My first brush: Yaqi Lucky Dice Tuxedo or Yaqi Tuxedo Sagrada familia?

[than_kk]

Hell everyone. I am new to wet shaving (2 and a half months in) and so far I have been using a cheap supermarket brush that I bought for about 3 euros. While the brush has served me well so far and I could feel the benefit of using a brush right from my first shave, I feel like it's time for me to up my brush game and get my first decent shaving brush.

I have narrowed it down to synthetic brushes for several reasons, and I am torn between these 2 Yaqi brushes. The first one, is the Yaqi Lucky Dice Tuxedo with a 26 mm knot, and the other one is the Yaqi Tuxedo Sagrada familia with a knot at 24 mm.

I just can't decide between the 2. While like the appearance of the Sagrada familia since it's a more classic-look brush, I can't neglect the 26 mm knot that comes with the Lucky Dice. I should note that I don't have a big face and I bowl lather my soap and creams in my small plastic Omega lathering bowl.

Do you have any experience using both brushes? Which one of the two would you recommend? Should factor in the knot size as well given my face and bowl size?

P.S. I have also considered the Simpson Tralfagar line. Although it's a little more expensive than I would like to spend on a brush at this point, if the quality difference is significant I would like to consider this option as well (either the T3, T2, or the T1). I would love to hear any recommendations. Thank you all in advance!

 

[albsat]

Personally I didn't enjoy the Sagrada handle.

 

[bubo_strix]

There are several fans of Yaqi here, and surely some who have both brushes and can share their experience but for my money I would rather support a company with more integrity. Yaqi’s copy cat tendencies leave a bad taste in my mouth. Simpson have been around a long time and their Trafalgar brushes are well loved.

 

[Ron R]

For myself who own both of those brushes I like them. If you like to scrub the Sagrada Familia will feel a little less firmer and the Lucky dice tuxedo will be slightly more firmer because there are more hairs even if loft is set higher on the 26mm knot. I like the 26mm knots Yaqi makes and now have 5 different ones and they give slightly different face feels that usually are more luxurious feeling or higher end + not lather hogs either IMO. Both are excellent lather painters like most synthetics are.

 

[ewk]

The Sagrada Familia was my very first brush in 2019, and I enjoyed it very much. I gave it away to get a colleague started. I missed it so much I replaced it to keep one in my rotation. I love the colors of the handle, and I like the performance of the synthetic knot. Good size, good performance, great value!

 

[Mike M]

The Lucky Dice is a good brush but I find it stiff so it doesn't get much use from me. The Trafalgar is a better brush but also a bit stiff and sometimes flings the lather about if you're not careful.
When it comes to Yaqi the Purple Haze, Purple Mink and Evil Zebra, they are softer and I find them much better particularly for face lathering. If you want to go with a different manufacturer maybe try RazoRock. I only have one, the Moka-Soft Beehive and I find that excellent. RazoRock has a number of brushes with very good reputations at quite cheap price points so they could be worth taking a look at.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Maybe you could broaden your list a little bit. The Yaqi 26mm brushes are really large, I prefer something a bit smaller. The Sagrada Familia has a nice knot, but is better suited to face lathering with the short handle.

I'd suggest looking at a brush like the Purple Haze with the 24mm Mew Brown knot (aka Synbad knot). The handle is a nice shape and size for bowl lathering. The knot is soft but has enough backbone to lather harder soaps. There are some other nice longer handles in the Yaqi line like the Red Marble or Mysterious Space. The longer handle will help you for bowl lathering.

 

[Jim in NZ]

Search "defect" in Yaqi's AliExpress store and you can get some great value brushes to experiment with in a few different sizes. 26mm is a beefy knot - more than I need, and a bit clumsy to use. I have 3 defect brushes and have yet to find why they weren't vomsidered perfect.