Chinese eBay shaving brushes

[Smell The Glove]

I ordered one last night after reading your blog.

I have never tried badger before (never really felt the need). However my trusty Men-U pure bristle has died the death of a thousand hairs, after developing a crack in the collar and shedding like nobody's business. At the price including postage it's comparable with the Men-U, so I thought 'why not'?

I am using a Body Shop synthetic as a stop gap.

 

[OnionNon]

Doesn't help for the group purchase I'm afraid, but based on your blog the other day I put in an order on eBay for one of the silvertips with a rosewood handle

 

[Yellow Jim]

Doesn't help for the group purchase I'm afraid, but based on your blog the other day I put in an order on eBay for one of the silvertips with a rosewood handle

You'll have to let us know what it's like once it's arrived.

 

[Damian Murphy]

I've had a similar chinese brush from the bay (handle is black) for a while and its not bad, obviously not as good as a premium brush , but very satisfactory for the price.

 

[antdad]

You get what you pay for even directly from China, so make purchase decisions that are based on recommendations from established and experienced brush users.

No offence Bruce but you really know fa about brushes.

 

[hunnymonster]

All the fancy brands you see come from these workshops and you are paying a lot more for the brand than you are for the brush. I believe that buying at the factory gate cuts out all the middle men and all the bloated profits they are making.

Of course the other thing that's being sacrificed is quality control - why would I gamble on a brush with "legendary" (in the sense of it not existing) quality control... I could easily have to buy 4 or 5 of them before getting one that's fit for purpose. I know that if I buy a modest Omega/Vulfix/etc that it will be exactly as described, I know from past experience that I cannot reliably say the same for Wun Hair Lo brushes unless there's a "bloated middleman" doing the QC.

I'm not a "brush nut", just a previous victim of unvarnished Chinese "quality" "control".

 

[Jeltz]

but the handle look like butterscotch

 

[Sunburyboy93]

but the handle look like butterscotch

Just what i was about to ask ?

 

[moodymick]

i thought the whole point of the 'butterscotch' appreciation was that it was the way the handle had aged and become that colour - rather than just having been made in that colour in the first place?

dunno, maybe i've been missing the point all this time :?

 

[henkverhaar]

fwiw I reckon that a lot of all the knots sold in all the markets come from here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.heavenhorse.com/badger%20shaving%20brush.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.heavenhorse.com/badger%20shaving%20brush.htm</a><!-- m -->

Which is where I get my knots.

Do you know whether 'Frank' also does DE razor heads (preferaby Gillette Old Style heads or Tech style heads)?

 

[neocaligatio]

The loft on that butterscotch looks a little mad? is the brush not rather floppy? :lol:

 

[beejay]

Aren't silvertips meant to be floppy?

Horses (or badgers) for courses
I like to keep things a simple as possibe when making my brushes and my variables are:
depth of plug, depth of hole, hole taper and type of hair.
The customer will get whatever he wants if its a bespoke otherwise I tend to go approx 50mm loft with a Silvertip leaving about 15-17mm in the handle which gives good backbone with acceptable spread.
This proves to be happy medium for most people, i.e. soft at tips and not too floppy.
regards, beejay

 

[Fido]

Interesting discussion.

It's not by accident that the Vulfix,Simpsons, Plissons, Rooneys, Jaggers, Savile Row, shavemac brushes etc are so popular. They are very fine brushes. And the cost of production is only part of the price determinant. The work involved in bringing the product to the final consumer is considerable. It's difficult to pin down differences in quality but they are there. I'm fortunate that I have a collection of all types of brush from the cheap to the very expensive. Even without brand names on them, you will notice the differences.

China and its evolution is changing the commercial world. As more efforts are made to break the barriers to communication between east and west lots of industries will be affected. Shaving is one of them. There will always be scope for innovation. It's open to all of us to use our initiative and deal direct with manufacturers. But it is a lot of hard work. Churning out large numbers of items is one thing. Dealing with orders and individual purchasers is something else. Even dealing with just one brush is demanding. I cannot imagine the work involved in having a wide range of brushes always on offer.

As to group buys. Good luck to anyone who tries to organise one. Everyone has different preferences - often difficult to reconcile. Good luck to Frank Shaving. People have been down the road before and found that trying to be a producer and a retailer is not an easy thing to do.

Don't be too hard on all UK brands. The likes of Edwin Jagger are quite open about the fact they simply put their pre made knots into their own handles. And our friends on the Isle of Man are quite open about their manufacturing methods.

 

[antdad]

Go to alibaba.com (manufacturers search engine) and input shaving brush and China.

 

[antdad]

Ridiculously good compared to what? I refer you to my first answer.

 

[OnionNon]

Doesn't help for the group purchase I'm afraid, but based on your blog the other day I put in an order on eBay for one of the silvertips with a rosewood handle

You'll have to let us know what it's like once it's arrived.

My brush arrived today, not bad delivery time given the distance it travelled. The guy seemed like a very good eBayer too, updating when despatched and providing a tracking number.

I should preface my thoughts by adding that I'm fairly new to DE shaving, and my comparison points are a Wilkinson Sword synthetic brush (now binned), an Omega 49 I use on my soaps and a best badger brush (Edwin Jagger I think, had it around a year) used daily on my creams. So in short, I'm no expert.

Comes in simple packaging but was well protected in transit. The handle is a good size and of a nice enough shape to use, also came with a plastic drip stand. Tried it today with TOBS Avocado and I'm very impressed, the brush itself is very soft but not too floppy and it had no problem working the cream into a lather. Worked very well on the face. Barely any hair loss after soaking before use and during the shave itself, maybe one or two.

I took a punt on it following Bruce's article, thinking it's not too much money lost if it wasn't much good, but I really feel they're something of a bargain and I'm glad I took the chance.

I'm not sure what else you can say in reviewing a shaving brush, but I love it and will now use it every day.