You guys and gals having fun with the Theme Weeks? I sure hope so. This week is devoted to the Synthetic Brush. If you have one (or more), tell us about it (or them). Show it (or them) off with a pic (or two). Personally I (and many others) don't own a (or any) synthetic brush(es). Not sure if I (or we) want one (or even two). Use this week (and future posts) to try and convince me (us) what I'm (we're) missing out on and why I (we) need one (at least)! Who knows? Maybe there will be a new brush (or more) in my (our) future. Have fun and happy shaves!!!
I still have my Body Shop synthetic somewhere. It was a Christmas present several years ago. I might break it out for a day or two at least.
Synthetics? Oh Yeah, Baby! For me, every week is a Synthetic Brush Week! My shave brush collection & rotation consists of an awesome Mühle Trio, all of them of the synthetic variety. And all are loaded with the same: Silver Tip Fibre. My go-to brush since May 2011 is the one I mention most in my SoS posts: the 21mm Mühle Basic Nr. 02, the handle is horn imitate with a nickel-plated brass base. My Mühle travel shave brush (also since May 2011) is made of solid brass and nickel-plated and also loaded with the 21mm Silver Tip Fibre head. My latest acquisition is the 19mm Mühle Classic with the plain horn imitate handle I love all of them, particularly the combination of relatively flexible tips with a solid backbone in the fibre. The small one does feel a wee bit stiffer (shorter bristles) and is great for face lathering but so is the 21mm one which is, without a doubt, my favourite one. What I really like about them is the ease of care and maintenance as well as their lathering capabilities. Have tried many others and those came and went. The Silver Tip Fibre brushes stayed.
I have a Muhle STF 23mm. Its my travel brush and today is the first time I am traveling with it. Works up a good lather, dries incredibly fast. I'll take a picture when I get to my destination. Sitting in the boarding area. Don't want to impress everyone around me by whipping out this awesome brush.
I'm using my synthetic almost everyday, it's a nice one from 'Rituals' The rest of the shave: as a preshave shavegel from 'de Tuinen' Soap MWF Blade Feather (3) Razor Gillette Slim Adjustable (3) Alum Witchhazel splash Aftershave Arko Cool
Restored Ever-Ready handle w/TGN 22 mm synthetic knot. I really like the knot. Super soft and bowl lathers well but has plenty of backbone for face lathering too. OC Parker razor Astra SP blade MWF soap Alum Witch Hazel B&BW "Oak" aftershave
Mike, The TGN knot is the same one as the Frank Shaving knot. There are many other makers using this same knot as well. Great performing knot.
Well, today in honor of synthetic week, I decided to use my Bottle Cap Brush. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/bottle-cap-revisited.31278/
Traveling again so... Albright handle w/TGN 20mm synthetic knot (A restoration.......one of the two synthetics that I have. My dad has a third Victoria brush resto with a 22mm synthetic knot that he says is too beautiful to use ) Nice face lather with Arko Personna/ASR "Star" razor Super Iridium blade alum cold water rinse Neutrogena Men Triple Protect Face Lotion Chrome AS
Back to the restored Ever-Ready handle w/TGN 22 mm synthetic knot for a nice bowl lather. Fat handled Tech Astra blade Tabac alum witch hazel splash ...and ready for bed!
HERE ARE ALL MY SYNTHETIC BRUSHES I have photographed the brushes in order of preference starting with my favorite brush on the left. I like the three brushes on the left side of the yellow line but I will be getting rid of the two brushes on the right. Here is a basic description of the brushes (from best to worst). H.I.S - This is my best synthetic brush. It has very tiny fibers and is very soft. It is the best at producing a nice thick lather. It is very efficient and can produce more lather for a given amount of product when compared with a badger brush. Decent price. Muhle (21 mm) - This is also quite a good brush although I find it to be a tiny bit prickly. Doesn't lather as well as the H.I.S. Reasonable price. Strangely this synthetic brush seems to require more product than a badger brush. Frank Shaving (24 mm) - A very good synthetic brush for the price. Works well and would be an excellent choice for a travel brush. Taylors of Old Bond Street - Way to soft to be useful. Once wet, all the bristles wick together and it is hard to get them to spread out again when trying to lather. This brush is far too expensive for what you get. Not a very useful brush. Franks Shaving (28 mm) - I thought that because the 24 mm Frank synthetic was such a good brush, this big bruiser might be even better. Wrong! This brush is terrible. Considering the size of the fibers, the loft of the brush is way to short. This brush is so stiff that it doesn't even work. However, if a future version is made with longer bristles, it could be a winner. Almost useless in its present format. Synthetic brushes are weird. They have some good points but some bad points too... Good points: They are tough and can take a real beating. No need to pre-soak. They can be ridden hard and put away wet. Good choice for a travel brush. They dry very quickly. Not overly expensive. Economically efficient use of product. Lather well. Bad points: They quickly wick up a lot of water which gets concentrated in the breach of the brush. Vigorous face lathering will then release all this water which will run down all over your face. Very annoying. When wet, the bristles tend to contract and bunch together making it even more difficult to get the bristles to spread out over your face. You end up either: (1) pushing down very hard to get the bristles to spread out; or (2) "dragging" the brush around your face in overly large circles. That is, your hand will be making very large circles, but the brush tips which are all dragging behind the brush handle will be making small circles. They can be expensive with the price easily exceeding the performance. The TOBS brush is a good example. High price, poor performance. The synthetics can't seem to hold onto their lather very well and love flinging it all over the bathroom. If you are keen to try a synthetic, the cheap Frank Shaving (24 mm) would be a good choice. If you don't mind spending a bit more cash, then I would recommend the H.I.S. Keep in mind though that as good as these brushes are, they are no where near as good as the time tested badgers. Even my cheap Frank Shaving Finest Badger blows all of these synthetic brushes out of the lather bowl. Happy Shaving, Lyndon
I never did get to upload the photograph of my synthetics last week... Oh well, here an older photo from my first 2 mentioned above - the Basic Nr. 02 and the Travel brush. Missing is the 19mm Classic which I keep at my work shave den.
