Thanks for sharing this! Sometimes the little cheapies end up doing a great job.
Chinese synthetic brush
- Thread starter mark546
- Start date
Thanks for sharing this! Sometimes the little cheapies end up doing a great job.
I still use mine once in awhile for a change. The tips are extremely soft, more so than my Shave Revolution EVO (my favorite brush so far), and it has quite a bit of backbone, but is a bit springy. I paid a bit more than the current price, but don't feel cheated at all.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Sounds like you got lucky, Mark. Enjoy.
I bought one last year and it works well with Arko stick for face lathering. I used it for bowl lathering and creates a loose lather in the bowl. Still worth the $2.56 I paid for it.
It's also listed as a synthetic badger shaving brush. And with free shipping here.
Try heavily loading the brush relatively dry and adding water gradually to the bowl. It worked for me really well with hard French soaps.
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Good for you! Nice when things work out!
I bought a couple with black handles. Hopefully they're anodised and not painted. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-Mens-Ny...714861?hash=item5d6020b56d:g:JdkAAOSwJcZWd6Rx
I ordered the same thing, the black one. It could be here this week?
Mine arrived today after 22 days in transit.
I feels much softer than I expected, I reckon it will be a joy to lather with
This thing is tiny - it makes my Micro Touch One razor and Tabac Original Shaving Stick look big
I'll put it through it's paces tomorrow
I feels much softer than I expected, I reckon it will be a joy to lather with
This thing is tiny - it makes my Micro Touch One razor and Tabac Original Shaving Stick look big
I'll put it through it's paces tomorrow
I bought this brush about a year ago for $4 or $5 usd on Ebay. After using it regularly, I must say that there are better alternatives in the same price range: the Tomtop brush. It's not a bad brush at all, but way below a Kent Silvertex or a Plisson pour L'Occitane, even the Tomtop, performance-wise,.
Indeed, a few months before buying this Chinese brush I acquired the infamous Tomtop brush (around £1.80 on Ebay at that time).
Very good performer
Poor quality handle though (if left in the water, I soak my brushes), the bamboo cracked (but didn't fall, and remain as it is)
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I got one of these with a black plastic handle a few years back. They're a knock-off of "Frank Shaving" brushes, surprisingly good - very good at lathering, it was pleasant to use, felt nice on my face and dried very quickly. If I remember correctly I spent a lot less than $5 for it my recollection is that it was $3 as part of a job lot including free shipping to Denmark. These days I use it only as a test brush for when I'm trying out a new soap as my daily brush is now a Muhle black fibre synthetic.
That scoring actually looks kind of cool if you ask me.
That's exactly what I thought. I regret this little brush.
I was looking thru a junk drawer on day at home and found a rubber ferrule for a walking cane. It fit the handle of brush perfectly and much improved the size of the handle. They only cost a euro or so at the hardware store. It fits the brush right to where your thumb nail is touching the handle and extends the length of the handle about 1.25 cm or so.
Your impression of the brush?
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I like it, it's unbelievably soft and if I didn't know it was synthetic, I'd have never guessed that it wasn't made from badger bristles.
One thing that takes some getting used to is not pressing too hard on my face when lathering
It's a nice addition to my collection and will add plenty of variety to my shaves
Sounds like it is your first synthetic brush. This brush has much more backbone than a typical synthetic brush but the tips have the same softness of a Plisson knot. This brush loads in about the same time as my short lofted boar brushes. That is unusual as my other synthetic takes twice as long. I find that if I heavily load the brush with soap it is easier to splay. I like it very much because I have some facial hair and it doesn't splay all over my face. I find it to be a great painter. For a minimal investment a pretty good brush. Glad you can find a use for it.
Mine finally arrived after 35 or so days. I used it the last two days and have mixed feelings about it. Compared to my big Plissoft synthetic it just doesn't hold enough soap to do a proper lather. I face lather and find that I go back and reload a few times during the lathering process. The brush is small but I like the heft of the base. The bristle feels similar to the Plissoft synthetic. It's not a bad brush but doesn't work as well as I had hoped for. Am I missing something in my technique ? Do I need do something really different to get better performance out of the brush ?
Oh well - what do you expect for $4.18 shipped half-way around the world.
No, nothing else to do in order to improve the brush, I have it for more than a year and it hasn't changed.
I tried for a time to leave/store the brush upside down (standing on the knot) in order to make it splay easier or to break in a little the backbone (that worked on the Tomtop), but it didn't modify the knot from one iota. I still use it from time to time, but it just makes me appreciate more my Plisson or my Kent Silvertex brush.
As I wrote previously, the Tomtop brush is better in the same price range (and will improve with time; yes it does, albeit being made of synthetic fibers)
It has better backbone than my other Plissoft brushes. I use it for face lathering hard soaps. I load it extremely heavily and lather my face, dip the tips and re-lather dipping the tips a few times until I get a slick dense lather and paint to get a uniform application. The knot itself is not that small at 22mm. Most Plissoft synthetic knots are 22-26mm.
