Thread: The Synthetic Brush Shootout

For a few weeks I've been teasing my upcoming synthetic knot review, and since all of my knots have finally arrived I am now prepared to begin.

For those who have missed or avoided my earlier posts, my ten year history is a wonderful illustration of poor to mediocre brushes. My first brush was an Art of Shaving (AoS) "genuine badger" brush and I got many good years of service out of this thoughtful gift from my wife. In fact this little brush is still knocking around my bathroom drawer, chipped handle and all, and has done fill-in duty in the recent past. Another notable budget buy was a VDH badger brush I purchased from Walmart to use as a test subject for my Brush Stand project. This brush did daily duty for six months as I evaluated how my stand was going to weather the humid environment of my bathroom sink before it shed its knot mid-lather. In between I've had a Casswell-Massey "Pure Badger" travel brush (alive, kicking and used for its intended purpose), an Ever-Ready 100T, a cheap boar brush and an even cheaper generic synthetic that somehow fell into my possession (These final two were so hated or useless as to be demoted to use in dusting keyboards and similar tasks.)

As I started searching for a better brush the reviews of the synthetics kept catching my eye. No one claimed that the synthetics were the greatest shave brushes known to man. No one claimed that shavemac had decided to go out of the knot business because the wet shavers of the world were abandoning badger brushes. Yet the worst thing that I could find about synthetics, from reviewers that seemed reasonable, was that they were "boring" that they did a good job but somehow lacked the soul of their favorite badger brushes. If that is the worst, reasonable complaint I could find then a synthetic brush was certainly worth a look...but which brush? Why not several?

Reviews are useful up to a point, the point at which the reviewer's desires differ from yours. Far too many reviews simply recommend one brush over another with no real explanation and no actual attempt to evaluate the brush beyond, "I used it and liked it and so you should buy it too!" Not exactly a sound reason to run out and buy a brush, even if it retails for less than $30, and at that we are ignoring the possibility that the reviewer is simply hoping to get more manufacturers to ship him free brushes to review.

My background in science causes me to find the whole process somehow offensive.

I know that it is impossible to transform a purely subjective subject, how much I like the feel of a particularly brush against my face, into an objective measurement. Despite this I'm going to try to reduce the number of variables that can affect the feel and performance of a knot, examine the lather that I build with each brush and attempt to differentiate each knot when it comes to feel.

Parameters

• Affordability: One of the virtues of synthetics is their value. All knots in this test are currently available for under $20.
• Knot size: In an effort to reduce variability I have restricted the knots to the relatively common diameter of 24mm.
• Handles: All knots, due to their common size, are to be temporarily mounted in a Whipped Dog 24mm Tall handle. Not only does this reduce variability but also reduces my financial burden. (Exception - The Whipped Dog knot was permanently mounted by Larry as part of my purchase.)

Knots

• Synthetic "Game Changer" Knot (AMACK4Shaving) $18.00
• Synthetic "Sunrise" Knot (AMACK4Shaving) $10.00
• Cashmere Synthetic Extra Dense Knot (APShaveCo) $16.98
• Tuxedo Extra Dense Synthetic Knot (APShaveCo) $16.98
• Ubersoft 2 Synthetic 4th Gen (EnvyShave) $13.99
• Whipped Dog Synthetic Knot (whippeddog.com) $16.00

It should be noted that AMACK4Shaving is currently listing the "Sunrise" knot as the last batch of these knots that they are likely to have in stock. FrugalShave has a knot similar in appearance, listed as a "Sunsoft" knot, for the same price.

Next Up: My initial impressions