Thread: hair grades and lather

I am increasingly intrigued by what seems to be a somewhat hidden, or little appreciated, paradox: the denser the brush, especially with ultra-fine hair grades, the worse the brush is at producing lather. As best I can determine, this is because a brush needs a decent amount of space between the follicles in order for the soap, water, and air to work together to produce a good foam. And in the ultra-fine brushes -- e.g., a silver-tip, with extra density -- the hairs are so tightly packed there's just not much room left for the lather (maybe this is why the lather in a Chubby Super, for example, feeling trapped, seems to squirt downward toward the handle instead of forward toward your face).

Assuming this is true, or at least a common experience for other shavers, I am wondering if anyone has quantified the hair thicknesses of the various grades. Boar bristles and horse hair are obviously thick, leaving ample lathering space, and maybe that is why they have such a following. But what about the badgers? Would it be fair to say that pure Badger hair is thickest (and thus leaves most room inside the knot, even when somewhat densely packed)? Might Simpson's "Best" (or others' "Finest") be next, followed by 2-band silver tips, with the thinnest of all being the Silvertips (a.k.a. "Super" in Simpson-land)?

And if the above is true, what does this say about the advisability (or inadvisability) of getting any dense silver tip, assuming one cares about easy and prolific lather? Wouldn't most shavers be better off with a medium grade badger at average density? After all, aren't there plenty of ways to gain backbone without stuffing a brush to the gills?

New to SRP, and curious...

Play with the size of your lathering bowl.
I have a monster brush and found that I needed
a much larger bowl. Also try building a lather
on your palm or face.

I think your overall observations are correct. Silvertips are very soft. But, they do tend to hold onto lather tenaciously! Adding a little more water sometimes helps. When I use my silvertips, a time or two during the shave, I will squeegee the lather out of the brush into the bowl by scraping the sides of the knot on the side of the shave bowl or scuttle. Then, the brush is more an applicator of lather.

Interesting (and nicely written) post, and I have no answers for you. I can say this, that my wife bought me a cute little "travel" brush that fits in a little metal tube. It was great for traveling, easy to pack and take care of. Unfortunately, the bristles were so thick and short that it felt like lathering up with my toothbrush (I haven't actually tried lathering with my toothbrush, just assuming that is how it would be). I used it once. Does anyone need a cute little "travel" brush? This thing is ready to travel right out of my shave den.

Most standard silvertips tend to be on the floppy side and that mixed with thin fill I've found to be very disagreeable to me. The silvertips I have with very thick fill have no problem making tons of lather easily. I think the technique for making good lather changes along with the characteristics of the brush. Maybe that is where your inquiry should go. I don't think badgers in the wild have problems with differering parts of their bodies because the hair is so different from area to area. Of course I've never asked one.

I generally face lather. I find that my larger brushes, "hog" the lather, the smaller brushes seem to ""give up the lather" better. I assumed this was a function of size rather than density. It could of course mean that I just need to make a lot more lather with the larger brushes.

Originally Posted by easyace

I generally face lather. I find that my larger brushes, "hog" the lather, the smaller brushes seem to ""give up the lather" better. I assumed this was a function of size rather than density. It could of course mean that I just need to make a lot more lather with the larger brushes.

As a brush maker, with lots of brushes of different types, I think that you are basically correct in saying that the large dense brushes tend to hold on to the lather more. However, they are also the best at making a great lather. One loading (from a hard soap) will be more than enough for three latherings and a three pass shave. You just have to find a way of making it give up that luscious lather easily. Answer.... give the brush a gentle squeeze, and then paint on a very thick dollop of lather. With a thinly packed soft brush I often have to re-load.

With my thick dense extra silvertip brush (26mm), this is commonly how much is left after I have finished a three pass shave.



Rod

Thanks, everyone. Great answers. I am still wondering whether anyone knows, or has ever compared, the size of the hair follicles on the different grades of bader hair. The larger the follicles, the more space there would have to be for lather to build, just based on simple physics. And I'm guessing this would have to make lather production easier in the larger hair brushes, no matter how much one may love the feel of the finer hair grades Thoughts, anyone?