Thread: painting Vs. Swirling and Scrubbing

It may be worth remembering that this advice comes from Simpsons and that - based on anecdotal evidence - their shaving brushes seem to be a bit more delicate in respect to shedding than Shavemac, Thäter, Mühle, or some other brushes in that price range.
Hence Simpsons brushes may benefit from some more care and swirling should be avoided as far as practical.

I do not believe that a shaver can be expected to avoid swirling altogether, as it is the most efficient way to charge the tips with shaving soap in a round container (e.g. apothecary mug). The same holds true for shaving cream where - if the cream comes out of a tube - I dab the cream to my face and then create the initial lather there with circular motions, which appears to be the method that works best for me.
What in my opinion should be avoided at all cost, however, is excessive pressure.

Once the brush is charged, the lather can be applied to one’s face with vertical strokes, even though some areas of the face just lend themselves to some swirling motion.

As said before, if you’re gentle there should be no ill effects, but some brushes seem to be more forgiving in this respect than others.


B.

Originally Posted by beluga

I do not believe that a shaver can be expected to avoid swirling altogether, as it is the most efficient way to charge the tips with shaving soap in a round container (e.g. apothecary mug). The same holds true for shaving cream where - if the cream comes out of a tube - I dab the cream to my face and then create the initial lather there with circular motions, which appears to be the method that works best for me.
What in my opinion should be avoided at all cost, however, is excessive pressure.

Once the brush is charged, the lather can be applied to one’s face with vertical strokes, even though some areas of the face just lend themselves to some swirling motion.

As said before, if you’re gentle there should be no ill effects, but some brushes seem to be more forgiving in this respect than others.
B.

+1; I have been using a combination of swirling and paint-brush strokes for the past eight years with my brushes and I have yet to see any issues with them.

Originally Posted by beluga

...
What in my opinion should be avoided at all cost, however, is excessive pressure....

Agree, this is how you end up with a brush looking like a monk's tonsure.

In my experience though, painting alone causes the lather to sit more as a layer on top of the whiskers whereas the swirling/scrubbing type motions really work it around and under them thus providing for a better shave.

As far as I know, at least Thäter makes similar recommendations.

I swirl to build the lather and then only use a painting motion to smooth out the lather on my face just before it gets hit with the razor. All of my brushes are still in good shape. I personally don't get good results making lather unless I swirl the brush. Each to his own, but a good brush should be able to handle any form of lathering that one might use.

lol, is nothing about straight razor shaving simple?

I'm a complete nOOb when it comes to wet shaving, but I thought the point of using the brush was to prep ones face and whiskers by lifting and working the whiskers, pushing and flexing them in all directions to help loosen and soften them, doesn't a swirling motion that hits them from every direction do a better job of that than a back and forth action would?

of course, I've yet to spend more than $4 for a brush

2b

Originally Posted by TwoBirds

...I thought the point of using the brush was to prep ones face and whiskers by lifting and working the whiskers, pushing and flexing them in all directions to help loosen and soften them.....

of course, I've yet to spend more than $4 for a brush

2b

That is not actually the function of a shaving brush, the way I see it.
I believe a shaving brush is there to evenly distribute the lather on all areas that you want to shave - and from then onwards the lather will do the work.

Some brushes with enough backbone may massage the face a little bit, but ultimately it’s the lather that prepares the beard by saturating the skin with moisture, making it swell up slightly, standing up the whiskers, and softening them.

It may be easier, and more natural, to do this in a swirling motion but it can be done with a painting motion alone.
All my brushes in regular rotation seem to tolerate swirling quite well, but after the (1983 mind you) Simpsons quote from the paper I brought my two Brit shedders out of retirement, thoroughly combed them out, and use them now on alternate days avoiding any swirling motion and following all the “best practices” that I know of.
At the moment, they still shed a hair every two shaves or so, but it is nevertheless a vast improvement over their previous state.
Some of it may have to do with combing already loose hairs out before the experiment, but I believe within a month they should both have stabilized.

Hence I plan on using these two brushes exclusively for a full month and see what happens.

If my initial impression is correct, it may prove that for brands that have a higher rate of shedding reports than others, avoiding swirling motions may be beneficial, but through various comments in this thread we have already established that other (more robust) brands tolerate swirling without harm.

Similar to pampering a racing car engine more than the one in your daily clunker, it may just be a question of treating some expensive brushes more carefully than others.

BTW, in my opinion no valid reason to hang on to a $4 brush.
I believe every serious shaver owes it to himself to have a good Super Badger, if not a Silvertip in his line-up.
Otherwise you don’t know what your are missing...



B.

For most of my life, until fairly recently, I used boar brushes that nowadays cost $10-$15. How long they lasted was never an issue on a middle class income. They wore out you simply got a new one. That perspective changes slightly when you buy a top notch badger brush from a premium maker and have to fork out $200-$300 for one. Oddly, people spending that much dough on a brush seem to want to make it last as long as possible and so tend to not do things with them some makers warn against for whatever reason.

I did buy a 2 band finest badge knot to reknot a vintage handle with that shed horribly from the get go. The knot was not terribly expensive but I was not thrilled by the shedding anyway. Contacted the supplier and was advised to thoroughly comb out the knot to remove any loose hairs. I did that and it cured the shedding. To this day I use a swirling motion with that brush, all my others also, with no ill effect so far.

Any brand new badger knot that needs combing out in order to cure a shedding problem indicates, to me, that they were poorly assembled. The knots should be thoroughly combed out in the manufacturing process to eliminate that annoyance. That is especially so when you are paying a premium dollar for said brush.

Bob

Some very interesting replies here. I am guilty of swirling in the past - it feels nice. I doubt it makes a difference to the end result though.

I've never had an issue with a brush, cheap or premium. I think it's because I'm never harsh with them, always applying less than maximum pressure. A little more than gentle, but not a mashing, splaying, circular motion.

What works for me in loading the brush is a tip I learned when studying the tea ceremony. I got lambasted by the tea master for using a circular motion with the bamboo brush when agitating the tea. He showed me that the correct motion was a rapid back-and-forth motion, and that would extend the life of the brush. It works quite well with a shaving brush and soap.

I then use paintbrush strokes to put the thick layer of soap on the face, paint more water in little by little until it's hydrated a bit, and then agitate. I do use back-and-forth motions with the brush splayed to agitate, with good, but not maximum, splay. On some areas, like the chin, I will use a circular motion for a few strokes, just because it feels good.