TRBeck wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:59 pm
Brutus, like you I consider the Muehle synthetics the pinnacle for synths. I used my EJ (same fibers/knot) for 5 years almost exclusively and have another of the same in a custom handle. I would love your feedback on these Shavemac fibers whenever you get a chance.
Hello Tim, sorry for the delay, but I do not believe in “first impression” reviews, as a reviewer can still be unduly impressed by the novelty of the item, and I rather wait a while till that effect has started to wear off.
It was also an extremely busy week at work for me.
I only started taking synthetic brushes serious when Mühle brought out their Silvertip Fibres. For the first time a synthetic brush had came close to badger, and the performance and robustness, especially when travelling and having to cope with problems getting badger brushes to dry properly, quickly won converts.
The Mühle became the benchmark that I compared all other synthetics against and the Mühle Silvertip Fibres had not been overtaken until now.
I had high hopes for the Simpsons Chubby 2 “Synthetic Bristle”, but could never really warm up to it.
I have also tried synthetics from Plisson, the Mühle Black Fibre, and Omega S- and Hi-Brushes, but none of these ever made it close to my regular rotation.
I have now used my two Shavemac synthetics for about ten days, and yesterday and today I whipped up the lather for the first pass with the Simpsons “Synthetic Bristle”, for the second pass with the Mühle “Silvertip Fibre” XL (25mm knot), and for the (uncommon for me) third full pass with the Shavemac 26mm synthetic fan.
My two Shavemacs are a 28mm bulb with standard 56mm loft and a 26mm fan with standard 54mm loft, but I thought the 26mm Shavemac was closer to the Simpsons and Mühle for the comparison.
- 653AB712-E9D4-47B0-8363-49A6A71FEE22.jpeg (1.27 MiB) Viewed 12549 times
From left to right, Simpsons “Synthetic Bristle” Chubby 2, Mühle “Silvertip Fibre” XL (25mm knot), Shavemac 28mm bulb-shaped synthetic, Shavemac 26mm fan-shaped synthetic, and a Shavemac silvertip two-band and silvertip fan for comparison.
Out of the box, one could never confuse a Shavemac synthetic with a badger brush. Despite the badger-style dark ring that seems to have become a requirement for better synthetics, the nylon-white of the Shavemac fibres remind me more of the fake pearly-white teeth of TV personalities than of badger brushes.
But to me the performance matters more than the looks.
After ten or so shaves, the Shavemacs have shown sightly more backbone, springiness, and a little less softness than the Mühle Silvertip Fibres, but don’t forget that this Mühle has been my faithful companion on regular overnight trips for several years and may have lost some of its original backbone.
The Shavemacs just love hard soaps, the brush is easy to charge and it is a pleasure to whip up a dense lather on my cheeks.
If I use a cream, I usually put some small dabs on my cheeks for face-lathering and the Shavemacs handle that with ease too and whip up a nice, dense, not overly thick lather. If you should be interested, the soaps that I used in the ten days were D.R. Harris, Martin de Candre, Haslinger, Mitchell’s Wool Fat, Pre de Provence, Meissner Tremonina, Valobra and Taylors (the latter two were the hard soaps), and once used Lavanda shaving cream. (I used Valobra twice, once Fougére and once Colonia.)
- Will the Shavemac replace my silvertip brushes?
I don’t think so, I still love my genuine silvertips and these brushes have a combination of backbone and pampering luxury that no synthetic has been able to duplicate so far, but they do give pure badgers, boar, and horse brushes a good run for the money and I would rather use my Shavemac synthetic than one of the last three.
- Is the Shavemac a game-changer?
No; if anything it is an incremental step in the evolution of synthetic brushes, but to my way of thinking the game-changer came a few years ago when Mühle introduced their Silvertip Fibres.
- Is the Shavemac better than the Mühle then?
That depends; as mentioned above, my Shavemacs have a pleasantly higher amount of backbone and scritchiness than my well broken-in Mühle Silvertip Fibres. So if you like some backbone and use mainly hard soaps, like me, the Shavemac might be the better choice.
Contrary to what I had expected (I bought both my Mühle and Shavemac synthetics directly from Germany), the highly configurable Shavemacs tend to be cheaper than the fairly standardized Mühle brushes.
There is no direct comparison however, with standard handles and lofts the Shavemacs come with 24, 26, and 28mm knot for €42.0, €51.80, and €61.60 respectively.
The Mühle Silvertips with 21, 23, and 25 mm knots are €43.-, €49.50, and €68.- respectively.
- Knowing what I know now and if I could take only one synthetic, which one would it be?
For home probably the Shavemac 28mm bulb, for travelling the Shavemac 26mm fan, simply because the 28mm refuses to fit in a (Mühle) standard travelling tube.
I do hope you found this discussion useful....
B.