Thread: Synthetic Shaving Brush?

I am making my next shaving decision - a new brush. Is there such a thing as a decent synthetic shaving brush? Do I speak of shaving evilness?

A quick net search yielded the following

Body Shop's Synthetic Shaving Brush

men-u premier synthetic shaving brush

Some Taylor of Old Bond St synthetic shaving brushes

Edwin Jagger Imitation Ivory Chatsworth Shaving Brush
Pure best or synthetic badger

Omega Synthetic shaving brushes

Has anybody here used any of these?

most prefer the badger or boar bristle brushes. If you want a synthetic much has been discussed over at B&B. I give you the short of it the Taylor or Men-U wins.....

I use the Wilkinson synthetic that you can get for $5 at Wal Mart when I'm travelling. It's rougher on my face than badger but it dries quickly and can take a beating while the luggage's being handled.

I've used all of those, and I posted the round-up on B&B that Belegnole mentioned. I think most synthetics are just fine, but most also are quite different from badger brushes.

My favourite synthetic, which also is the synthetic that feels the most like a badger brush, is Taylor's. It's nice and soft and doesn't feel all that plastic-y, on the downside it dries just as slow as a normal badger brush. The Men-U is also a good brush, but doesn't feel as nice on your face, it works very well though when making lather and dries really quick which is handy if you're travelling. Both of those brushes are $50-$60, so they are a bit of an investment.

If you don't want to spend that much money there are the brushes from the Body Shop, the Omega Sintex and the Vulfix nylon (all ~$10). The Body Shop brush is ultra stiff and has very soft tips, while the Omega and Vulfix are very floppy. Of those I'm not really sure which my favourite is, but I think I'd recommend either the Vulfix or Omega (the Vulfix has a nicer handle, but is otherwise pretty much identical to the Omega) because some people have a hard time working with the stiffness of the Body Shop brush.

That's the condensed version, you can read a bit more about all the brushes at the B&B thread I linked to. And I'll be happy to answer any other questions you might have here.



Ilija, I didn't know Wilkinson made a synthetic, are you sure it's not boar? (I bet you can tell the difference, but I just have to ask to make sure)

Björn, I'm certain it's not a natural bristle. It never had a bad smell, dried too quickly for natural bristle and the regular price is too cheap for the size of the brush. Generates a decent lather, but it feels a bit prickly on the skin, especially with FO soaps.

Thanks for all the feedback guys...

I havent made my mind up yet, but the cost of the synthetics means "sucking and seeing" wont be too expensive.

I have just aquired a Jack Black synthetic brush and it is amazing.
It is dense and heavy with the feel of a silvertip.

I wouldn't trade it for any other brush!

For 10-15$ you can get a tweezerman badger brush, best brush there is for little money, why buy synthetic?

Because hamburger is made of beef.

I was using a Men U synthetic brush as part of my travelling kit & I found if ileft it in the hot water for a little while it softened up nicely & gave my an excellent shave.I must admit to prefering it over the badger travelling brush I bought to replace it.Paul