Thread: Any Japanese shaving brushes?

With their fine razors, blades, hones, and strops, I'm wondering whether Japan also produces fine shaving brushes (or soaps or creams, for that matter).

Has anybody encountered or used a Japanese shaving brush, or have I just not noticed any mentions?

being an artist club user.. i wanted to find the same.. it seems to me as if everyone in japan uses non lathering brushless shave creams which have had nothing but negative revues..

granted.. i gave up search after a few days.. perhaps there is some mythical samurai style brushmaker out there somewhere..

I wish. The only brush I've seen produced in Japan is a mix of goat hair and "water badger" hair and it looks cheap, cheap cheap. There are no good soaps in my experience, either.

At all the shops I've seen selling this type of stuff, they have some German boar brushes and Plisson silvertips, that's about it.

The old guys I talked to said that back in the day, everyone just used water.

the only thing I have seen that looked like a shaving brush was made out of bamboo and used in the Japanese tea ceremony.

They certainly do things differently over there as evidenced by their razors (among other things) so I'm not surprised they didn't use brushes.

I was at a trade show a few months ago and there was one vendor who was a brush maker (not shaving brushes though) who had a selection of shaving brushes he had sourced from somewhere else in Japan.

There were 3 or 4 different 'types', one was horse hair, another was goat horse mix and the last was a 100% 'Tanuki' or racoon hair. That one was around $100 bucks.

I asked a number of questions but beccause he hand't made them himself he didn't really know a lot, other than the type of hair.

There is a Boar brush made by Sou Akada that can be used for shaving and is marketed as such in some shops. But the brush's initial design was for women to whip up a lather to wash their face and body with. They are nice looking handles, but the few I have acctually handled have had some super thick boar hair, and in some cases the hair was upside down with the super thick bristle base up near the top of the loft. No thanks.

Originally Posted by JimR

The old guys I talked to said that back in the day, everyone just used water.

Interesting, thanks Jim.

the thought of touching my artist club to my face while only using water as a lubricant really scares the hell out of me.. i guess i just don't have the bushido mentality or something.

Originally Posted by vthomlinson

the thought of touching my artist club to my face while only using water as a lubricant really scares the hell out of me.. i guess i just don't have the bushido mentality or something.

You're such a girly man you are.

i require a nice almond or lavender scent in the least.. geez..