Lather Revelation - Now for Brush Advice please....

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npinn001

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188
I have honed my stable to a few good soaps i love and one cream. My most recent acquisition was a Kent shaving soap. I did used to have MWF but a year or so ago all i had was silvertips (like thats a bad thing like it sounds) and i couldnt get a good lather.

Move on a year and i used a vulfix boar and face lathered and absolutely loved the soap. It could well end up being my favourite, in a stable of Tabac, Cella and Harris Marlbrough. High praise.

It has led me to a new question, which is what would be the best brush for face lathering with? I have a vulfix 404 mix, a vulfix boar, and omega boar and a Tony 2 band finest (penworks) and only tried the vulfix admittedly.

What do you fellow face latherers prefer to use? Boar, Badger? Which models etc?

Cheers
 
npinn001 said:
It has led me to a new question, which is what would be the best brush for face lathering with? I have a vulfix 404 mix, a vulfix boar, and omega boar and a Tony 2 band finest (penworks) and only tried the vulfix admittedly.
Cheers
Click to expand...

Sorry...what do you currently own and use exactly?
 
Are you referring to the Tony 2 band finest bit?

I have the Vulfix 404 boar badger mix which i like for soaps but bit scritchy on the face
The vulfix boar is a good brush but small.
The omega boar is big but lofty so not ideal for face lathering
The penworks 2 band i havent tried with the Kent soap yet.
 
Well that Penworks Finest knot would be my default recommendation for a performance/value badger. Nice and scrubby without being too soft, firm and dense enough in whatever format. I would try that out properly, shouldn't have any problems with MWF.


Whatever you do don't start judging a brush after a couple of uses, they will all soften up including the 404 mix.
 
Im a hard die facelather too and I have both boar and badger.I have a new custom brush made with a 20mm finest badgerextra hair from TGN which performs outstandingly well
My favs. are my Semogue brushes.The LE 2009 one is great but I love my Semogue 1520:22mm knot and 50 loft,perfect for hard soaps and sticks.The 1305 is another winner but the loft is a little bit higher.
 
I now have boar, badger, and a boar /badger mix brushes. They range from small to quite large, from very soft to very scrubby. And in price, they retail from £8 to £80, although I have one custom made that would retail higher than that with a name on it.

With regular use, each one alone would do a very efficient job. Some I enjoy using more than others.

We often define ourselves as face latherers. I suppose that distinguishes those that start on their face as opposed to those that build some lather in a bowl before applying it on the face. But in the end we are all face latherers. So it really depends on if you prefer a pleasing soft luxurious feel as you lather or if you want to feel that you are scrubbing and really exfoliating your face as you lather. Even a very soft brush exfoliates and scrubs when you get your technique right.

And then how much are you prepared to spend on a brush? And what effort are you prepared to go to to get what you want? You can ask around on the forums and buy on line based on the opinions of others. Or you can visit stores and specialists and look at and feel a lot of brushes before making your choice. In choosing my brushes I have dealt on line and in shops.

To get back to your question. I much prefer a good quality badger that is firm rather than soft. Under £10 Vulfix 404 boar/badger, Under £20 Semogue 1305, Under £30 Semogue LE 2009 (sold out!) Under £50 Vulfix 2234, Under £80 Duke 3/ Kent BK8 and my custom - another class. Most of my brushes!
 
My best badger by Neo, with a fairly short loft is my favourite for Wool Fat by a wide margin, because there's always enough lather in the knot for three passes and touching up. The Semogue 2009 LE makes equally good lather, but doesn't retain much and needs recharging with soap. I've also had decent results with an Omega 49, a rather unlovely brush in many respects, but effective with hard soaps. None of these approaches the luxury price bracket.
 
Semogue 620 22mm knot, 50mm loft. This boar has sketched bristles & is quite firm. It also holds more water than its size depicts. Great brush.

