Originally Posted by
niftyshaving
Good post. In a long post you covered a couple points
that should be obvious. One is worth repeating:
The old axiom of buy the seller then the product is a wise one in this case.
I might add some...
First shop and compare. I think the result will be that as long as
exchange rates are stable a $100 brush from a quality vendor is about
equal to a different $100 brush. But a brush is a very personal
thing, it can be a simple work horse or a work of art.
Next a new shaver should practice, practice, practice with a brush and soap.
I recommend a very inexpensive brush and soap for practice. A CVS boar brush for $7 and a puck of Williams for $2 and a couple hours tinkering adding
soap and water: too little, too much, too soon, too hot, too cold,
tap water, bottled water, melted ice water (no scotch).... Then take
the "good stuff" down from the shelf and adjust and apply the lessons
learned.
I was astounded that with an afternoon of practice I could build a much
better lather with a boar brush than I had been able to to do the previous
morning with a fine badger brush. Then I found that my result with
the fine badger was oh so much improved. And today any brush on
my shelf builds a fine lather. So much is just practice....