Printable View
What's the best shaving brush in the whole wide world?
Notice I didn't say the most expensive or any one critter or any critter at all.
We all want to know what specific brush we should have on our radar for the next purchase so go ahead and spill the beans and tell us why.
I'm surprised no one has posted here. A little disappointed too, cause I have been wanting a new one for a while and was hoping for some input.
But then I went to visit Lynn and I found my new favorite brush. Granted, I don't have much experience with brushes, but I did talk with Lynn about what we each like in brushes (we seem to have similar preferences - soft and good backbone is what I'm after) and I tried some of Lynn's favorites from his own collection. I have found my new favorite brush.
I don't remember which one it is, but it's either the Thater Chubby I or Chubby II (just different sizes as far as I can tell). I love it because it's got great backbone and yet is very soft. This brush does both together better than any other brush. I'm going to get one as soon as I can.
Limited experience on this, compared to many, but I've got a mid size Plisson European White that gets a lot of use. I can recommend them, though there's better value out there.
My other favourite has been my Dan Capshaw. Harder to get hold of, but a silvertip with a high density & plenty of body. Mine's a huge brush!
I've bought a lot of expensive brushes. Sold a lot too. I've discovered that, in my experience, I enjoyed lathering with two-band badger the best. I found it gave me a better prep faster. After trying quite a few brushes, nothing beats my Rooney finest. The combination of backbone and density isn't for everyone, but it loads soap astonishingly fast and give a supremely pleasurable facial massage.
If I could have only 1 brush, my choice would be a 2-band Simpson Chubby 2.
I have a Kent BK4. It's a nice brush for creams and soaps, but it lacks the backbone I wanted. It's just to floppy.
Now I have a Shavemac custom with Finest badger hair with al lot of backbone and still soft enough on the face. After I bought this brush I never looked for another brush. It's great with soaps and creams and not floppy at all when wet.
A tossup between a Somerset Simpson Polo 8 Super, Rooney Finest style one size one and a Plisson HMW 14. All two band and all scritchy on my particular skin.
The best shaving brush? I don't know, but for a bit of fun I can point you in the direction of someone who's made a concerted effort to find out:
Fido's Shaving Brush Blog
Since he's a member here, perhaps I'll be able to flush him out to tell us what he concluded. For the precious little it's worth, my choice is a Golden Nib best badger knot set with a fairly short loft.
I recently changed from a store bought cheep bristle one, that i had for years, to a new Chinese supplied badger brush.
The badger is such a brilliant brush its like night and day. It lathers up so quickly and easily produces long lasting suds and best of all it was within my meagre budget. I love it ! :)
ian
'Best in the world"?
Can't say because I've not used every brush in the world. ;)
I have a few that I tend to gravitate toward however.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5041/shavemac.jpg
26mm Shavemac 177 & 26mm Shavemac 436
http://www.nehp.net/~markbeem/Shaving/IMG_0532.JPG
Penworks 19mm 2-band finest
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/8229/essential.jpg
Badger & Blade Essential
That depends on what you define as good. If by good you mean a combination of craftsmanship, performance, and price, Thäter brushes can't be beat (certainly not by Shavemac or Plisson). Absolutely fabulous stuff.
Regards,
Robin
Yea I was waiting for someone to really start this tread going too.
Personally, I like the two band. I have a Rooney medium and a older Simpson Chubby 3 and a Plisson HMW size 14 and a Kent from the B&B buy and I'm waiting on a Thater Chubby (if it ever arrives). Though the Plisson is overall the best performer I don't think the performance increase is worth the very high price. The Rooney is overall, I think the best though as I understand they have trouble sourcing the stuff these days. There's nothing wrong with the Simpson its a fine brush too. The kent is plain silvertip and is scrubby only because its a small brush with very short loft.
Normal Silvertip I don't like because it is too floppy for me. Best badger is really the best price-performance choice. It has a little of everything however the choices in type and handles are limited.
That's an "old" Plisson, right? If you can, try a new one for comparison. You will be surprised, and I don't mean positively.
I couldn't choose a single brush, but I think my favorites are the three following brushes (not in order):
-Semogue LE 09 Boar brush: why? Great backbone, great lather, very dense, tips are firm and not velvety soft but are also not scritchy AT ALL (none of that annoying prickly feeling)
-Simpson "Ehsan", custom XL2 in 2 band: why? Great backbone, dense, soft tips that have zero prickliness. Lathers easily and doesn't hog lather as much as my Rooney 3/1 Finest or my Simpson PJ2 2 band.
-GoldenNib finest knots: why? Velvety soft tips when wet, but still great backbone. Really really nice knots.
For reference, I prefer soft tips (softer the better) with good backbone. Not killer amounts of backbone, but still a firm, small brush. Also for reference, I'm comparing these brushes to Semogue HD silvertip, Rooney 3/1 Finest, Rooney 1/1 Super, Plisson 2 band (size 16) and 3 band (size 12) HMW, Vulfix Pure (Conk's Full Volume brush), and Kent silvertip (B&B LE 08).
In a few days, I will try the Goldennib silvertip Grade A knot and post impressions of that hopefully.
One thing that has always been a necessity for me has been a badger that was firm so that I could use it for soaps and creams. Needless to say any Kent I have ever tried and my B&B brush that you could run over with a car hit the trash before the shave was completed as these proved to be very floppy, even paint brush floppy. I have a 28mm Shavemac and one from a group buy and these are both OK. I think I like bulb cut better than tulip cuts with regard to the brushes themselves. I have an older Simpson Chubby in a 28mm knot which was my favorite until I got the big Rooney finest. It still is one of my very favorite brushes and no knot that I have found is as densely packed. That said I truly enjoy my newer Simpson Polo 8 two band. Of the Plisson, and considering the cost, I actually like the European White better than the High Mountain White. Most recently I have tried the Thater that Robin recommended and this brush while have a very nice amount of firmness is the softest feeling brush against my face that I have tried to date. I ended up buying a second. These are great brushes.
Lynn
I facelather soap 99% of the time. I like a brush with backbone, and a scrubby, not scritchy (if that makes sense) feeling on my face. Tips not too soft.
Of those I have, #1 would be the Rooney 2/1 finest. A Somerset two-band Tulip 2 is a close second.
I'd like to try a bigger Rooney though, if and when they become available. And yes, I am intrigued by the Thater.
In my opinion the best shaving brush in the whole wide world is Rooney Finest in style 2.
I love my omega boar. It's simple and cheap but it works like a champ for soaps and face lathering.
IIRC, Chubby II, 24mm. Those Thater silvertips are FANTASTIC!! Heinrich L. Thäter - Rasierpinsel Kugel II "Chubby", Clear The Different Scent:Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
I don't know the BEST brush, since I've only used a VDH Boar brush, but I love it and am in no hurry to try anything else until I have money to burn.
I checked out that THater site but my german is not up to snuff is there a way to change it to english??Quote:
Originally Posted by ShavedZombie
There is not. Thäter are a small manufacturer, and their market appears to be mainland Europe, and Germany in particular. As always, Google Translate will help. And who knows, maybe they'll become available in the States shortly...Quote:
Originally Posted by nessmuck
how much US. are the brushes? would they ship to the US.?Quote:
Originally Posted by BeBerlin
Well, I'm awaiting delivery on one right now and it didn't go smoothly because of the German only, however we finally got things sorted out.
Shipping is expensive but I guess Thedifferentscent is the main retailer for them. You can navigate and get to the brushes they have quite a selection and the prices are listed in euros. You can e-mail them and they do have some english ability-actually pretty good.