Semogue 1470, same knot & loft as 620, however, no sketch on the bristles & they are softer than the 620. This little brush will also hold more water than you would think. another super little brush.

Semogue 1305, 22mm knot 55mm loft, sketch bristles, great performer.

Semogue 2015HD, 22mm knot, 57mm loft silvertip. This brush is great face lathering creams or sticks.

The only thing that really matters about a shaving brush is that you like it and like what it does. If i had to go to one brush, right now without hesitation i would go with the 620.

My LE 2009 has not arrived yet :hungrig
 
Any brush can be used to face lather - like Fido said, it's all about the desired face feel you prefer.

While small, dense, stiff, short loft brushes are often recommended for face lathering, I'd have to say the following:

- Since you don't use a bowl, a small brush won't hold as much lather as a bigger brush, therefore you will have to return to the puck/add more cream between passes
- The lather will cool quicker, unless you use some form of brush scuttle
- A stiff, dense brush will feel great on the first pass, but may start to feel uncomfortable after three/four passes, depending on your skin/shave/how close you like to get
- A dense brush will hog lather

For this reason, I would recommend a medium brush, but not so large as to make lather application clumsy. I'd use 22-23mm knot, 50-55mm loft as a general guide.

I've owned and tried a few different brushes, and honestly, hand on heart, a soft, long lofted Silvertip will lather just as well, perhaps even quicker, than a short lofted, stiff and dense brush. I think it's due to flow-through.

I believe there's no such thing as soap brush or cream brush. There you go. I've whipped up creams to submission with a small boar, and had a meringue party with soaps using my Savile Row. YMMV!

John
 
It was a special day for me yesterday so I gave myself the day off here. It can be done!

This is a brilliant post John. A superb piece of analysis by someone who has really tested the present shaving brush offerings. I wholly agree with John.

An ideal brush for most people who want a pleasant experience is around 22/23 knot 50/55 loft. This makes it possible to spoil yourself with the very best silvertips without spending a fortune.

I'm still on my own journey of discovery - looking carefully at a wide range of brushes, and who supplies, makes and distributes them. And how they do it. I'm adding more brushes to my collection so that (as with my bells) I have examples of a cross section of brushes from each of the major names in the business. I intend to publish information about shaving brushes which should be of much interest to enthusiasts and indeed to those who supply our needs and wants. I will either begin a new blog or develop my own web site which has been idle for too long.

So if I contribute here less for a while - I will still be busy!
 
Really look forward to your findings Fido! :D

Right.... back to my Tax Return.....(must not look at shave forums today. must not look at shave forums today.....)

John
 
Thanks for all your replies on this, its been really helpful.

Paul from Connaught as he posted in this thread sent me a big omega boar brush, which i absolutely love and is the doing the job perfectly, so a BIG thanks to Paul for this.

He sent me a picture of the brush amongst a few others before posting it out to me, and he seems to have some really nice custom omegas not yet on his site which you guys may like...just a heads up.

Cheers
 
npinn001 said:
He sent me a picture of the brush amongst a few others before posting it out to me, and he seems to have some really nice custom omegas not yet on his site which you guys may like...just a heads up.
Click to expand...

:shave :hungrig I am trying to be strong.. :roll:
 
npinn001 said:
I have the Vulfix 404 boar badger mix which i like for soaps but bit scritchy on the face
Click to expand...
You will find that your VixMix 404 will soften up delightfully.
Like all quality products it requires a little wearing-in, a little "personalising".
 
In reading this thread earlier I realise that I needed to "wear in" a Vulfix Travel Brush (bristle, no numbers - c/w travel tube) which I bought from Paul @ Connaught about three months ago...this evening I have had a practice lather using the dispensible Wilky Blue and I have to tell you, friends, that it produced a beard of Santa proportions. Perhaps the smaller and stubbier (and this brush is small and stubby) the brush then the more response comes from this much maligned soap?

Holiday in a few weeks so this brush will get some action in preparation.
 
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