Brush Choices

[66GilletteSlim]

I am using a horse hair brush right now that a friend gave me to use. Boy that sure does a decent job and pretty soft as well. Seems to whip up a good lather.

[jww]

Lots of good badger and boar brushes are available as well. Something to fit just about any budget.

[Mr.Max]

I think a kent bk4 would serve well

[Squire]

Yeah, that BK4 might be a good idea, I shoulda thought of that.

[bernards66]

Matt, Yeah, me too ( chuckle ).
Regards,
Gordon

[ShadowsDad]

66GS, are you looking for suggestions?

[66GilletteSlim]

66GS, are you looking for suggestions?

Yes sir!

[Squire]

In that case what are you considering?

[jww]

66GS, are you looking for suggestions?

Yes sir!

Badger
Simpsons Best Duke 2 for a nice tight knot with real backbone.
Simpsons Wee Scot because of the novelty -- seriously, this is a great little (and I do mean little) brush!
Kent BK4 is reportedly one of the best badger brushes known to mankind.
C&E Pure Badger for a great budget badger brush well below $50 USD.

Boar
Semogue 1305 - once it's broken in, there is nothing this brush can't do.
Omega 10005 - a great brush at a very low price point.

I could go on and on -- and surely many of us will.

[brothers]

Yes, in this day in age, one should seriously consider a synthetic. They really are "for real".

[Squire]

Depends on how much you want to spend, but if you can get a BK4 first. You won't need another one after that but if you decide to get others you will already have the standard against which others can be measured.

[brothers]

Some guys seem to get along just fine without a BK4, but they are the exception that proves the rule. They admit they wish they could find a way to justify owning the best. (BK4 is reasonably priced.) It's not the money, it's the self-denial.

[Squire]

Gary I think it's BK4 envy.

[brothers]

Exactly!

[jww]

You guys poking at me by any chance?????

[ShadowsDad]

66GS, are you looking for suggestions?

Yes sir!

OK, tell us more... how do you lather? Face lather or bowl lather? The reason I ask that what I've run into on the 'net is that typically face latherers will prefer a smaller brush than a bowl latherer can use. Not always, but many times.

Today there are brushes made with fibers that I never would have considered just a few years ago. I'm specifically referring to synthetics and horse.

Your choices as I see it are synthetic, badger, boar and horse. If you think horse is soft, wait until you try other fibers. They'll knock your socks off!

The following refers to generalities only.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make the claim that comparing comparably sized quality brushes a quality badger will be the most expensive. They can be incredibly expensive. Synthetics will be less expensive, and boars even less expensive. Now don't think that a more expensive brush is a better brush, because that just isn't so. Badger is priced that way because of the scarcity of the fiber and I suspect it might get scarcer and the price will take a spike. There's a reason many manufacturers are developing synthetic brushes. I think they see the writing on the wall. I don't know that; it's only a suspicion. But back to badger, I have never used an inexpensive badger that was worth having. One may exist, but I've never experienced it. If one wants a brush for $30, badger is IMO, not the way to go unless you want a tiny brush. I can't address the Kent BK4 that others have mentioned; I know nothing about it.

OK, synthetics offer "indestructability" if used normally. They are as soft or softer than any badger of any type, yet have incredible backbone. To some that "wall" of backbone is off putting and some gents just can't get accustomed to it. If you can, they offer incredible value and feel. If it turns out that you like brushes that splay less for face lathering, that won't necessarily hold with synthetics. They don't splay the way any natural fiber brush does, so a bigger brush can be used. A large synthetic is a real joy on the face, and it won't fill the nostrils with lather the way a large badger can. Synthetics can take abuse that other fibers can't, such as being put into a travel tube wet. The synthetic fibers can't rot; not so with natural fibers. Too, if one is a brush masher the backbone that one encounters with a synthetic can give the feedback required to stop that (IMO). As with any brush, the more fibers and the higher quality synthetics can be pricey, but no where near as pricey as a badger of the same size and quality. My Chubby2 in syn' is possibly $125, and the same brush in Best badger is nearly $200 (a WAG since I don't know the currency conversion). But the synthetic is incredibly soft, a best badger while good (all my badgers are best badger) isn't nearly as soft as the synthetic. Neither does it have the backbone of the syn'. I really like todays synthetics. Supposedly the Plisson syn' is the most badgerlike syn' brush made today. I can't confirm that.

