What happened to short lofted small brushes?

[gstriftos]

Warning: Old man's, first world problems, rant following.


After receiving (and using) my Wee Scot, I discovered I am a believer for small brushes.
Well this is not small but falls to tiny, though I am astonished by how well and easy it loads and lathers, especially for face.
Also bowl lathering was very nice but took a little more time than I care to. Either way I am not a huge fan of bowl, even if I can get the water ratio with more precision.
It fascinates me that it is a high precision tool, loads even triple milled soaps without much effort, minimal lather waste for 2 passes and does not make a mess all over my face with soap getting on my ears or inside my nose.

Ideally I would like to have more backbone but given the 13/39 loft I can see this is not possible. Honestly, I am on the verge of contacting Simpsons and ask for a one set at 28mm height (maybe will do when all this virus situation resumes back to, as much possible, normal. There is no point now in disturbing them with an old man’s odd request)

Given the above I am looking the last few days for short lofted small brushes. And by small I mean something in the 20mm area with around a 2-2.2 loft ratio and on a kind of affordable side, iderally at 50-70€ pricerange. This still does not count exactly as affordable, given the prices I see nowadays but still not extremely priced.


After looking, and with the exception of some pure badgers (which generally don’t get much praise) I have found that in EU accessible, only Simpsons and Shavemac offer something close to what I am looking for and in general care to match loft height to width variation

Namely:
DUKE 1 in best (inside target price)
Shavemac in 21/48 (still a little off than the ideal and over target price).



Yes you got is correct, all these were a prologue to a buying advise.

So why did you not ask straightforward, one might say?

Simply, too much spare time..



Am I missing something here?

I have very sad news to report: I've put some brushes in the cart in recent days (not just Zeniths), but removed them without pulling the trigger. It's hard to convince myself to buy more brushes when I have brushes I like perfectly well but haven't used in like forever. It's gotta be a sign of something bad wrong with me, right?

Happy shaves,

Jim

See, Jim? At least you put brushes in your cart.
Me? I cannot even do that anymore.

 

[Granite.Glasser]

I too prefer smaller brushes!
I favor the directness that a smaller (and appropriately shorter) knot provides when I face lather.
My very first brush was a Simpson 56 Best Badger and it resides in this ideal sweet spot for me. Of course, the Simpson 55 is even a tad smaller, all-around. The Berkeley 46 in Best Badger is also a prime contender in the Simpson's line-up, and it is quite economically priced (as far as Simpson Best Badger brushes go).
The Case C1 Best Badger and Special S1 Best Badger both fall in the 18-19 mm knot range.
I have no experience with any other brush makers' product lines... and don't intend to.

Best of luck in your quest!

 

[Nicholas]

Γιώργο, I too prefer relatively small brushes. My ideal knot is the 24mm.

All my brushes have knots between 20mm and 24mm with the exception of one. My largest brush is the Razorock Monster which has a 26mm Plissoft knot and it's on the edge of being too inconvenient. I wish I had bought a smaller one. Rookie mistake.

I can't for the life of me understand how some are using brushes with larger knots that this. Their faces can't be that much bigger than mine. I can't imagine using brushes with 28-30mm or even larger knots.

Maneuverability and convenience are very important to me.

I'm a bowl-latherer and most scuttles and bowls are made for smaller brushes. I have the large scuttle of Steve Woodhead and the 26mm knotted Plissoft is a bit too much. Imagine using a 30mm one. No way this scuttle could handle it.

 

[jhiggs1216]

I love my simpson special in best badger. I pretty much only face lather and it performs really well for me.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

My brush limit is 25mm and amongst others I have the Simpson Wee Scot in Best which is excellent. I also have the Case C1 and the Duke 1 in Best. The Duke is far superior in every way and frankly the Case feels like a toy by comparison but it is quite a bit cheaper. The Duke 1 would be my choice or if you can stretch to it the Classic 1 which is far more dense, bordering on a Chubby, although it is 21mm. Good luck.

 

[Nicholas]

And to answer the question on what has happened, it has to do with the increasively demand for larger brushes the last years. There is a large group of people who think bigger is better. In my experience this is not the case with shaving brushes.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

And to answer the question on what has happened, it has to do with the increasively demand for larger brushes the last years. There is a large group of people who think bigger is better. In my experience this is not the case with shaving brushes.

I agree but it has the benefit of saving me a lot of money as the only thing that stops me buying a few Paladins is the fact they are far too large for me! Thankfully, my favourite brands, Simpson and Semogue have not followed the trend.

