Faster lathering brush

I got a little cheapy 5dollar boar brush and am new to the art but it takes about 3 or 4 mins of brushing to get a halfway decent lather using vdh soap. Is there a type of hair that produces better? I'd like to find one under 25-30 bucs

Without knowing your exact brush, I would start the other way around.
A better soap might just prove your brush to be better than you think:)

There are many soaps and creams out there that out-performs that vdh puck by a mile and a half.
Something like a puck of Mitchell's wool fat for instance.

It's a vdh brush starter kit for like 10.00 at cvs

You get what you pay for.

Look at omega brushes and vie long brushes for that price range.

The vdh brushes do get better with use and time if you want stick it out.

Birnando raises a great point. I love my Semogue 620 boar. Cheap, great backbone, needs a break-in period but is amazing once you get there.

I purchased the VDH starter kit while on vacation and found it worked quite well.

perhaps not the brush or soap but the water. Some soaps really do not do well if the water temperature is above 120F or below 95F. also the lathering properties are related to water hardness. if your regular hand soap and shampoo lather really well you can rule out the hardness factor.

try softening the puck with some warm water before trying to make a lather. i just would set the warm,wet brush on the puck or a few minutes then shake the brush a little in the sink and try to make the lather.

let us know how that works.

enjoy,
jim

I bought the VDH kit as a Travel kit a few years back also, I tossed the soap :ziplip:

The rest of the Kit stays at my Sister's place in Colorado so I never have to pack a shave kit, I have left a Mama Bear's Shave stick there because it doesn't lather so great with my well water.. I guess what you should take away from this post is that different things work differently for different people LOL or YMMV...

When I am in Colorado that VDH Brush and and the MB soap work just great, when I tried it here at home neither worked all that good, the brush does get better with age :)

I have a Simpson B4. While not being extremely soft. Was pretty cheap and makes a good lather. Superior Shave have some other simpson brushes that are cheaper (But it does depend on your definition of cheaper) and are pretty nice.

I would suggest getting an Omega or Semogue boar brush, both are right under the 30 dollar range and excellent performers. Toss away your VDH soap and buy a decent soap for under 10 bucks, keep the VDH bowl though.

Muhle silvertip fibre is for me the fastest brush for have a huge lather, bowl or face lather ;)