Thread: Non-China badger brushes?

Have you considered horse hair brushes?

I don't have any, so I'm speaking based on what I read.
There are (at least) one brush maker in Spain and one in Turquey.

Horse hair brushes are supposed to be in between badger hair and boar hair brushes on many levels (stiffness, backbone......)


christophe

Originally Posted by PenSword

For personal reasons, I avoid buying animal products from China. I've been using a synthetic brush with reasonable success given my soap (MWF) but the brush has the half-life of about 30 minutes.... already needing another one as bristles seem to rain from it.

I use a scuttle in case it bares worth mentioning.

Can anyone recommend a good badger brush that is not made or sourced from China please? I've tried google but have not been successful.

Kim Son brushes claim to use badger hair sourced from India. In talking to Kim Son Vu, the owner's son, he seems to really, REALLY dislike Chinese products, so while I believe him, I've not seen any documentation or anything. I did a tradekey search and did find a few Indian badger brush suppliers, so it's not unreasonable.

I've tested two of them and they are fine brushes.

I get some fine shaves with boar brushes, Semogue, out of Spain, to be precise. No idea where they source the bristle from. I still like my badgers but the boars are fine too, and a heck of a lot cheaper.

Badgers are scarce in may parts of the world, they are protected in the US and UK. In China they are so plentiful they are considered a nuisance animal, kind of like groudhogs in the US.

Originally Posted by Theseus

Try some Godrej shave cream with the MWF. It is a lanolin shave cream and only costs about $5 a tube. Has a light talc scent to it.

Do you put the cream in the scuttle and then mix it up with a soap loaded brush or apply the cream to your face first and then use the loaded brush? Does the cream wash off the brush easily?

Originally Posted by PenSword

Do you put the cream in the scuttle and then mix it up with a soap loaded brush or apply the cream to your face first and then use the loaded brush? Does the cream wash off the brush easily?

Put the cream in the scuttle, load your brush with the soap and lather away. You can even add a few drops of glycerine to the mix to get what is called uber lather. The cream will easily wash out of the brush like any shave soap or crem would.

If the killing of the animal is your issue and you want a natural bristle brush Horse Hair is the way to go for you. The Horse Hair brushes are made from trimming either the mane hair or tail hair. I know from a couple emails I have had with Vie Long their horse hair brush are all from the mane hair. I have two of their brushes and they are some of my favorites to use.

Originally Posted by Castel33

If the killing of the animal is your issue and you want a natural bristle brush Horse Hair is the way to go for you. The Horse Hair brushes are made from trimming either the mane hair or tail hair. I know from a couple emails I have had with Vie Long their horse hair brush are all from the mane hair. I have two of their brushes and they are some of my favorites to use.

It's not the killing of an animal - I eat meat, I hunt, I wear/use leather products. I just know that in China animal treatment is barbaric and the means with which animals are skinned are the stuff of nightmares (alive). I don't want to get all high and mighty, it's just that I believe there are some things not worth endorsing or supporting with my money once I discovered more about the process.

I want to thank everyone for their responses and helpfulness. I've decided to go with the Men-U Premium synthetic brush and will use a cream to compliment the MWF and ditch the Lanolin. Will report on how it all works out.

Thanks again guys, great forum!

From what I have been told all badger and a majority of boar is originally sourced from China. I would say that your only real choices are a higher quality synthetic or a horse. I would recommend horse as I love it, but it does take a little longer to get in the US.

In addition to the horse brushes, many of the higher end brushes from vie-long are from European sources.