Thread: stirling soap co. fan tip finest badger brush

have been wanting to try a fan shaped brush for a while but the knots are not easily available (in my price range) to make my own so i ordered this one from Stirling soap co. Has good reviews so i gave it a shot. After two uses i can say that it is soft,doesn't seem to lose hairs and has lots of back bone.(and bloomed well).
Now this is only my second brush and all i have to compare it to is my TGN silver tip and my sons Simson brush.
I am having a chore making a good lather with it though. Does any one have any tips on using a fan shaped brush with lot of backbone? (i am a face latherer BTW).

Nice looking brush TinTin.

I have several fans & some are super soft , yet my Thater has backbone & scritch, more than the others.

I usually only use my fans with creams that are known to easily lather. I a hand bowl or scuttle.

Even though the brush is new, I would wash/lather it well in Dawn dish soap. A gentle, good soap; then I would use a quality hair conditioner such as the one below. Keep the conditioner on the brush for 10 minutes, loner than we leave it on human hair,,, rinse with warm, not hot water. Allow to dry a day or so, this should help you obtain a more manageable knot & give it great protection too.

This is the one I use;

No disrespect intended, but are you loading the brush with enough soap? It could be the two contributing factors of not loading soap long enough and the brush being new.
I would suggest giving it a few washes as mentioned above and see what happens.
I am not sure which soap you are using, but shave-sticks work extremely well or you could even rub the puck of soap on your face as a shave-stick to guarantee you get enough soap.
Best of luck.

thanks for the ideas. it is a completely different brush than what i am used to using the last four years. hard to do things differently when one has a routine down. who would have thought one would have to re- learn how to use a brush.

Yes, there are differences between brushes in how they like to used. Some times the differences are minor and other times not so minor. It just takes a bit of experimenting to adjust. If you are using a hard puck the suggestion to load a bit more/longer is a good one. Maybe even start with a dryer brush and add a little water as you go till you get the lather you want.

Bob

Another idea would be to break out some shaving cream while you are figuring this out. You could take some Taylor of Old Bond St, Baum.be or other cream, pubt the proper amount into a bowl. Add a little water and swirl the brush until all the soap is in it, then face lather as normal.

This way you would know that the brush has enough soap. You could also do this with a softer soap like Stirling, though getting it loaded on the brush will take longer.

Check out this section in the Library:

Making basic soap lather - Shave Library

Specifically, check out the photograph in this step and give it a whirl:

5. Take a three fingers grip to the brush to prevent bristles from spreading out and start to whip the soap.

I started using this method only this year and have much better results when loading my brush with shaving soap.

I have a Stirling brush and really like it. Great feel, performance and quality for the money. Holds its own with the much more expensive brushes.

I have tried 14 Stirling soaps but not their brushes. Their products require a lot of soap for a good lather.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

I have a Stirling brush and really like it. Great feel, performance and quality for the money. Holds its own with the much more expensive brushes.

After the advised shampoo and conditioner treatment plus a little use i've come to really like it too. Very impressed with the lack on hair loss and the softness. Glad i bought it.