what's wrong with synthetic brushes?

so i have just started to get serious about shaving and upgrade my situation.. for years i have been using a mach3 with burt's bees bay rum soap and a van der hagen brush i got at rite aid for 2 dollars..

i've ordered a feather artist club dx and plan on staying with the same soap.. but as far as brushes go.. i'm clueless..

i like a stiffer brush and always build my lather on my face.. from what i can tell.. the rooney synthetic seems to appeal to me.. but why does everyone hate on synthetic?

i love eating animals.. don't even cook the thing... just cut out the tenderloin and serve it to me wrapped in bacon and covered in butter.

First of all, welcome to SRP! :)

I dont think theres anything wrong with synthetics, it just seems like more people prefer the absorbancy and feel of a badger hair brush..! There may also be an element of nostalgia with the badger hair over a synthetic for some people?

I've tried one, and I just found it was a little too coarse on the skin for my liking, and I just prefer the real stuff. Both both gave good lather and good results so, for me at least, its just a personal preference thing. I couldnt really tell the difference in the lather, though I kept kidding myself that I could..! Maybe it was my brain telling me that real hair is more absorbant than synthetic, and therefore the lather was better... I'm not sure!

But if you want to get a synthetic brush, there is no reason at all not to do that! If you can get results you like with that brush and it works for you, then stick with it. Thats basically my mantra, if it gives you results you like then its good! :D

Welcome again and good luck!

Not everyone does. I use a BodyShop synthetic as a travel brush. It doesn't hold water as well as a properly broken-in boar brush, but it does ok, and dries almost completely with a flick of the wrist. I could get by with it if I had to.

If you're looking for a good quality brush with some real spine to it, take a look at Omega's selection of boar's bristle brushes. They mostly ring in around $20 and really get the job done, especially the biggest of them known as the "Professional"

Best Regards

goshawk

There's certainly nothing wrong with synthetic brushes. The big difference I have noted with synthetics is the inability to hold water. Boar will hold some water and badger will hold a lot of water. If you've enjoyed the VDH brush, I would recommend an Omega or Semogue boar brush to move on to. The VDH is a competent brush, but it is simply outclassed by the Omega and Semogue boar offerings.

I now you planned on sticking with Burts bay rum soap, but I would honestly recommend trying a different soap. In my experience, burt's doesn't have the kind of "slip" I like in a shave soap for use with a straight. While I am sure it gets along fine with a cartridge, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by some other makes of soap. Honeybee Spa is a winner for me in the great soap for the price contest. Lots of good scents and great slip.


Welcome to SRP!

I prefer my Omega Syntex to any boar or badger brush.

Somehow lather tends to degenerate sooner with the use of natural hair.
I create lather on my face and massage it into the skin if you like. Natural hairs do tend to make the lather go runny after a couple of minutes.

thanks a lot for the replies.. i suppose i'd be just fine sticking with the same brush i have.. for some reason i want a whole new start... i watched a video on youtube with claimed synthetic brushes have the absorbency of badger with the stiffness of boar.. does this sound off?.. it was a mantic59 video on the basics of brushes.

They have had synthetics at least from the 1950s. My father had a nylon one and it was terrible. They have improved them markedly these days. Like everything else there is something for everybody.

so i've spent all day thinking about brushes.. i think it's something i'd like to purchase in person.. any members from the los angeles area who may know of a good haberdashery?

I find myself reaching for my boar everytime now. Semogue and Omega both make excellent boar brushes and I like the way they work with soaps. For creams I still use a badger

GoldenNib has 23mm nylon knots I think work very awesomely.

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Originally Posted by Ookla

I now you planned on sticking with Burts bay rum soap, but I would honestly recommend trying a different soap. In my experience, burt's doesn't have the kind of "slip" I like in a shave soap for use with a straight. While I am sure it gets along fine with a cartridge, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by some other makes of soap. Honeybee Spa is a winner for me in the great soap for the price contest. Lots of good scents and great slip.

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have you used it since it was reformulated?.. it's glycerin based now.

There are some excellent synthetics out there. I use a "jack Black". It cost about $85.00(yep). The shaft is stiff and the tips are very soft. I prefer it to the badgers. That's me. I like scrubby and soft at the same time. Most of the badgers are too "moppy" and "floppy for me. In regard to holding water..., I see no advantage to that. It generates tremendous lather and feels absolutely luxurious on my face.

I absolutely love my synthetic! I own three very nice, expensive badgers. I bring one out every once in a while just because I have them, then I'm back to my synthetic, which I absolutely love.

Regards,

Steve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vthomlinson

so i've spent all day thinking about brushes.. i think it's something i'd like to purchase in person.. any members from the los angeles area who may know of a good haberdashery?

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I live out in Simi Valley. The best I've found anywhere close is in Glendale on Brand. It's called "Oh! U Beauty". Their selection of men's grooming stuff is growing by the day. They are also great people to work with. It's really nice to have a place where you can get a first hand look before you buy however, you may want to leave your credit cards at home and bring only a predetermined amount of cash with you as seeing all these things in person tends to really amp up your acquisition disorders ;)


Oh! U Beauty
130 N. Brand Blvd. in Glendale, CA

I am relatively new to straight shaving but have used a shaving brush for almost 40 years. I used badger until about 6 mos ago when I saw how inexpensive synthetic and boar brushes are. I've settled on using boar, but I tried a few Omega synthetics. They are OK but nothing special. As another poster said, they are good for travel because they dry completely in no time. You do have to re-wet them to make lather, because they don't hold as much water as boar and a lot less than badger. They are usable though. If you are looking mostly at home use and don't mind using animal products and don't want to spend a lot, you won't go wrong with an Omega or Semogue or Jaguar boar. The latter are incredible bargains, as is another Turkish product, Arko shave sticks.

