advice from kent website i've never heard before

drandall · Jun 17, 2008

looking around on the kent shaving brush website, i found this tip which i've never heard anywhere else before...

The definitive way to whip up a thick lather and protect the life of your shaving brush is to flick your brush back and forth across the soap bowl. Do not be tempted to only go around in circles! Bristle is very fine, badger bristle even more so, and if you whip up a lather by going round and round in circles everyday, week after week and month after month the individual strands of bristle will get wound tighter and tighter. Eventually this would cause them to snap and fall out. So if you are to take away one crucial piece of advice on prolonging the life of a shaving brush it would be this - whip up a lather by flicking the brush head up and down or side to side and occasionally in circles but NEVER solely in circles! I guarantee this will aid the life of your brush.

i wonder if this is true and whether it applies to all badger brushes or just theirs. interesting....

jostua · Jun 17, 2008

That seems...silly. I haven't been at this long, but based on what my brush looks like when I'm done washing it out and it's back on the stand, I just can't imagine a scenario like what they describe. While drying, wouldn't the strands simply twist back out, assuming what they suggest is true?

farace · Jun 17, 2008

Just make sure your circles are in the opposite direction of the Coriolis effect, and the earth will unwind your brush for you. :biggrin:

jostua · Jun 17, 2008

farace said:
Just make sure your circles are in the opposite direction of the Coriolis effect, and the earth will unwind your brush for you.

Exactly, see, that's what I though!

(I have a sudden feeling that I've made an *** of myself due to an inherent lack of understanding of physics... :redface:

)

Presently42 · Jun 17, 2008

farace said:
Just make sure your circles are in the opposite direction of the Coriolis effect, and the earth will unwind your brush for you.

I do so love when the Coriolis effect is used to give shaving advice.

AFG · Jun 18, 2008

I've heard this before. Simpson says something to the same effect. Lathering in circles is something I think most of us do. If the brush life is shortened by a little bit then that just gives me a reason to buy another brush.In the meantime I am not going to worry about it.

dpm802 · Jun 18, 2008

jostua said:
(I have a sudden feeling that I've made an *** of myself due to an inherent lack of understanding of physics...)

Don't feel bad ... I was a Physics Major in college, and I didn't understand it, either.

In any case, I think they may be on to something ... if you only soap-up in circles, a good brush may be just starting to fall apart by the time you pass it on to your great-grandson. Flick it back and forth across the soap, and it will prolong the usable life another generation or two.

I think the more important issue for most members here would be "How well does it lather?" If a certain soaping technique makes a brush last longer, but it doesn't give outstanding results each and every day, why bother?

In any case, brushes are easily replaced. If the average man wears out three C&E BBBs in a lifetime, that's still only equal to about a year's supply of Mach3 cartridges.

DanOK · Jun 18, 2008

+1, Global Warming, Binge Drinking, is Beer better for you than Milk, there's enough to worry about.

Magicpixie · Jun 18, 2008

LOL I actually do this with my brushes - just for the variety though.

Proinsias · Jun 18, 2008

I'm pretty new to this lathering business but I think the advice may be onto something on more than one count.

I can see that not always going in the same circles may prolong the life of the brush.

The main point would be the lather. Now as I say I'm new to the lathering game but I'm not so new to being obsessed with tea. It has been said before that the making of Japanese matcha tea has many similarities to making a decent lather. The Japanese tea masters are not ones to mess about when it comes to quality and generally oppose whisking the tea in a circular fashion only, much of the tea making is about getting a nice layer of uniform, small bubbles on the surface. They stress zig-zag and back and forth whisking more than, or coupled with, circular whisking. I think the idea is that the circular motion doesn't upset the substrate as much as the zig-zag motions and thus does not get as much air trapped inside.

The last 45 secs of this vid gives an idea of the Japanese style

AsylumGuido · Jun 18, 2008

Proinsias said:
I'm pretty new to this lathering business but I think the advice may be onto something on more than one count.

I can see that not always going in the same circles may prolong the life of the brush.

The main point would be the lather. Now as I say I'm new to the lathering game but I'm not so new to being obsessed with tea. It has been said before that the making of Japanese matcha tea has many similarities to making a decent lather. The Japanese tea masters are not ones to mess about when it comes to quality and generally oppose whisking the tea in a circular fashion only, much of the tea making is about getting a nice layer of uniform, small bubbles on the surface. They stress zig-zag and back and forth whisking more than, or coupled with, circular whisking. I think the idea is that the circular motion doesn't upset the substrate as much as the zig-zag motions and thus does not get as much air trapped inside.

The last 45 secs of this vid gives an idea of the Japanese style

That was cool. It did resemble working up a lather.

PottyDoctor · Jun 18, 2008

Well, I'm not a Physics Professor...but...I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! :lol:

And I can tell ya' that I've never seen any of that kind of irreversible 'badger hair winding' going on with my beloved brushes. :wink:

SobBill2 · Jun 18, 2008

farace said:
Just make sure your circles are in the opposite direction of the Coriolis effect, and the earth will unwind your brush for you.

Brilliant!

Gruder · Jun 18, 2008

Quite interesting, drandall -- thanks for the post.

Sabledog · Jun 18, 2008

They've got to be talking about very tight circles (or very small soap pucks!) :001_rolle

Dharion · Jun 18, 2008

You know if I had to choose between lathering my brush the way I like it - whatever that means - and the way Kent advises it I'd take the first. I'm more concerned about how the brush is being gripped and stored and that kinda things.

drandall · Jun 18, 2008

Gruder said:
Quite interesting, drandall -- thanks for the post.

it was an accident really. i was doing some dream shopping on the kent website and found it in a FAQ. the fact that another poster found something similar regarding simpson brushes makes me think perhaps there is something to this....

momo360 · Jun 19, 2008

Proinsias said:
The last 45 secs of this vid gives an idea of the Japanese style

Interesting, een though going at it up and down, it did seem very smililar to lathering up from a soap cake...

Things that make you go hmmmm.....

TimmyBoston · Jun 20, 2008

Simpson also recommends a painting motion.

PottyDoctor · Jun 20, 2008

I've said it before, but I'll gladly say it again.

Lather, LatherHow do I love thee!!! Let me count the ways!!! :lol:

I love to

Brush it, Build it, Rub it Dab it, Daub it Flick it, Flip it, Slick it Glaze it, Skim it, Coat it Lather it, Slather it Mop it, Flop it, Blot it Mound it, Pound it, Round it Paint it, Plaster it, Pile it Pump it, Push it, Pull it Spread it, Smooth it Smudge it, Smear it Smush it, Mush it Spin it, Sweep it Swipe it, Wipe it Smish it, Swish it Swoosh it, Whoosh it Swirl it,Twirl it and Whirl it! :badger:

But..I never, never, never..SQUIRT it on!!! :shaving:

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advice from kent website i've never heard before

drandall

jostua

farace

jostua

Presently42

AFG

dpm802

DanOK

Magicpixie

Proinsias

AsylumGuido

PottyDoctor

SobBill2

Gruder

Sabledog

Dharion

drandall

momo360

TimmyBoston

PottyDoctor

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