Thread: My Sweetest Shaving Brushes

Gentlemen,

Through the years, I have spent a fortune searching for the ideal brush — ideal for me. I have a tough beard and ultra-sensitive skin. Scratchy brushes, and even those minimally scratchy, irritate my skin. I have owned a variety of Simpson, Rooney, Vulfix and others brands of brushes, and all are gone. I have trimmed my modestly large collection to what you see below, brushes I truly love. They are, from left to right:

Thater 28mm finest silvertip 2-band
Wiborg 28mm white badger
Simpson Chubby 2 super
Thater 25mm finest silvertip 2-band
shavemac No. 167 in the 25mm silvertip
Savile Row 3126, a 26mm silvertip knot in the short loft of about 54mm
Plisson synthetic

If I were to name one brush among the group that is my sweetest, my perfect brush, it is the shavemac No 167 in the 25mm silvertip knot. I love this brush more than all my others. The Plisson is also my travel brush.

And you, gentlemen, have you finally found your sweetest brushes?

Thanks for the recommendations Obie, your analysis is always spot on (and ends up costing me money).

I don't own a lot of brushes. I like like Simpson's Best Badger hair, although my favorite brush is a recently purchased Thater 23mm Two Band Finest Silver Tip. Oddly, and I have no explanation for this: The Simpson Best Badger is softer than the Thater when dry, but once wet, the Thater is much softer than the Simpson. The Thater seems to go from quite stiff when dry to very soft when wet, while the Simpson is almost the same, dry or wet.

I also enjoy using a cheap boar brush on occasion.

Originally Posted by CZMark

Thanks for the recommendations Obie, your analysis is always spot on (and ends up costing me money).

I don't own a lot of brushes. I like like Simpson's Best Badger hair, although my favorite brush is a recently purchased Thater 23mm Two Band Finest Silver Tip. Oddly, and I have no explanation for this: The Simpson Best Badger is softer than the Thater when dry, but once wet, the Thater is much softer than the Simpson. The Thater seems to go from quite stiff when dry to very soft when wet, while the Simpson is almost the same, dry or wet.

I also enjoy using a cheap boar brush on occasion.

Thank you for the kind words, my friend. Yes, Thater brushes are a sweet curiosity. They ooze quality, in every way, and I have to experience a Thater with scratchy tips. I love these brushes, especially in the bulb knot.

That Savile Row 3126 in the short loft is also a magical brush. It is no longer made, that I know of, anyway. Love it for being about as perfect a brush as I have found. The Wiborg's tips are as soft as those on the Thaters, but the knot is really dense and the backbone solid. It is an incredible brush. It took me almost a year to get it.

Of course, my shavemac 167 in the 25mm silvertip is just a kiss from heaven. Medium density and backbone join soft tips and a comfortable handle to create pure pleasure. Love this brush most of all.

Lovely set of brushes you have there Obie. As the good Lord made us all the same, but different, my holy grail is the scritchy brush. These are my 'last brushes standing' of many. All are delightfully scritchy with the exception of the Simpson Manchurian M-7. What it lacks in scritch it makes up for in backbone. I had many brushes come, and many go, searching for the scritch. Anyway, great thread, thanks for posting it.

Great thread again Obie, thank-you.

The Wiborg, been on my list for awhile, no joy in contacting though after several attempts, I've read fantastic things about those brushes.

The search is always on, there are a few others I'd like to try and collect, as I find the brush an essential, fundamental aspect of the shave, and hitting that sweet spot is a very enjoyable search. I enjoy all my brushes, and all have unique qualities, whether it is the softness of the Plisson or the perfect scritch and stellar backbone of the Morris & Forndran.

If I had to pick two at this point in time, it would be the M&F and the custom Rubberset Aluminum #3 with the Shavemac Knot MikeB52 installed. I know he picked a great knot (can't recall the exact one), certainly was in the realm of what you'd expect to pay for such a high performing knot, and lately I haven't been able to put it down.

Semogue 2000
Thater Super Badger 4125/0
Simpsons Super Badger Polo 10
Simpsons Super Badger Polo 8
Walleyman Custom
Morris & Forndran L7
Rubberset #3 w/ Shavemac two band badger
Simpsons Chubby 1 Super Badger
Rooney Emilion 2 Super Badger



Semogue 1305 Boar brush, Plisson High Mountain White, and the Vie-Long Horse Hair:

Incredible looking brushes in this thread gents, and a great idea indeed Odie.
I'd call phranks a Rubberset 3/5224 two band silvertip now. And it's clone, along with a thater 4125, and a vie long HH 5024 are my go to brushes these days. All bowl and face lather stupendously with the right amount of tip to get into my beard and not my skin.

The search for the ideal brush is like the 49ers looking for the mother lode. They spent their lives and fortunes looking and never found it.

However, one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty, the Mother Lode is out there to this day just waiting.

That's about the way the search for the ideal brush is. You think you found it but you really haven't cause no matter how perfect that brush is there is always another just a little bit better just waiting for you.

If you give up and accept what you have, well you're like that commercial on T.V, you're a settler.

Took me a while to figure out what I do like in a brush but we finally managed it. In a knot I like good backbone and next to no scritch/scratch and the handles on the longer side.

These are some of my favourites.



Left to right/front row

Omega 10066 boar/SOC 2 band badger

Left to right/rear row

Simpsons QEII Jubilee Manchurian/Custom Shavemac 2 band Silvertip/Rooney Victorian Super Badger/HarryWally Custom with Muhle STF XL synthetic knot.

Not pictured but should be included is the Simpsons Chubby II LE synthetic.

Bob

Originally Posted by CZMark

Thanks for the recommendations Obie, your analysis is always spot on (and ends up costing me money).

I feel like there are a number of companies out there that should be paying Obie some royalties.

These two are my fav's. One by Walleyeman and the other by pixelfixed, both knots are similar, the one by pix is set a little higher by a couple of mm