Thread: please recommend a scritchy brush... on a budget

Cut the hairs of a brush to half their length, makes the brush more stubbly if you like.

Originally Posted by Kees

Cut the hairs of a brush to half their length, makes the brush more stubbly if you like.

+1 on that idea, but I want to take it a little further.

Purchase a synthetic brush and cut off the tips. Synthetics usually have a lot of backbone as the synthetic bristles are thicker at the base and then narrow to fine tips. In this case, you do not need a premium quality brush, a cheap synthetic will suffice. If you remove the tips, you will have a brush that is stiff and scritchy and should remain that way. Start by removing only the very tips of the bristles and then test it. If you want it to be more scritchy, trim a little more until you get it the way you want it.

While a boar brush starts out scritchy, as it breaks in, the tips will split and become soft. So if you use a boar, it might be what you are looking for new, but after a few months of use, it will lose the scritch you desire.

Originally Posted by BobH

. Then there is horse hair brushes that have a ton of prickly to me at least.

Bob

+1 on the horsehair.
Horsehair makes a very versatile brush. They can be used for face lathering, but also will lather hard soaps in a bowl.

It is my understanding that horsehair brushes are made with a combination of mane and tail hair with the typical proportions being 35% mane/65% tail, 50%/50% and 65% mane/35% tail. I believe the mane hair is coarse than the tail hair, so the 65% mane/35% tail hair brushes might be just what you are looking for.

Originally Posted by Benz

You might take a look at some of the Semogue boar brushes. I use the #830 on the cheap hard to lather soaps like Williams.

+1 on the Semogue #830.

Thanks everybody for the ideas and info, I have a lot of options to investigate now. SPR is truly a wonderful community and resource.

Really any of the pure badger brushes are what you want. Those tend to be stiff and prickly.

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

Thanks for the replies and ideas, guys. I will look into these different options and go from there. "Our custom brush makers", eh? Where do I find who's on that list?

Head over to the Brushmakers Alcove and look over the threads from members here who have created some nice brushes.

The Brushmakers Alcove

i like my Semogue 830. relatively inexpensive too.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Really any of the pure badger brushes are what you want. Those tend to be stiff and prickly.

+1 on the 'pure' grade. I've only had one myself, a Shavemac pure that I purchased from on ad in the classifieds. Was $50.00 shipped from Japan to the USA. It is such a great brush (to me) that I still can't figure out why the guy sold it. Doesn't want scritch I guess.

I've tried a few Semogue boar brushes and out of the 3 only one is scritchy. The Semogue 620, it was $18.00 on Lee's Razors a few years ago, $22.00 now. The other two are alright for lathering, but not scrichy at all.

The best of the bunch for scritchy is the Shavemac D0-1 two band, but I wouldn't call it cheap. Worth every penny if you want to spend a few bucks more down the road.

One of my first brushes was a no name best badger from Classic Edge, it had scratch and backbone galore. I love that brush but passed it on t o my oldest nephew as he started wet shaving.