What are some of your favorite brushes? Brand and bristle? Why did you choose that brush as your favorite? This is just an opinion poll is all.
I haven't used too many but I purchased a Shavemac brush (which I can't remember the model but it's been discontinued so far as I know). It's been the best out of all of the ones I've used. I would get another Shavemac if I ever needed another brush.
Right now, I have six brushes. There is no rhyme or reason why I have them, other than perhaps I was trying to have a representation from each brush hair type available. My philosophy so far is that if i have an item in my fleet, it shall be used in rotation. Currently, my preference for them is in this order: 1) No Name Generic Horse Hair - It whips up soap and cream very well, and for $4.00 shipped all the way from Turkey, it is easily the cheapest brush in my fleet. 2) The Body Shop Synthetic - I think that synthetic brushes are a love / hate thing, and some people look down upon them with pure snobbery, but this brush tears up soap and cream like nobody's business and it is quick drying. 3) Omega Pro Boar - This brush is freaking huge, 6 or 7 inches long I think. It does equally well on cream and soap, plus its long handle reaches deep into the Redneck Scuttle. 4) A.O.S. Badger - I was disappointed in its small size at first, and even though it is a little floppy to use with hard soap, it whips up cream very well. 5) Sabi Badger - it is scritchy as all get out, but is works very well. 6) VDH Boar - I don't give this brush as much love as I used to, the horse brush took its place, but it is a good 'ole brush and it does not shed too bad, so I must have gotten a good one. I have a re-knotted ceramic handle brush coming from Larry over at Whipped Dog Straights. It has an old wooden three mast ship on it. he is putting a 24mm Badger knot in it, so perhaps it will become my new favorite brush for awhile...until I find another brush to love on anyway.
Was an omega boar man but I've recently switched over to creams instead of soaps and can't get the boar to perform as well as badger so now I'm a badger man.
Omega 10029 Baby-Pro Boar What can I say? Just an absolute work horse of a brush, Hasn't shed a hair since I got it months ago...Very small brush, very big lather. Holds more than enough lather for a 3 pass shave. And keeps its form making it very accurate at putting the lather where you want it, without having to hold it by its bristles. And feels so good on my face. If you check out the SOTD Section, you can see what most people around here are using, and see some great photos.
AOS/Semogue LE 2009 A. Art of Shaving large silvertip: Great brush that is an absolute lather machine and softly smothers my face. This one is ebony and is a thing of beauty. B. Semogue #04 LE 2009 silvertip: Serious brush that works well with the soaps and sticks and has softness in the tips and backbone to spare. Whoever made this seriously knew what they were doing. It is made of real buffalo horn and is very unique as only 30 were made. C. Simpson PJ2 two band: Nice brush with stiff backbone and a bit rougher than the other silvertips.:happy096
A 6$ chinese pure badger, got it from the bay and it performs magic! Its quite stiff and has a long loft - but man does it make lather
I won't tell you my first and last names, but my middle name is "Cheap". Tweezerman badger and Omega boar, about even. Actually, I did buy several other brushes, and none of them are bad, but all were relatively inexpensive. I do kind of like my two re-knotted Ever-Ready brushes just because I reknotted them myself. They're kind of amateurish looking, though, seen close up.
Rooney 3/1 - soft, dense and works both soap and creams like crazy Vulfix 375S - very soft with great flow through. Works best with creams, soaps are not really a problem either, just a little more work
I got 2 favorites the other 5 brushes I could probably do without if I had too although for the price the 2 Omega's I got really can't be beat. The 2 favorites are Rooney 1/1 Heritage which I don't think needs any explanation why it is a great brush, and the other is quite opposite a Dovo Pearlex handmade silvertip brush it is easily 2x bigger then the Rooney in every regard and super floppy but it is also the softest brush by a very wide margin as well.
At this moment, it's the Jack Black Pure Performance Shave Brush with PureTech Bristles Let's see how long that is the case (which, I guess, depends how long I can keep my Brush AD under Control...)
Have three in rotation and I like them all. It just depends on my mood as to which one I grab. Omega 10005, MYCarver Custom Chubby, and a Simpson Beaufort B1. Out of the 3, the Simpson is my least favorite. The pure hair is still a bit scritchy. It's worlds better then when I first got it and if I soak it before hand, then most of the scritchiness of pure badger goes away. It is perfect for face lathering with a shave stick. The MYCarver handle is knotted with a TGN 24mm finest at just under 50mm of loft. It's a big brush that doesn't work well with face lathering a shave stick, but rips up both soaps and creams. It uses a lot of product, but holds enough lather for at least 6 passes. I normally use it on the weekends, when I have some extra time to enjoy my shave. The humble Omega 10005 is a $10 boar brush with a Beech wood handle. I really like this knot and have been using it more and more. It is breaking in nicely with some really soft tips. I find myself reaching for this brush more often and it gets better each time I use it.
