The B&B Guide to Shaving Brushes

Suzuki · May 10, 2008

One of the most frequently asked questions here at B&B is What brush should I get?

This guide, which will be posted in three parts will help you answer this question. The goal of the guide is to explain how the various characteristics of a shaving brush impact its performance/feel so that you can decide what type of brush is best for you.

In short, a brushs performance is a function of the characteristics of the knot an understanding of how each characteristic affects performance, combined with the knowledge of you personal preferences will help you pick the brush (or brushes!) that are best for you.

The key characteristics of a knot are:

1) Diameter (generally referred to as the size of the knot);

Discussion: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=585447#post585447

2) Handle size/shape;

Discussion: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=585454#post585454

3) Bristle height (generally referred to as the loft);

Discussion: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=850831#post850831

4) Bristle density (how much hair is packed into the knot);

Discussion to follow.

5) Type of bristle (the specific characteristics of the bristle itself).

See Joel's excellent thread on the subject:http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2355&highlight=difference+grades

Also, see Bjorn's synthetic brush round up.

Please feel free to post comments in the relevant thread(s).

Hope you find this useful.

thevelvet · May 10, 2008

This is a great idea for us! Altough part of the fun of getting so many brushes is to find the subtle differences in them.

Davis211 · Aug 1, 2008

Thanks for providing this info in one, easy to find place. It's very helpful.

19Delta · Dec 2, 2008

Whoa, Im glad I found this, thanks.

Deftim13 · Mar 4, 2009

some kind of ugly · Apr 24, 2009

great post!

Fernando · Jun 6, 2009

Tks. Pretty useful!

aquilla · Jul 8, 2009

hi ive decided it time to finally replace my crappy wilkinsons (the shop not sword) £2.99 brush and was wondering if this would be any good?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Proraso-Shavi...#37;3A1|66:2|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

im on a quite tight budget and want synthetic.

FFJim · Jul 17, 2009

great post.

karzbi · Oct 9, 2009

Having bought a couple of new brushes, I went back to the B&B GtSB to try to understand the appeal of high density brushes. I wasn't surprised to read the following posted June 2006.

"4) Bristle density (how much hair is packed into the knot);

Discussion to follow."

Well, there's been no discussion added wrt high density brushes. I suspect when it happens it will be contentious and polarizing.

Having owned a standard density brush for years, and knowing it to be a great performer, I bought a new Simpsons brush that's much more densely packed -- this new brush is a mystery to me. It will make a good lather, but it is impossible to apply the lather to my face, it's all in the brush and in the bowl. all i can do is scoop the lather from the bowl and trowel it on with the superloaded stiff brush.

I think part of the problem is the 46mm vs 50mm bristle length too ... i find between the density and shorter length, the brush is too stiff to be apply lather with.

anyone got tips?

Suzuki · Oct 16, 2009

Thanks for the kick in the rump to finish off the density section!

My experience is that there definitely is a relationship between density, loft height and hair stiffness.

If I had to guess, the Simpson brush you own is likely a Chubby????

A brush can indeed be too densely packed - but I would give it some time to break in a bit (I'm assuming its new/newish).

If you give me some additional details regarding the brush, your technique and the soap/cream you're using, we'll see if we can't help diagnose the problem and come up with some solutions.

Max Louis · Oct 19, 2009

What do you guys think about synthetic brushes? Good ? bad? I'm not sure about the animal cruelty thing you know? Just want to make sure there is no animal cruelty involved otherwise I'll feel bad getting one of my husband...

Suzuki · Oct 20, 2009

Max Louis said:
What do you guys think about synthetic brushes? Good ? bad? I'm not sure about the animal cruelty thing you know? Just want to make sure there is no animal cruelty involved otherwise I'll feel bad getting one of my husband...

As with anything, there's a lot of variation - if you look towards the bottom of the first post in this thread, you'll see a link to a review of several of the better known synthetic brushes that should be helpful to you.

karzbi · Oct 20, 2009

Suzuki said:
Thanks for the kick in the rump to finish off the density section!

My pleasure

Suzuki said:
If I had to guess, the Simpson brush you own is likely a Chubby????

Actually it's a Simpsons Commodore X1. The brush is probably 6 or so weeks old at this point and has come a long way. For the last several days since my post, I've revisited some of the loading/watering ratios that didn't work at all when the brush was new and finding that they're working. I'd probably say that with a little more fine tuning (more water, less soap/cream) I'll like hit the sweet spot for have lather that doesn't just work into the bristles.

It's still a completely different beast from my brush that's half as dense and has 10mm more loft. I know, it sounds dreadful, but it's remarkably effective.

Suzuki said:
If you give me some additional details regarding the brush, your technique and the soap/cream you're using, we'll see if we can't help diagnose the problem and come up with some solutions.

