I love this new 'lathering'video from Executive Shaving!

Messages
1,858
Location
UK
Executive Shaving just released a short video showing their new shaving cream. There's a couple of things I love, firstly, it demonstrates the brush being 'soaked' for seconds (I do this myself), not hours like others recommend, and the minimal amount of product actually needed (I still have a tendency to overdo it). Nice video, apart from the patent instability of the utensils used LOL

 
OK still being new to bowl lathering, that's more product that I've been using. Agree with the quick dip of the brush in the water. Not sure the choice of music though.

Fish
 
...firstly, it demonstrates the brush being 'soaked' for seconds (I do this myself), not hours like others recommend,...

I have never read nor heard of anyone saying to soak a natural hair brush for 'hours'. Just soak for the time you are in the shower, i.e., a few minutes or so.
 
Boar bristles absorb water, so a soak between two and five minutes will do them good.

Badger Hair is largely waterproof, so soaking it for more than a minute is overkill. I rarely soak mine for longer than 10 seconds. Just enough time to saturate the knot and heat the hair. Ditto for synthetic.
 
Actually, animal hair loses its water repellency once it is removed from the animal as it no longer receives the animal's secretions. The same applies to goose down & duck feathers as well as wool.
 
Actually, animal hair loses its water repellency once it is removed from the animal as it no longer receives the animal's secretions. The same applies to goose down & duck feathers as well as wool.
So, here's the technical answer:

"Badgers have, what we in the fly tying community refer to as, solid hair vs. species such as deer, elk, moose, antelope and caribou which have, predominantly, hollow hairs. Structurally, solid hairs are not actually solid but rather, under the pressure of tying thread, they behave as though they were. Such hairs are incompressible and do not flare or deform as they are wrapped with thread. The surface of the fibers tends to be rather smooth, almost slippery, and when gathered in a bundle, these hairs will slide and roll against one another. My conclusion would be that badger hair hydrophilic properties are not such that it absorbs water, per se, although there is some penetration in the animal when alive because of the permeability properties of the skin which allow for follicle opening and, thus, some water retention. Absent of the skin, I believe that in a shaving brush it is the architectural structure of the instrument that accounts for water retention."

There are actually little "pits" in the surface of badger hairs that "grab" water molecules and hold them between the hairs. As the hairs move, they release the water easily. This property is what we call "flow through" the higher the loft, and the less densely packed the brush is, the better the flow through.

Here is a badger hair under an electron microscope. In this case, a Shavemac D01 Three Band hair:
3-Band_D01_Badger_Hair_zpsvzkzborw.jpg

The tip of that hair:
3-Band_D01_Badger_Tip_zpsz9swonby.jpg

Here is a human hair under an electron microscope:
microscope-human-hair-structure-b_zpsnme083pv.jpg


Boar hair is actually hollow, which is why it becomes waterlogged and softer and it soaks up more water.

Boar shaft under an electron microscope:
Boar_Hair_zpshdxsxwwn.jpg

Boar tips:
Boar_Split-End.jpg
 
Last edited:
Remember to use your TSR12 discount code which will give you a 10% discount on our Natural Shaving Cream is available at an introductory discount price of £11.00, add your TSR12 discount and get the cream for only £9.90 (the retail price will increase to £13.50).
Launched almost two weeks ago the cream now has four customer reviews read the reviews and about the cream here: https://goo.gl/8IrDtV
 
Back
Top Bottom