Thread: My brush collection thus far...

Hi Everyone,

I have been enjoying the website and quietly reading up and slowly getting into straight razor shaving whilst also doing some fine DE shaving.

I just wanted to share the love and show you all my brush collection so far.

From left to right;
1. Heinrich L. Thater 4292/6 B 28mm Two Band Finest Silver Tip Fan,
2. Golden Nib 30mm Sivertip Grade A (not used yet),
3. Golden Nib 30mm Black Badger,
4. Vie-Long Horse Hair Shaving Brush 14831M,,
5. Omega 27mm Boar Knot (used a few times but yet to be fitted),
6. My father's old metal Boar Brush (sentimental, not used anymore).

I'm finding I like to use 2 brushes. One to prepare and one to face lather. For the first I rotate through (no. 3-5, & soon 2) depending on the amount of scrubbing i want (with Somersets, Pre-Face Scrub), rinse, condition, hot towel (sometimes), rinse and ALWAYS finish with shave cream and the presoaked warm Thater Brush. It's huge and it's the most awesome shaving brush I have tried yet...

Thanks for sharing, fine collection!

Nice collection there. How do you find the horse hair brush as compared to badger or boar if I may ask?

very nice collection

Nice, I love that Thater .... let me warn you .... SBAD is a slippery slope. Take it from someone who slipped ......

Hi all, thanks for your comments.

The Spanish Vie-Long horse hair brush is interesting to use. I haven't had a whole lot of use yet so it's still being broken in. How I am finding it now is that it is quite soft on the face, definitely less "scritchy" than the black badger but not as soft as the Thater. It has good backbone and works well as an intermediate brush between badger and boar. It still has quite a strong animal smell but that is gradually going with use. It has a different unique feel to the others because of the different hair type.
I really like the black badger from Golden Nib. It still has a soft touch but with good exfoliating action that is very different again to the coarseness of the boar knot. "scritchy" describes it well. It's like the brush has a combination of fine soft tips and coarser scratchier tips. Plus I love it's large size and the full black colour of the hair.
I'm looking forward to breaking in the #2 brush and seeing how it fits within the set up.

It is fun and interesting to collect different shaving brushes but I think i'm reaching my limit. I just wanted to have a good variety of hairs and feel in my brushes. Now I can concentrate more on perfecting the straight shaving part. But I'm still exploring a few more DE shaving set-ups as I slowly practice with the straights.

What other brush recommendations do you all feel would be worth investigating?

Originally Posted by MrSmoooth

What other brush recommendations do you all feel would be worth investigating?

I've got a Shavemac pure that I bought second hand. Short loft and a diminutive knot but if you like scritchy (I do) it is a great brush. I have a couple of Semogue (splng ?) boar brushes that I really like and would recommend. Not scritchy but relatively cheap and generate some nice lather.

Oh-Oh before you know it you'll be like that nut on that other forum who has over 100 brushes and can't stop buying more.

Luckily I don't have that problem.

Haha! Yeah you guys here have lots of brushes also!

I think I am pretty good in my collection at the moment, I have a high-end silver-tip badger, a dare I saw, "low-end" silvertip badger, a black pure badger, a horse-hair and a boar. I guess the only natural option next is a good synthetic?
Any recommendations?

BTW I tried the #2 brush above for the first time. Soaked and washed in shampoo and conditioner on my palm first. It was a new knot epoxied in after curing a couple of days. After working the conditioner by hand I noticed about 10-20 hairs loosely exdending out from the knot. I just tugged them out gently. It's a new know so I dont mind and expect a few hairs coming out at first. (NB: Not one Thater hair has fallen out)
It felt very nice on the face, soft and full. Not as soft as the Thater but better softer and smoother than all the other brushes. It held alot of water and was great for face-rinsing. Backbone held up pretty well and felt fine but definitely less than the Thater and Black Badger. I used it with a pre-face scrub and whilst being large and soft I could apply enough pressure to feel the most gentlest of scrubbing action. For it's large size I could narrow it down to a good small dense area of soft "scrubbiness" with some pressure.
On a personal note the scouped handle shape did not feel as nice initially as the rounded handle shape of the Thater and Black Badger handles. It fits nicely in the position of #2 brush in my line up above.
(BTW: Also had a great 3 pass shave with a Merker 39C loaded with a 2-day old feather)
Cheers.

Originally Posted by MrSmoooth

Hi all, thanks for your comments.

The Spanish Vie-Long horse hair brush is interesting to use. I haven't had a whole lot of use yet so it's still being broken in. How I am finding it now is that it is quite soft on the face, definitely less "scritchy" than the black badger but not as soft as the Thater. It has good backbone and works well as an intermediate brush between badger and boar. It still has quite a strong animal smell but that is gradually going with use. It has a different unique feel to the others because of the different hair type.
I really like the black badger from Golden Nib. It still has a soft touch but with good exfoliating action that is very different again to the coarseness of the boar knot. "scritchy" describes it well. It's like the brush has a combination of fine soft tips and coarser scratchier tips. Plus I love it's large size and the full black colour of the hair.
I'm looking forward to breaking in the #2 brush and seeing how it fits within the set up.

It is fun and interesting to collect different shaving brushes but I think i'm reaching my limit. I just wanted to have a good variety of hairs and feel in my brushes. Now I can concentrate more on perfecting the straight shaving part. But I'm still exploring a few more DE shaving set-ups as I slowly practice with the straights.

What other brush recommendations do you all feel would be worth investigating?

OK, question!
If your #2 GN Silvertip were a fan instead of a bulb whould it compare to about the same as the thater?