Thread: painting Vs. Swirling and Scrubbing

Originally Posted by BobH

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

Simpson warned me about not swirling the brush, but that's all I've done since I've owned it and it's in mint condition. They're probably just trying to cover their own butts, maybe they've had brushes sent back that they had to replace. In my opinion, swirling would have nothing to do with it, but pure abuse and neglect of maintenance would.

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

In my opinion, swirling would have nothing to do with it, but pure abuse and neglect of maintenance would.

By saying that, you essentially state that swirling will not harm a (Simpson) brush, despite advice from the manufacturer to the contrary, and that if a brush sheds it is because of “pure abuse and neglect of maintenance”.

Based on available evidence and the fact that long-time shavers tend to use the same care and “best practices” for all their brushes, and only some shed, I find that explanation not plausible.


B.

A few years back when I first joined the forum I seem to remember that there were posts about Simpsons brushes having a shedding problem and that it seemed to be within a certain time frame of production. Simpsons have gone through ownership and location changes over the years too and I have heard very few shedding complaints stemming brushes made by the current ownership at it's current manufacturing location.

There are 2 reasons a brush will shed being either poorly made or through abuse/neglect of maintenance. The complaints of shedding were from long time shavers, again iirc, so that would seem to indicate a lapse in QC at some stage. Have not heard long time shavers complaining about that problem with current production brushes. OTH shavers new to the game may not know and practice the best care of their brushes leading to abuse and shedding. Hard to know which causes the problem and makers like to avoid having to deal with that type of situation so they advise against swirling the brush, as I see it. As always, ignore a makers advice at your own risk.

Personally, I have ignored that advice with my Simpsons Manchurian from the current owner and manufacturing site and so far so good. I tend not to be heavy handed with my brushes and practice decent cleaning/drying. That is not to say I am recommending that anyone else ignore the makers warning.

Bob

Originally Posted by beluga

By saying that, you essentially state that swirling will not harm a (Simpson) brush, despite advice from the manufacturer to the contrary, and that if a brush sheds it is because of “pure abuse and neglect of maintenance”.

Based on available evidence and the fact that long-time shavers tend to use the same care and “best practices” for all their brushes, and only some shed, I find that explanation not plausible.


B.

Thater advise against face lathering but most here face lather...

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Thater advise against face lathering but most here face lather...

Attachment 292217
Attachment 292218

Wow, and this from a maker that some have pronounced the best. To me this gets sillier by the minute.

Bob

Arse covering, plain and simple.

after reading here that brush maintenance being important I started googling and found this on fendrihan.com

First, look to your lathering. Even the best brushes will not survive aggressive lathering practices. Prolonged circular motion on the surface of the shaving soap combined with brutish pressure on the brush will damage the hairs of your badger brush. You want the hairs of the brush to catch and hold the lather so you can float it across your face, not become so saturated with water and soap that the brush is limp and unable to spread a rich coating.



I'm using one of the old brushes that came with the straight, I think it's horsehair as it's definitely floppy and it's got a lot of hairs broken off, probably more than 10% evens so, it kicks but on the boars bristle brush I was using.


2b

Originally Posted by TwoBirds

after reading here that brush maintenance being important I started googling and found this on fendrihan.com

First, look to your lathering. Even the best brushes will not survive aggressive lathering practices. Prolonged circular motion on the surface of the shaving soap combined with brutish pressure on the brush will damage the hairs of your badger brush. You want the hairs of the brush to catch and hold the lather so you can float it across your face, not become so saturated with water and soap that the brush is limp and unable to spread a rich coating.



I'm using one of the old brushes that came with the straight, I think it's horsehair as it's definitely floppy and it's got a lot of hairs broken off, probably more than 10% evens so, it kicks but on the boars bristle brush I was using.


2b

Never have seen a good low lofted 2 band badger brush become limp.

Bob

Originally Posted by TwoBirds

after reading here that brush maintenance being important I started googling and found this on fendrihan.com

First, look to your lathering. Even the best brushes will not survive aggressive lathering practices. Prolonged circular motion on the surface of the shaving soap combined with brutish pressure on the brush will damage the hairs of your badger brush. You want the hairs of the brush to catch and hold the lather so you can float it across your face, not become so saturated with water and soap that the brush is limp and unable to spread a rich coating.



I'm using one of the old brushes that came with the straight, I think it's horsehair as it's definitely floppy and it's got a lot of hairs broken off, probably more than 10% evens so, it kicks but on the boars bristle brush I was using.


2b

I like that "float it across your face"

Originally Posted by beluga

By saying that, you essentially state that swirling will not harm a (Simpson) brush, despite advice from the manufacturer to the contrary, and that if a brush sheds it is because of “pure abuse and neglect of maintenance”.

Based on available evidence and the fact that long-time shavers tend to use the same care and “best practices” for all their brushes, and only some shed, I find that explanation not plausible.


B.

If a brush falls apart, (and I'm not talking shedding a few hairs) then it is from neglect and/or lack of maintenance. Not washing out the brush when done with it, using extremely hot water, or mashing the brush into the container is a form of abuse, not "swirling the brush". If a brush gets destroyed from swirling it, it probably cost you 50 cents. Losing a few hairs is minimal in my opinion, I'm referring to a loss of most of the bristles and/or release of the knot. It also depends on how hard you work the brush, swirling while mashing hard into the product will probably cause some damage, but a little common sense and gentleness while swirling should not damage a good brush, at least it hasn't with any of mine. I suspect that the manufacturers warn against this in an attempt to rid themselves of any liabilities that may arise from customers with damaged brushes.