What is the Worst Brush you ever used?

Shemen Zait · Saturday October 10, 2015

Reevers said:
Damn it! Not only did I miss out on a diamond in the rough, but I was also mugged off for an extra 50p... I paid around Â£2 for mine!

Ah, you see Bestshave had the No. 6 with a plastic box and without, so the unboxed ones were going for 1.50.
I think I will give mine the honour tomorrow letting it attack a bit of Cella, it's actually rather good and here in the Gloucester area you can pick them in some of the Turkish shops for a couple of quids.

Reevers · Saturday October 10, 2015

Shemen Zait said:
Ah, you see Bestshave had the No. 6 with a plastic box and without, so the unboxed ones were going for 1.50.
I think I will give mine the honour tomorrow letting it attack a bit of Cella, it's actually rather good and here in the Gloucester area you can pick them in some of the Turkish shops for a couple of quids.

If it had have worked for me then value for money would've been off the scale. I just couldn't get past the prickliness!

Gairdner · Sunday October 11, 2015

C'mon now, yon No.6 was jobbies!

UKRob · Sunday October 11, 2015

Bechet said:
You recognise that as warped thinking or story-telling, don't you, Graeme? Go take your pills.
I think Queen is the only sex derived job title left - apart from King, obviously. Worker's titles must be non-sexist and the nobility are still sexist.

Totally wrong Carl. You can be a male queen - obviously - and as far as non-sexist is concerned, what about the queen bee?

Dipesh · Sunday October 11, 2015

Chubby 2 synthetic.

Gairdner · Sunday October 11, 2015

Dipesh said:
Chubby 2 synthetic.

Really, I so fancied one of these too....?

What was up with it?

Dipesh · Sunday October 11, 2015

Gairdner said:
Really, I so fancied one of these too....?

What was up with it?

The loft was set way too low.

You'd have to grind it into your face to get it to splay. It was very uncomfortable for me. With a loft of 56mm it could have been nice.

Nishy · Sunday October 11, 2015

That bamboo handled chinese synthetic, now used as a basting brush.

traditionalshaving · Sunday October 11, 2015

The new Muhle synthetic brushes are very nice, all other synthetic brushes I have seen/used are cheap rubbish that don't perform well and fall to bits very quickly.

Uncle Bertie · Monday October 12, 2015

Worst was the Vulfix 404 that lost either one (not too bad) or 5 or 10 hairs per lathering. Useless.

factormax · Monday October 12, 2015

That would be a Wilkinson Sword brush. Can't remember the name, but it had a black, vaguely triangular shaped handle.

Gairdner · Monday October 12, 2015

Yeah, I had one of those too, FM. Became a large paintbrush for my daughter and even then it was still kack!

riverrun · Monday October 12, 2015

I almost binned my Wilkinson brush, but it turns out the cat loves being tickled with it...

Helveticum · Tuesday October 13, 2015

traditionalshaving said:
The new Muhle synthetic brushes are very nice, all other synthetic brushes I have seen/used are cheap rubbish that don't perform well and fall to bits very quickly.

How new? Cause I've had mine for three years now and it's pure awesome. Has any newer generation come along?

Sir_eider · Tuesday October 13, 2015

Mmmm... let me see... Some brushes I remember:

- Semogue 830: the most lather-hunger thing I have ever used... Almost imposible for me to get enough lather for more of two passes (and the second one poorly). I tried everything to improve it but finally it became a fluffly thing not suitable for soaps (even the soft ones), started to loose hairs (10-15 per use) and finally I threw it to the rubbish...

- Taylor of Bond Street Silvertip Rooney type small: another fluffy thing, too soft even for facelathering... Luxury doesn't mean that for me!

- TGN Finest artisan brushes: I tried two (22-24 mm. knots). Maybe I had bad luck but I found them simply too firm&pricky, not confortable for facelathering even after some weeks of break-in... And they didn't lather well also...

- Muhle Synthetic: I think it was one from the first batches, small size (21 mm.). Too firm for my liking, I exchanged it for a soap...

- Vie&Long horse brushes: I have tried SEVEN different horse brushes: white and bleached ones tended to be entagled, brown ones were too firm&pricky... I spoke with a person from the factory about those issues and he told me that horse brushes were designed for lathering using "painting" movements, not circular ones, so the problem was mine... no comments! (p.d.: I finally found a decent horse brush with no big issues for facelathering: 14095M. I strongly recommend it even considering its ugly handle)

Cheers

fancontroller · Tuesday October 13, 2015

Sir_eider said:
Mmmm... let me see... Some brushes I remember:

- Semogue 830: the most lather-hunger thing I have ever used... Almost imposible for me to get enough lather for more of two passes (and the second one poorly). I tried everything to improve it but finally it became a fluffly thing not suitable for soaps (even the soft ones), started to loose hairs (10-15 per use) and finally I threw it to the rubbish...
...
- Vie&Long horse brushes: I have tried SEVEN different horse brushes: white and bleached ones tended to be entagled, brown ones were too firm&pricky... I spoke with a person from the factory about those issues and he told me that horse brushes were designed for lathering using "painting" movements, not circular ones, so the problem was mine... no comments! (p.d.: I finally found a decent horse brush with no big issues for facelathering: 14095M. I strongly recommend it even considering its ugly handle)

Cheers

Exactly my findings for the Semogue 830, although not lost any hairs or hit the bin yet.

I've only one horse hair brush (Vie-Long 13061M, natural brown) which is one of my top brushes. It's a tiny bit tickly for face lathering but I kind of like that.