 

[RayClem]

I have tried a couple of small brushes, but since I bowl lather and paint on the lather to avoid brush irritation, I find that larger brushes (24-26mm) work best for me. The only smaller brush I like is a 35+ year old boar brush made in Austria sold under the Barbershop brand. I have had it since it was new.

 

[md1234]

The Zenith short and scrubby b17 should be considered. It easily makes enough lather for two passes with a quick loading and has a 24mm knot with a loft of 48mm.

 

[Nicholas]

I agree but it has the benefit of saving me a lot of money as the only thing that stops me buying a few Paladins is the fact they are far too large for me! Thankfully, my favourite brands, Simpson and Semogue have not followed the trend.

Demand for Paladins has plummeted anyway comparing to a few years back. Scarcity card is no longer on the table...

 

[Rustyshackelford]

I agree with this sentiment in regards to badger and most synthetics. I used a 28mm synthetic last night and it was a bit much. Boars on the on the other hand, I am a fan of the larger dense knots that are below a 60mm loft. Yes I’m mostly referring to zeniths, and an SOC.

On of my favorite non boar brushes is a 22mm synthetic. It’s just so precise and effective. I would definitely like to see a better offering for brushes in this segment.

 

[SliceOfLife]

The All boar midget might be worth considering. It was pretty low lofted if memory serves. 40033.

Zenith SnS is a fantastic low lofted brush, but it's like 26mm... not exactly small.


Chubby 1 in best falls in that camp too, but feels a little smaller.


Can always make a custom low lofted two band with one of these gelly SHD knots. Keep the diameter under 26mm and the loft under 40mm and it'll be tiny.

The Ecotools synth bronzer brush I used would qualify, but the handle is kind crummy.

 

[Badgerstate36]

If you werent opposed to a synthetic, Yaqi makes a really nice small brush with a short loft. Beyond that, if you want a small badger, Simpson is just about the only game in town.
It seems like everyone these days wants this huge 26-30mm knots in their brushes. Im personally not a fan of anything bigger than a 26mm and IMO a 24mm is ideal but people seem to love their big brushes.

 

[Steve_in_CT]

I have brushes of varying sizes from 20 mm to 26 mm. Usually I go for something in-between, but the 20 mm two band from Maggard's is one of my favorite brushes. Since I set it myself in a vintage Made Rite handle, I played with the loft until it felt just right, although I don't know what it actually is.

 

[SliceOfLife]

20mm is plenty big for a big lofted brush 24mm is nice for low lofts.

We get these cycles of big brushes every few years, usually when there's an influx of beginners. When I was starting out, the 28mm silvertip was all the rage. Then there was the 30mm Grade A for awhile. Now it looks like the 26 and 28mm Manchurian is the next "big thing".

I don't dislike a big brush, but the extra size of a 28mm is worthless to me vs a 24mm... so paying twice as much for the 28mm seems silly.

 

[gstriftos]

If you werent opposed to a synthetic, Yaqi makes a really nice small brush with a short loft.

I am not opposed per se, in fact I am aslo eyeballing the Simpsons T1 but please show me which Yaqi one you mean

 

[chinmusic82]

Always enjoy it when someone talks about smaller brushes, as I favour them too. Most brushes I see on the site are huge. My favorite brush is my Simpson’s Berkeley in best.

 

[MntnMan62]

I'd say they are alive and well. One of my favorite brushes I have is this Connaught Omega with faux jade persian jar handle. Here it is on the far left with a couple of it's boar siblings. As you can see the loft is shorter than Omega's own 10066 brush. I much prefer the Connaught.

 

[xiletero]

Muhle has some nice synthetics that are small and actually feel like animal fibers.
Omega has a mighty midget mixed boar/badger and is probably the best small one for me.

When I face shave I do not like big and also even worse: floppy brushes..... so these 2 are great options.

BUT i shave my head, too and for that, those big brushes come handy.....

 

[Macbeth]

Now we have time to "re-assess) our preferences and listen to our own thoughts while not being constantly bombarded with others opinions.

We will come to many contrarian thoughts about the gear we use, and the methods. We are becoming more "self reliant."

I have found the Simpson Chubby 1 with Super Best Badger to be MY perfect brush.

While I'm happy with my Simpson Duke 3 in Best, I'm now curious about the Duke 1.

Or the Tulip 1.

24mm is tops for me, but the vintage 20s and 22s are calling my name lately.