also want to try a synthetic so probably a Muhle at some point, and well down the road I think it might be kind of nice to have an enormous super soft badger mop to slather foam all over the place.
 
My first was a Parker pure, that started to shed. I did some research and got a Colonel and reknotted the Parker with a TGN finest 24mm Bulb. From there I went crazy.
 
My first brush was a cheap, small, $4 one from a random shop. It was pretty much awful. It was loosing hairs every shave, the loft was too small, it was scratchy. Not effective at all.
Second one was Omega 10066. As beginner, i did not want to jump on $100 badgers at that point. I wanted a fair brush, that will get the job done. An couldn't be more happy. Great brush, huge improvement from the small, bad one.
Third one was Vie-Long 1275B horse hair. I wanted to try a softer brush, to see what was the fuss about "massaging" that people get from badgers, but at low price. Again, very happy with it. To be honest, 10066 still remains better performer, but Vie-Long one is very nice to use. I now rotate them, but i see myself using Vie-Long more.
 
First - Semogue 1350. Second - L'Occitane Plisson. Bought it just for a little variety and I heard good things about it here.
 
My 1st was a Col. Conk pure badger that I bought online from Bowman Barber Supply with my first wetshave items. I used it for about 2 years. Because I didn't know any better. Nor did I know about this site. I then proceeded to spend a bunch of moneys on Simpsons, Semogues, and Omegas. I finally found that the Proraso by Omega is the best and most enjoyable for me and my shaving habits and soaps/creams of choice.
 
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