I use very hot water in a coffee mug and a nice squirt of conditioner and swirl and mush...... and let it sit for an hour or so. The longer the better I guess but no ill effects to the brush.
Tried soaking that brush and it is just a piece. I think I am only going to keep it in the event I want to try and replace the knot. All the bristles go in opposite directions and it will not lather without shooting globs of soap everywhere. Guess I'll just stick to the others.
Does this thing ever dry? 12 hours and it's still wet. The base of the knot is still damp 24 hrs later, every day.
Mine dries quickly. I squeeze it out first, then shake it out and then fluff it on the towel I'm using. Then I put it away. It is nice and dry for the next use. Are you storing it in a humid location?
Out in the open in the bathroom I use it in. On days like this it shouldn't be all that humid by the middle of the day or evening.
Boar brushes absorb more water into the actual hairs than badger (badger keeps the hair BETWEEN the hair). They do, in fact, take forever to dry out. I keep mine in an open jar with silica gel dessicant packets to help it dry out.
Someone at SMF I believe did an extensive study on the subject b/c he was very bored and had a micro scale. Bottom line...no difference. I hang my upside down but thats the way it looks best in the holder. He measured the same brush like 20 times and the results were miniscule.
I love the little "science" projects we create for ourselves. I've conducted a few myself. As to the green VDH brush the beauty is Shawn they're damn near disposable at 5 bucks a pop or whatever they are. Use it for a month and get a new one. I've never owned the VDH but did use a boar for 12 years or so before buying the Rooney. The boar was some pretty acrylic handled thing I picked up at a tobacco shop in Dallas. Couldn't begin to tell you the manufacturer. After 12 years it had lost 3/4 of it's hair but still worked. It was a fine brush but I gotta say I prefer super badger to the boar. (However I prefer the boar to pure badger.)
That's very true, I was surprised when I first got my Tweezerman and held it under water and it looked like water was running off it like off a ducks back. The hair didn't seem to be absorbing any water and I wondered how that was going to work and why I'd always heard that badger holds more water. It does hold the water, just as you say between the hairs not by absorbing it which boar does. As to drying the brush out, I just stand mine up on a shelf after shaking it out well. I used to stand it in my bathroom window above my sink that has a recess and a shelf where I keep my shaving stuff but then I read somewhere that direct sunlight was not good for the brush so I now stand it on the other shelf which does not receive sunlight.
Old Spice Guy- How do you like the Tweezer Man? I just heard someone say this weekend that they found a grocery store in the area that sells them.
My feelings are kind of mixed on the Tweezerman. I wouldn't want to turn off someone else from trying it because many do like it and it's about the cheapest way possible to try out a badger if you've never had one. First of all it's a very small brush and I have large hands. I thought the VDH boar brush was small until I got the Tweezerman, the VDH has a 27mm knot, the TM has a 22mm knot and is shorter. The handle is 50mm high and the base only 34mm in diameter. Other than the small size my main complaint is the prickly feeling I get using this brush. Maybe I have sensitive skin I don't know but I don't get that with my boar brushes. It's like having a little tiny porcupine attacking my face. But the brush does have positives, it really lathers well for such a little brush and has not lost a hair on my face while lathering yet and I've used it about five or six times. It did have a slight "wet dog" odor when I first took it out of the box but after washing it a couple times with shampoo it pretty much disappeared and after just a couple of shaves the bad odor was completely gone and now it has a nice "barber shop" smell to it resulting from the shave soap I use. I got my TM from ebay for $15 counting shipping, so if you can get one locally from a store for a good price I wouldn't hesitate to give it a try if I were you. My experience may not be yours at all, I know a lot of folks love this little brush and if it doesn't work out as an everyday brush for you maybe you can use it for a travel kit brush or something. If you haven't yet tried a badger it's an inexpensive way to do so.
You're welcome. I used the TM again this morning and for whatever reason the "prickly" feeling it was giving me seems to be diminishing with each successive shave and the little booger does make a whopping amount of lather for such a small brush. My hand is sort of getting used to its small size too. If you can pick one up locally I'd say go for it and if you do be sure and let us know how it works out for you. I'm not a newbie to wetshaving but am sort of a newbie when it comes to trying different brushes out, especially badger so take that into account with anything I say, most everyone here knows more about brushes than I do.
I have an old ever-ready pure badger that I like. I think the problem is my soap really. I will recommend the TM to some friends I have who want to try wet shaving.
About the Tweezerman- you say it's small. I haven't found any dimensions for it. 22mm knot should be big enough for my first Badger brush, I guess. Can anyone tell me- How tall is it?
Thanks, Old Spice Guy. Ya know, ~35 or so years ago I had an Old Spice mug. Long gone now though. That should be tall enough, & I suspect it'll get less "prickly" with use. Now if I can find ~$12 worth of other stuff sold by Amazon that I just gotta have...
I got mine on ebay for $15 total, counting shipping. Some of those vendors on Amazon wanted $7 alone just for shipping and I wasn't looking to buy more stuff that would qualify me for a discount or free shipping. The TM is well worth $15. My first complaint was about the small 22mm knot but that was before I used it a few times enough to see how the badger works differently from the boars I'm used to. It splays out nicely on my face and whips up a whopping thick lather for its size. It's more the overall smallish size in my big hands that took some getting used to. I'm not sorry I bought it but will pay more attention to details like size of the handle in the future.