Good luck.

Chip

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vthomlinson

have you used it since it was reformulated?.. it's glycerin based now.

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I think so. The pucks I have are about a year and a half old.

Nothing at all wrong with synthetic brushes. In fact, I have three. The reason is that I'm a vegan and do not use any animal products at all. I was also lucky enough to grab one of the final two non-leather strops that our friend from the heirloom strop company made for me. The big difference in synthetic brushes is that some are better than others especially if you're dealing with a bar of hard soap. You just need to spend a bit of time researching. I did because, as a vegan, I wanted the best for my buck. I don't skimp on straight razors, synthetic brushes or vegan strops.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vthomlinson

so i've spent all day thinking about brushes.. i think it's something i'd like to purchase in person.. any members from the los angeles area who may know of a good haberdashery?

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so i'm just going to buy a rooney synthetic and see how it works for me.. i have yet to find an actual review on it.. so i figure for 45 dollars.. i can at least try it and use it as a starting off point..

Hey VTomlinson,

Here's a review from badgerandblade that I used when I was reviewing different synthetic brushes. I copied most of the info in to a text file and am posting it here. Please note, this is not my review. The full review can be found on the aforementioned website. I just wanted you to understand what your choices are and this review definitely helped me.



review by hack

Synthetic/vegan brush shootout: Omega, Rooney, men-u, Muehle - Badger & Blade

Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 66
Post Synthetic/vegan brush shootout: Omega, Rooney, men-u, Muehle
As promised in an earlier thread, here is my report comparing the four synthetic/vegan-friendly brushes I’ve located and purchased. I’ll be referencing a standard intro-level Surrey-style boar-bristle brush for a few reasons: first because it’s widely available; second, because I imagine a lot of folks here have used one of them at some point and are thus familiar with it; and third because it’s one of the few non-synthetics I have wide experience with. I’ve tested the brushes below with a variety of soaps and creams.


The four synthetics in question are, from left to right in the picture:

1) The Omega Black & Clear Synthetic Bristle Shaving Brush (also available in Red & Clear) , ~ $12.95

2) The Rooney Synthetic Shave Brush (white pictured; also available in black), ~ $45.95

3) The men-u Premier Shaving Brush (black pictured; also available in white, blue, and red), ~ $53.99; and

4) The Muehle Vegan Shaving Brush (model # 33K257; Muehle also makes another one, the slightly less expensive # 31A824, that I don’t have and didn’t test, and there may be still another one), ~ $42.23.

In preparing this report I also discovered that The Body Shop also markets an $8.00 synthetic brush, on which I have no testing data.

The first thing I should note is that, as is the case with natural bristle brushes, the synthetics vary widely in personality. A synthetic is not a synthetic is not a synthetic. That being said, what are the personalities of these four brushes?

The two most distinctive brushes are the Omega and the Rooney. The Omega is by far the softest, as well as by far the least springy. In these respects it is least like a traditional, natural-bristle shaving brush as I’ve experienced them. It’s so soft, in fact, that it’s a bit difficult to work up a good soap lather with, although with cream this is no problem. If you really want to take it easy on your face, as may be the case with sunburn, windburn, etc., this brush paired with a good cream would be an interesting experience. I kind of like it, even though it is very different.

The Rooney is on the other end of the spectrum. It is the smallest overall of the four brushes I tested, and the knot is also the smallest and tightest, with the smallest surface area of the slate. The bristles, moreover, while very soft, are also very stiff—far stiffer than the other three synthetics and considerably stiffer than my boar bristle, as well as the one badger I’ve tried out. Almost no bloom here, unlike the other contenders. No problem building a good soap lather with this brush! Plus, the stiffness will really get your beard to stand up.

That leaves the men-u and the Muehle as the more middle-of-the-road brushes. Just as they have a very different character than the Omega and the Rooney, so, too, they are rather similar to each other and to a “typical” badger (as opposed to a boar). The men-u is both softer and less springy than the Muehle; it’s not as soft as the Rooney, and still nowhere near the Omega. The Muehle, in terms of softness, springiness, and even overall weight rather closely approximates my Surrey boar, though it is still somewhat softer and more flexible (the me-u is much lighter than the others).

Softness, 1 to 5 scale (5 being the softest):

Omega—5

Rooney—3

Men-u—2.5

Muehle—2


Stiffness, A to E scale (E being the stiffest):

Omega—A

Men-u—B

Muehle—C

Rooney—E


Subjectively, I find I’m using the men-u the most, followed by the Muehle. The Rooney is a bit too stiff for my taste, along with too small a surface area, though I prefer it with harder and less lathery soaps.

And there you have it. Happy shaving!

hack

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vthomlinson

so i'm just going to buy a rooney synthetic and see how it works for me.. i have yet to find an actual review on it.. so i figure for 45 dollars.. i can at least try it and use it as a starting off point..

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If the synthetic brush works for you, then don't replace it.

I have a great performing Vulfix super badger brush and as much as I like to be critical of my tools, this thing delivers in all catergories. I am really impressed with its performance for its price.

Pabster