Thread: To trim, or not. Thats the queston.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

,,,,,,,

Now TC ! that's his favorite brush.

not if he used the Shavemac!!!! TC

Looked into those shavemac's. 150 buck for a brush. Beyond my brush budget. Maybe some day but right now i'll stick to what i got.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Looked into those shavemac's. 150 buck for a brush. Beyond my brush budget. Maybe some day but right now i'll stick to what i got.

I am with Gasman. I would love to get a Shavemac, Simpson chubby or Savile Row 3824. I have no doubt they are great brushes, both in appearance and performance. But are they ten times better than a well broken in $15 boar brush? At what point are you shelling out big bucks for bragging rights rather than performance?

Originally Posted by RayClem

I am with Gasman. I would love to get a Shavemac, Simpson chubby or Savile Row 3824. I have no doubt they are great brushes, both in appearance and performance. But are they ten times better than a well broken in $15 boar brush? At what point are you shelling out big bucks for bragging rights rather than performance?

yes they ARE, or put it this way are your hones worth what you pay for them? hummm is one stone worth so much more than another??
they are that much better, I have lots of brushes from cheap to expensive, and there is no comparison, I,ll stick with the better grades. just like my razors or yours, what makes one better than a POS gold Dollar? Tc

by the way gasman, how much you got in your stones and now equipment just to work on them? more than if you just bought a razor and had it honed and then just shaved.

Your right TC. No dought about that. But arnt those badger brushes? I do like a well broke in boar more than badge. Enjoy a touch of scrub in my brushes. Are you saying these badgers are like a mroke in boar? You got my enterest up. I went as far as buying a badge knot that cost me 63 bucks once. The mancherian? Its nice but not as nice as a boar. What say you?

Give me your honest opinion. I know you will. thats one of the thing i like about ya. You speak your mind!

Originally Posted by RayClem

I am with Gasman. I would love to get a Shavemac, Simpson chubby or Savile Row 3824. I have no doubt they are great brushes, both in appearance and performance. But are they ten times better than a well broken in $15 boar brush? At what point are you shelling out big bucks for bragging rights rather than performance?

From a price to performance ratio pov it makes no sense to me at all but there is more to it than that. I get as good a lather from my inexpensive boar brush as my Shavemac but the feel on the face is totally different. An expensive badger brush is a luxury item with all the baggage that it brings with it including bragging rights. Necessary, no, but nice if you want to pamper yourself.

Bob

Thanks for the reply Bob. So in your opinion, you are saying that the shavemac feels softer and not as much scrub? I havent found my be-all brush just yet so im enterested in this shavemac. Ive just found that the badgers can have some backbone but not much scrubbing feeling.

Let me know if im wrong on this. Id love to hear from anyone about this. Thought TC would jump back in but guess hes busy.

ya busy as Bob knows from our visit this morning ,, but I,ll agree with bob,, is any of it necessary? no we could be just sticking with a single edge Bic razor and canned goo. now as far as a boar goes, once their broke in they are very soft too, and if scratch is what you want, there are badgers with all you care for, as I said the shavemac DO1 2 band has the scratch. and super soft tips, your Manchurian tends to have not much scratch and ultra soft tip. where the really good badgers have it for me ,and remember this is all YMMV, is the density of the brush. that's why you don't see many flyaway hairs that you may want to trim. (yet they wont hurt anything) and with great density comes a very strong backbone with some of the luxury of soft.

as Bob has proved many times over, they can all make a lather, and just about every soap can be made to work well, but we all have different reasons for doing this hobby, and mine is looking for the best quality and experience from my shave. cause if I wanted to just get rid of whiskers ,, well you know we can do it without all this other crap we buy, like brushes, soap and razors and hones.

I have a buddy who asked me why a 300$ brush and 80$ soap with a custom 600$ razor ? my reply, why 900$ Jnat to put on an edge I can get with a 80$ stone and 3$ worth of Crox? if you like the brush then you will use it ,, basically I was commenting because , I was using an Old Spice brush for over 20 years before I found out what a good brush was, now theres no turning back. have you thought about just getting a good quality boar to replace it with , ask Bobh he knows which ones are worth using Tc

Keep the old favorite as is and follow Tc's advice and buy a new one.
BAM! problem solved problem staying solved.

If you like good scrub, then a Shavemac D-01 2 Band knot/brush would have more than any boar you'll find, in general.

Personally, I would not say that badger brushes are 'better' than boar or any other ones, but they are quite different and the face-feel is very unique. I have not found any other type of brush/knot to exhibit the particular characteristics that I desire or deem favourable when face-lathering. Therefore, that is why I greatly prefer badger brushes to all others.

The only way you will determine this is for you to try one yourself.
You can easily get a TGN 2-Band Finest and have them set the knot at a very low loft if you want good scrub and it should not cost more than $50.
Good luck.