Thread: painting Vs. Swirling and Scrubbing

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

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.

How many bristles lost is acceptable?

“How many bristles lost is acceptable?”


Highly subjective, but if a brush of mine would consistently loose more than 2-3 hairs a week it wouldn’t stay in rotation long, as I know brushes can do much better.

I expect a new brush to stabilize after a month worth of shaves, but even in that period, most brushes shed no hairs worth talking about.

What I find worrying is if a brush that I have used for some time suddenly starts shedding, as this is an indication for me that there is something wrong with the brush.

There seems to be little middle ground, either they shed “generously” (2 or more hairs every shave) or you hardly notice it; so it’s not that hard to tell.

Strange as it sounds, some manufacturers’ badger brush hairs seem to tolerate swirling without ill effects, while for some other manufacturers’ brushes this will result in shedding.


B

Originally Posted by beluga

Strange as it sounds, some manufacturers’ badger brush hairs seem to tolerate swirling without ill effects, while for some other manufacturers’ brushes this will result in shedding.


B

At least they say it will result in shedding.

Bob

Originally Posted by Vlasta

How many bristles lost is acceptable?

Simpson Shaving Brushes have 20,000 or so bristles. M&F, Thater and Shavemac are also very dense brushes, even if you lost over 100 you could never tell the difference.

https://www.simpsonshavingbrushes.co...pare-to-shave/

Originally Posted by Vlasta

How many bristles lost is acceptable?

If the loss is noticeable with the appearance or denseness of the brush that would affect it's ability to hold water or lather, then I would say that is unacceptable. There are a lot of hairs in a good brush, some lost can be afforded without noticing a difference.

No offense to the author of the article, but there aren’t enough hours in a day for me to load a brush with back and forth strokes.

I do whatever I need to do to get the brush loaded, and I then tend to paint on my face, followed by swirls, some scrubbing around my mouth and under my chin, more swirls and then paint some. I expect my brushes to outlast me. I’ll be surprised if they don’t. My dad’s lasted several year beyond him, at which time I took it to clean a rifle.

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Simpson Shaving Brushes have 20,000 or so bristles. M&F, Thater and Shavemac are also very dense brushes, even if you lost over 100 you could never tell the difference.

https://www.simpsonshavingbrushes.co...pare-to-shave/

I am not so much concerned about the functionality that can easily survive the loss of 100 hairs, but if shaving brushes normally don't shed when properly treated that sets the benchmark for me.

If a brush sheds on every shave a few hairs the product is therefore deficient, plain and simple, even if Simpsons state “We would not consider hair loss of approximately 1 – 5 bristles per shave to be consistent with a manufacturing defect or an inherent fault.”

I have a strong suspicion that most shavers agree with me on this subject and would not be as generous in this area as Simpsons are with themselves.

Like a new car where the passenger door has to be slammed as it was not properly aligned during assembly, the product may still be usable but it is nevertheless defective and I see no reason to accept it in this state.

At the same time (in keeping with the car comparison) if the manufacturer specifies a certain way of using his product, then I should abide by it - even if the primary purpose of that instruction is to avoid warranty claims.


B.

I strongly agree with you, beluga. To my mind, that Simpsons's quote is a serious cop-out in regards to knot quality.

I've swirled, painted, etc. with my one Thater since 2012 and have maybe lost 10 - 15 hairs in total. It's the only brush I've used, and if I were paying an additional premium for a Simpson's brush, their level of stated acceptable quality would piss me off if it were to actually happen.

I should state that when swirling my brush on a puck, I do adhere to the Library advice of pinching the knot with 3 outstretched fingers and my thumb to prevent damage to the badger hairs.

I do not think current Simpsons Manchurian badger brushes are substandard in quality. Mind you, I have only one and do use a swirling as well as painting stroke with it to no detrimental effect as of yet. Anyway the individual owner can make up their own minds as whether or not to follow any manufacturers user instructions.

Bob

These outfits will post all kinds of warning of what to do and not to do with their brushes only to indemnify themselves so the brush you have for 5 years starts to shed and you complain and they say well did you read the warnings? Did you violate them?

I haven't bought a Simpsons in a couple years but certainly the Manchurians I have are all high quality brushes as good as anything else out there.

Like I've said before it's not the swirling that is so bad it's the pressure you use that's the killer. You could swirl all day with little effect and paint with 1000lbs of pressure and kill a brush.

I have a Thater that was part of the group buy here a few years ago and after my Husky got it and had her way with it still lathers very well even though it got a partial ...ahem...haircut.