Brush in question: Simpsons Commodore X1
Soaps: For the sake of discussion, we'll focus on Tabac
Technique that hasn't been working:
1) soak brush in bowl of hot water for duration of shower
2) good FIRM squeeze to remove MOST of the water
3) load the sh1t of out the brush, slow circular passes over soap and light grinding of tips into surface until bristles clumped 1/2 to 3/4 inch down the tips
4) add a couple of tsp of water to bowl ... whip a bit of lather, add more water, repeat til I get about 1/2-3/4 cup of lather in bowl
5) splash face with hot water
6) apply brushing circular motion to face, lather whips up more in brush and works higher and higher into the bristles and stays there, light coat of lather on face
7) trowel lather from bowl, paint onto face

Technique I'm revisiting that's proving more effective:
1) soak brush in bowl of hot water for duration of shower
2) good LIGHT squeeze to remove a BIT of the water
3) load the brush about 1/3 the amount of previous technique, slow circular passes over soap and light grinding of tips into surface until bristles start to stick together (as opposed to being glued together with soap in previous technique)
4) splash face with hot water
5) apply brushing circular motion to face, lather whips up brush AND face staying close to the tips of the brush as opposed to working up into the bristles

I think the issue with technique 1 (which I think I picked up from the "how to make lather" page on B&B) is too much soap in the brush, bristles too dry ... the soap gets hung up in the brush and you can only get small quantities of water onto the "edges" of the bristles to activate the soap into lather, or that the water is being drawn up into the brush and taking the lather with it. I suspect if I loaded it that way, then dunked the brush into a bowl of hot water then used the sopping mess to whip lather, it would generate a tonne of lather ... completely unnecessary.

I think the wetter bristles in the second technique ensures that water is working from the inside of the brush, outwards and the lather is flowing, so to speak, onto my face.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Best regards
Karl

Suzuki · Oct 23, 2009

Sounds like you've figured this out for yourself - FWIW, I'm a big fan of face lathering and denser brushes with shorter lofts excel at this.

karzbi · Oct 23, 2009

Shorter and denser than what? Please define or provide dimensions.

The Commodore is:
Bristle loft: 46 mm
Knot diameter: 20 mm

And pretty darned dense .... is this a good face latherer?

whereisandy · Oct 28, 2009

Is it possible to show/discuss the difference between bulb-shaped and fan-shaped brushes? I've tried to find the thread from Golden Nib that had pictures but haven't had any luck.

Thanks!

scott69 · Nov 28, 2009

karzbi said:
My pleasure

Actually it's a Simpsons Commodore X1. The brush is probably 6 or so weeks old at this point and has come a long way. For the last several days since my post, I've revisited some of the loading/watering ratios that didn't work at all when the brush was new and finding that they're working. I'd probably say that with a little more fine tuning (more water, less soap/cream) I'll like hit the sweet spot for have lather that doesn't just work into the bristles.

It's still a completely different beast from my brush that's half as dense and has 10mm more loft. I know, it sounds dreadful, but it's remarkably effective.

Brush in question: Simpsons Commodore X1
Soaps: For the sake of discussion, we'll focus on Tabac
Technique that hasn't been working:
1) soak brush in bowl of hot water for duration of shower
2) good FIRM squeeze to remove MOST of the water
3) load the sh1t of out the brush, slow circular passes over soap and light grinding of tips into surface until bristles clumped 1/2 to 3/4 inch down the tips
4) add a couple of tsp of water to bowl ... whip a bit of lather, add more water, repeat til I get about 1/2-3/4 cup of lather in bowl
5) splash face with hot water
6) apply brushing circular motion to face, lather whips up more in brush and works higher and higher into the bristles and stays there, light coat of lather on face
7) trowel lather from bowl, paint onto face

Technique I'm revisiting that's proving more effective:
1) soak brush in bowl of hot water for duration of shower
2) good LIGHT squeeze to remove a BIT of the water
3) load the brush about 1/3 the amount of previous technique, slow circular passes over soap and light grinding of tips into surface until bristles start to stick together (as opposed to being glued together with soap in previous technique)
4) splash face with hot water
5) apply brushing circular motion to face, lather whips up brush AND face staying close to the tips of the brush as opposed to working up into the bristles

I think the issue with technique 1 (which I think I picked up from the "how to make lather" page on B&B) is too much soap in the brush, bristles too dry ... the soap gets hung up in the brush and you can only get small quantities of water onto the "edges" of the bristles to activate the soap into lather, or that the water is being drawn up into the brush and taking the lather with it. I suspect if I loaded it that way, then dunked the brush into a bowl of hot water then used the sopping mess to whip lather, it would generate a tonne of lather ... completely unnecessary.

I think the wetter bristles in the second technique ensures that water is working from the inside of the brush, outwards and the lather is flowing, so to speak, onto my face.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Best regards
Karl

My technique is similar to your 2nd technique, except that I give the brush a gentle squeeze and 2 gentle shakes. I then work up most of the lather in the mug. And when I apply it to my face it's already to the point of being very slick with a denser cushion. (The trick is getting the squeeze and shakes just right, and using a mug instead of a shallow bowl keeps the lather down inside better).

Suzuki · Dec 5, 2009

karzbi said:
Shorter and denser than what? Please define or provide dimensions.

The Commodore is:
Bristle loft: 46 mm
Knot diameter: 20 mm

And pretty darned dense .... is this a good face latherer?

In a word, yes - those specs are right in the sweet spot for face lathering.

Suzuki · Dec 5, 2009

whereisandy said:
Is it possible to show/discuss the difference between bulb-shaped and fan-shaped brushes? I've tried to find the thread from Golden Nib that had pictures but haven't had any luck.

Thanks!

Good idea, I'm going to try to do some work on this over the holidays and this is a good addition to the discussion.

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The B&B Guide to Shaving Brushes

Suzuki

thevelvet

Davis211

19Delta

Deftim13

some kind of ugly

Fernando

aquilla

FFJim

karzbi

Suzuki

Max Louis

Suzuki

karzbi

Suzuki

karzbi

whereisandy

scott69

Suzuki

Suzuki

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