Have small brushes gone "out of favour" in the UK?

[Cal]

I'm surprised that my Small Brushes PIF (UK only) only has four entrants (it's been up for five days).

The reason I'm divesting myself of nearly all of my brushes is due to my discovery of Cella Rapid shaving cream/gel. I purchased a tube out of pure curiosity and decided to give it my usual seven-consecutive-shaves-trial. Had I used it only two or three times, I would have enjoyed it but happily gone back to my brushes and creams/croaps/soaps... but with the seven consecutive shaves I loved it more every shave.

I've used it for EVERY shave since receiving it. But "just in case" I'm keeping my four top favourite brushes (mostly tinies, i.e. knots less than 18mm) and a few soaps (I'll be doing a soap PIF in the not too distant future).

Here's my KEEPERS:

One Simpson badger brush; two Shavemac badger brushes; one Rudy Vey boar brush.

 

[sylbub]

Very strange. Your PIF is remarkable!
I'm only out of it because of GRUYERE rules :/

 

[Dave himself]

It was the same with a PIF i did. There was a couple of different razors, blade's, soaps, brushes, aftershaves and a few other things I can't remember. 2 people entered the PIF. To be honest I was disappointed at first, but then I thought well at least I helped 1 person out.

And thank you so much for your PIF. If I win it will give me a chance to try brushes I never thought i would use because of the price.

 

[nav]

I'm a huge fan of smaller knots, when it comes to badger and boar brushes.
18-22mm are my preferred.

I like 24-26mm synthetics, otherwise they feel like a pokey stick if they're any smaller.

I just put my name in for the awesome giveaway!

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Not with me, I love small brushes, I simply do not need 19 new ones and would not know what to do with the dozen or so that I would not use. Maybe it is my imagination but sadly there seems to be fewer active members here with each passing week, including UK members, which may explain the low number of entries.

 

[thombrogan]

I’m from New England and I like small and tiny brushes

And other brushes, too

 

[rockviper]

Try a BST listing and ask for 1/2 of the shipping cost. I bet you would get takers.

 

[ajkel64]

If I was in the UK I would be in but being in Australia I am out. I thought there would be a heap of members interested. It’s such a generous PIF.

 

[gpjoe]

My brushes are mainly 22-24mm. My largest are a 26mm Razorock Monster and a 26mm Omega 10049 that I used exclusively for head shaves, so I lean towards smaller brushes.

I saw your generous offer (thank you ) but unfortunately, I'm a Yankee.

 

[helicopter]

I prefer small brushes in general, and I think your PIF is incredible. The shavemacs in there are so generous. Some of my PIFs have also been rather slow. I did a worldwide soap participation PIF that only got a handful of participants. It turned out to be fun anyway, and I made a friend of @Garry357 so it ended up being worthwhile.

My most recent one, with Chinese Yuma razors and Arko was my most successful. I suspect this was largely because it was a low value package and people didn't feel guilty about taking one just for curiosity or fun. Of course the very most successful ones are the even lower value blade ones that @Grundi and @Space_Cadet do.

A huge part of yours is the UK restriction, I am sure.

But even in general, many of us have a ton of gear already, many feel bad about taking away the opportunity from others, or just feel guilty taking something for free. I have around 50 brushes, and am working on thinning the herd. As much as I would love your offering, even if it were available to me, I would still have to consider whether I should be the recipient of such additional abundance.

I will let people bless me because I like to bless others and I want a world where we all have those opportunities to bless and be blessed, but I also understand that a lot of people feel uncomfortable taking a freebie when they already have everything they need.

 

[Fedsbackhand]

I use a 20mm flattop Shavemac for practically all my shaves.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Try a BST listing and ask for 1/2 of the shipping cost. I bet you would get takers.

I heard of someone trying to get rid of a kitchen appliance some time back. They left it on the street with a "free to a good home" note on it, but three days later it was still there. Someone suggested he put a price to it, so he changed the note to "£50 or near offer", and someone nicked it within hours

I'm a big fan of the smaller brushes, but it might just be that 19 of them is a bit overwhelming to non-collectors, so you're not necessarily appealing to the whole audience. Maybe one of the entrants would be willing to distribute some of them in smaller PIFs, to save you the headache.

I can't say I'm surprised at your keepers though, based on how often I have seen you return to them

 

[Cumberland Sausage]

Your very generous pif caught my eye, but if I'd put my name down it would have seemed like sheer greed. I already have dozens of brushes, generally prefer knots in what I would call the medium range and have pretty much settled on the four or five I think would be hard to beat for my preferences.
From what I see there are a few small knot fans about, but most seem to prefer bigger knots, or even what I would consider huge ones.

 

[Mitzie]

I don't know why their is such an obsession with large knot shaving brushes above 20mm knot size? They just waste soap and lather! I use 18mm knot brushes which are perfectly adequate IMO...some I've made myself from 18mm knots purchased off Aliexpress, but there are no boar knots in this size on Aliexpress. However I recently stumbled on an 18mm knot boar brush called Urban Guise on a UK health foods website called Lily & Loaf. It's cheap, the is handle made from hemu wood with a lousey thin lacquer finish that offers little protection for a shaving brush against the wood drying out and splitting...so I sanded off the thin lacaquer coating in about five minutes by hand, soaked the handle up to the knot in mineral oil (aka Baby Oil) overnight then applied five coats of matt polyurethane. -Now a great little boar brush

Shaving Brush for Beard Grooming | Urban Guise | Lily & Loaf

Elevate your shave with the Urban Guise Shaving Brush. Softens skin, exfoliates, and ensures a smooth, luxurious grooming experience. Shop now.

lilyandloaf.com

 

[Trollky]

Wow, you really are getting shot of a load of brushes! If it wasn't for this year's annual restraint I be in like Flynn for the Wilkinson Sword boar brush. Alas....

I think the brush trend has in recent years undoubtedly skewed towards larger knots. God knows why though... The bigger the knot the more of a pain in the arse it is to whip up a quality lather in my opinion. It also seems to be the case that there are less active members on B&B these days compared to a few years ago.

 

[Goblin]

I think the telling factor is that we only have a handful of regular UK members.

Maybe it is my imagination but sadly there seems to be fewer active members here with each passing week, including UK members, which may explain the low number of entries.

I think there's something in that. A lot of younger people will never join B&B like they might have done in the past, because nowadays they think that forums are for "boomers". I have actually come across negativity about B&B on social media that seemed primarily based on straight up ageism.

It's a shame. The quality of information, guidance and camaraderie here is in a completely different league to anything I have ever encountered on social media. But that's progress for you!