Boars offer probably the most bang for the buck. They will feel harsh when dry, but get the fibers wet, and a broken in boar in use is just as soft as any badger with more backbone. But a boar does require a bit o use to break in and achieve that softness. It isn't instant gratification. Two exceptions... a used one that's been broken in, or a new Omeag which appear to be all pre broken in at the factory. One lather and they're good to go, but they still get a bit softer after a bit of use. Boars can be had from $8 on up to the mid $30 range for non-limited edition boars. The $8 boars work just as nicely as the higher priced ones. Semogue boars tend to splay quite a bit after the knot is worked for a time. Omegas are "tight" knots with far less splay. Both brands are good, both are boars, and different from each other. There are other brands but those are the 2 you'll see most often.

Horse you already know about. They are definitely different. I bought a used Vie-Long 1307B (50% mane/50% tail, 23x53mm knot) from a b/s/t, so it came to me with use on it, and even now after I've been using it it still has quite a bit of scritch, but a different scritch (less of a pin prick scritch) than a low grade badger has. It also has good backbone. A soft brush it isn't and I doubt it ever will be soft during my lifetime. A you know a horse brush will make a very good lather, but all brushes of reasonable quality will or the word would get out and that brush would no longer be made.

Let us know more and we can do better than just generalities. How do you lather? What size knot do you think you might like (the size on the face), whether you want it to splay or not, anything you can think of to describe what you think you'll like. Price range too. It doesn't do any good to suggest a $125 brush if you only want to spend $40.

[bernards66]

Squire's points above regarding the Kent BK4 are worth considering. I don't know your reference frame, and that can make a big difference in how you view your options. The first badger brush I bought was, I think, $45 ( and it WAS a good brush...a Vulfix ) and I left the store feeling a little giddy as well as guilty because that seemed like a real extravagance at the time. I was used to boar brushes costing no more than $20 so, over twice as much seemed like self indulgent decadence. Now, a BK4 costs considerably more than that but today it seems to me like a bargain because some of the other brushes I own cost $200-over $400. Thing is, the BK4 'works' about as well as any of those and better than some,IMO. It really is a superb 'all around' shave brush and in terms of actual performance there is no significant 'step up'. They also seem to be very well made and reliable and for those of us who care about such things it also has that subtle 'cache' of coming from a very very old traditional brush making firm with the 'heritage' and history that goes along with that. If, at this point, it seems to be more than you want to spend, I understand and there are still plenty of good choices at a lower price point. But if you're willing to spend what they cost ( be sure to order from a UK vendor as the US outlets charge way more ) you get a brush that in addition to all of the above, is very easy to use with hard soaps or creams and makes learning to make a good lather considerably easier than it will be with some other models. Best of luck in your search.
Regards,
Gordon

[Zot!]

I like to suggest the Simpsons Colonel X2L Best badger brush. It is fairly inexpensive and easily available at most of the online shops (perhaps West Coast Shaving). It is a good size and is also good all-around type brush.

[jww]

Regarding brush properties --- i.e. how they interact with the lather, one thing I would add is that with a badger brush the lather tends to work itself down towards the knot more so than a boar or some synthetics based on my experience (I have no experience with horse). Some days, I find that a gentle squeeze at the base of a badger brush will release copious amounts of lather from a brush that otherwise looks like it's done it's last pass for the day. Boar, on the other hand will tend to keep the lather more towards the ends of the bristles. I have the ultra-cheap synthetic from The Body Shop which actually is not a bad brush for $12 ... it can get the job done with little fuss, and because soaking a synthetic has little if any value as has been noted many times in this forum by our resident synthetic experts (ahem .... Brian), it happens to be a very good little travel brush. Plus it dries incredibly fast. ymmv.

[ShadowsDad]