newbie to shaving brushes, need help please

Can you photograph the actual brush?

I have to say, I'm stumped on this one. I have had two Erasmic brushes in my time, both were boar. That picture is almost certainly of boar hair, but we've not seen your actual brush. It might well be synthetic. I'm sure a quick look will tell us.

Indeed, the WIlkinson Sword will be. Again, I've had one. I've seen the latest crop in person in the supermarket. The practice of using boar hair goes back certainly more than a century and pre-dates modern concern with such things, whether religious or lifestyle preference.

Stick that one in your mind, though ... generally, "bristle" = boar hair.

To be frank, this is the purpose of the halal or kosher or vegan stamp - to let folks know such items are good to use. There's no precident for general products to carry a NOT halal, kosher or vegan stamp. This is where your laws and principles come in, and at least buying from known good permissable sellers. Where that's not possible, err on the side of caution. Foam from a can, brushless cream or use a synthetic fibre brush.

With that in mind, I'd love to get to the bottom of this Erasmic question ... and hopefully let you know whether you can use it. Please put up a photograph of the actual brush. I have pored over loads of pictures of the brush on the internet and I can see a difference in the packaging between older and newer brushes, but the Savers link most definitely shows a bristle (boar) brush yet you say it says synthetic on the back of the packet you bought - I wager their website picture is out of date.

Let's see the actual brush ...
Here you go mate

IMG_20210502_213733.jpg
IMG_20210502_213704.jpg
IMG_20210502_213614.jpg
IMG_20210502_213643.jpg
 
Heck! It's actually very hard to tell ... but ...

That looks synthetic, to me. Despite the odd couple of darker fibres and the spilt end visible, I do indeed think that is synthetic. I have compared and contrasted with a number of pictures that show "Pure Bristle" on the box and those that don't - this looks like the brushes from the box that doesn't say that.

Synthetic.

If at all in doubt, don't use it.
 
Heck! It's actually very hard to tell ... but ...

That looks synthetic, to me. Despite the odd couple of darker fibres and the spilt end visible, I do indeed think that is synthetic. I have compared and contrasted with a number of pictures that show "Pure Bristle" on the box and those that don't - this looks like the brushes from the box that doesn't say that.

Synthetic.

If at all in doubt, don't use it.
It's a funny one for a brush that's only £3 lol

Here's a few pics of th wilkinson sword brush, I still haven't used this one but one question what does the numbers with the arrow pointing to number 20 mean, do you know?
I'm intrigued now tbh lol

IMG_20210502_215414.jpgIMG_20210502_215435.jpgIMG_20210502_215611.jpgIMG_20210502_215550.jpg
 
I think it denotes year of manufacture. So that one was made in 2020.
yea thought it could be that too ut wasnt too sure, interesting theyve done that i suppose

like i said ive still to try out that brush
 
That does look like synthetic. Not very good synthetic, mind. If it was bristle, I'd expect to see more dark hairs in there and some unruliness, not to mention a good load of shed hairs cluttering up the package.

Indeed! The front of the pack does not say "Pure Bristle" (as per the link on the Savers website) so we should now assume that yes ... Erasmic have switched to synthetic. Live and learn.

This bodes well for you @saj1985 ... or not, as it doesn't look that great.
Paul.

I was in Savers a while back and saw the new generation of brushes they have, it's a synth for sure. The fibre they use felt quite similar to the one they use on the Omega S brushes, ie quite springy.

Not a bad brush for a few quid, and it'd do well as a replacement if you were in a hotel and left your shaving brush at home.
 
The Erasmic brush used to be boar, but is now synthetic. I found it very stiff and prickly, but as @donnie_arko says, ok to use if you were stuck.

I always assumed boar brushes were haram, but a few years ago I went exploring while in Dubai. I went to loads of independent general stores and they were all selling razor blades, cheap Gillette DE's etc. All of them were selling boar brushes. I picked up an Omega boar for a few quid.

Didn't expect Dubai of all places to be a market for boar brushes.
 
The Erasmic brush used to be boar, but is now synthetic. I found it very stiff and prickly, but as @donnie_arko says, ok to use if you were stuck.

I always assumed boar brushes were haram, but a few years ago I went exploring while in Dubai. I went to loads of independent general stores and they were all selling razor blades, cheap Gillette DE's etc. All of them were selling boar brushes. I picked up an Omega boar for a few quid.

Didn't expect Dubai of all places to be a market for boar brushes.
Yea that's interesting then again they sell alcohol and there's a lot of prostitution theres so it's like amsterdam too

By the way where abouts in dubai did you find these stores? I assume maybe the bazaars

i remember when I was there I'd go to the barbers a lot in the bazaars which was dead cheap and so were the cigarettes at the time, thank God ice stopped smoking so got no idea if the prices have gone up or not

I've been twice but a long time ago

On a side note a lot of the barbers here I'm brum where it's full of arabs/asians barbers don't really use that many shaving brushes however I'm not quite sure abouts turks because a lot of them like to do the hot towel treatments as part of the wet shaving experience

My local barber seems to use yellow gillette 7 o clock and some of the arabs/turks like to use derby extra green
 
Yea that's interesting then again they sell alcohol and there's a lot of prostitution theres so it's like amsterdam too

By the way where abouts in dubai did you find these stores? I assume maybe the bazaars

i remember when I was there I'd go to the barbers a lot in the bazaars which was dead cheap and so were the cigarettes at the time, thank God ice stopped smoking so got no idea if the prices have gone up or not

I've been twice but a long time ago

On a side note a lot of the barbers here I'm brum where it's full of arabs/asians barbers don't really use that many shaving brushes however I'm not quite sure abouts turks because a lot of them like to do the hot towel treatments as part of the wet shaving experience

My local barber seems to use yellow gillette 7 o clock and some of the arabs/turks like to use derby extra green
It was a strip of shops in Ras-Al-Khaimah. I was staying at the Hilton Garden Inn, so near there. They are like independent supermarkets that sell everything.
 
So I got the pearl shaving brush delivered today and used it today, I absolutely love it, really nice having a bigger shaving brush for shaving the head, I could understand why some facial shaver may find it to be too big for their face though
 
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