Yaqi Sagrada Familia 22mm Tuxedo
newbie to shaving brushes, need help please
- Thread starter saj
- Start date
Forgot to mention West coast shaving synthetic brushes.
Evening Saj,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but both the Erasmic and the Wilkinson are boar (pig) - the word "bristle" usually means this.
You won't find anything quite as inexpensive, but you'd be able to pick up a nice Kent or Simpsons synth for less than £20, and a Jagger/Muhle for not much more. Omega also make synth brushes - I can recommend Connaught Shaving and Maguires in the UK as a source. Yaqi are also a possibility for a similar price, and there are other (for example Anbbas branded) reasonable low priced Chinese synths.
Horse usually falls somewhere between boar and badger in terms of stiffness. From stiff to soft I'd generalise as boar > horse > badger > synth, but the way they do it is different : there's a lot on this site about backbone, scritch and scrub.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but both the Erasmic and the Wilkinson are boar (pig) - the word "bristle" usually means this.
You won't find anything quite as inexpensive, but you'd be able to pick up a nice Kent or Simpsons synth for less than £20, and a Jagger/Muhle for not much more. Omega also make synth brushes - I can recommend Connaught Shaving and Maguires in the UK as a source. Yaqi are also a possibility for a similar price, and there are other (for example Anbbas branded) reasonable low priced Chinese synths.
Horse usually falls somewhere between boar and badger in terms of stiffness. From stiff to soft I'd generalise as boar > horse > badger > synth, but the way they do it is different : there's a lot on this site about backbone, scritch and scrub.
- Thread starter
- #24
yea i think thats what im after from what i understand after watching one or two youtube vids
also being a head shaver i think the bigger knot the better, to cover more ground so to speak and be that bit more efficient
honestly i love the look of some of those yaqi brushes, look really funky
i've seen that yaqi have some defective shaving brushes for sale and the reviews seem so say they cant see any defects in the products they received so i might order a few...
- Thread starter
- #25
it had no mention of boar brush and just said finest bristle so i thought it would be alright to get
- Thread starter
- #26
yea i was thinking about kent shaving brushes as i used to use their hair brushes for my beard and theyre top quality
Ah, forgot you were a head shaver, and not a face shaver. Definitely choose a larger knot, something 26mm+.
- Thread starter
- #28
yea im going to PIF them lol
It also depends if you face lather or bowl lather. The first categorie you want a good splay and less backbone I would want a good badger for that or a synthetic crème plisson in a fan shape.
The later is actually easier. Most will do fine. Yaqi is very nice for the money
The later is actually easier. Most will do fine. Yaqi is very nice for the money
As far as i know, the Razorock Plissofts are rebranded Yaqis. Same for Maggards. Just for the record.
@OP. If you don't want to buy from european manufacturers, i have posted my suggestions here:
2nd brush help.
Embarrassed as I am, I must confess to only owning one brush, a Simpson chubby3/best. I am quite happy with it, and if I never stumbled onto B&B, I would never have even thought about getting another brush. But, here we are and maybe I’m the only one on the forum with only a single measly...
www.badgerandblade.com
A word of advice. The "defect handle" Yaqis could be anything. They could have higher than normal glue too. If you decide to buy one such brush, i would buy a Plissoft. It's floppier, so even if the glue is higher than normal, it will be not much of an issue.
I can also advice the Yaqi badgers, if you want badger. Especially the silvertip. If you want more backbone, then 2 band, out of which, i prefer the "fan" shape they have.
Dear sir, i understand you own 2 brushes, one badger and 1 synthetic, the Trafalgar. I don't put in doubt the quality control of Simpson. The Omega one, i know better and it isn't as stellar as you would want to believe. The Omega logo on Roma and Colosseum brushes fades off extremely easily, some wetshavers do it on purpose themselves because they think of it as tacky. I have seen photo of Evo brush with defect on the handle too that the person returned it.
Yaqi also makes hand tied knots for the record, one can just see their pictures. They don't take 2-3 months you arrive, your own picture you posted, shows May 27 as delivery date. Yaqi does have QC issues that i know, that regard the height of the glue. Or at least they had them. Maybe these are the "defect" brushes. I don't know.
And for the most important part. "Why would one prefer the Yaqi to the Roma or Simpson". The answer is easy. If you face lather, you want something that splays as naturally as possible. Simpson brushes are not very famous for splaying easily. The Trafalgar seems an improvement compared to the previous generation though. The Roma is worse than the Trafaglar. A Yaqi splays easily. Of course then there would be the issue of the variety of colorful handles, instead of the classic creamy white, but this is a matter of taste. I have also read some people saying the Trafalgar-Rome has a bit more scritchy tips.
No doubt the Omegas and Simpsons will arrive easily/fast. But this doesn't mean that they are better brushes for their use for everyone. I have a Muhle black fiber Rytmo. Muhle's reputation and quality control is incomparable. The handle is impeccably beautiful as well. In real use, my worst Yaqi beats it hands down, all day, every day.
Very respectfully sir, just to show the other side of the story as well.
- Thread starter
- #32
thanks for clarifying i wont be using them no more
As my earlier comments indicate, I very much agree with you. However not all Yaqi brushes splay easily. In fact, I'm looking beyond the standard Yaqi brushes because I prefer floppy brushes for face lathering, and I find most Yaqis sufficiently dense and short-lofted that they don't splay easily enough for me. I also realize I'm in the minority, and most prefer a much firmer brush, including the OP.
My personal standard is my beloved L'Occitane Plisson synthetic, and I've yet to find another brush as luxurious. I think my next attempt at brush experimentation will be a PAA Solar Flare or Green Ray.
Like all things wet shaving, tastes and preferences are very personal and subjective. I wish everyone the best of luck finding their own perfect end of wet shaving journey products.
I agree perfectly, sir and much about it, is a matter of personal taste. Which is also in my previous post, i linked to my yesterday's post that i made a raw classification of the different backbones in Yaqis. The higher the backbone, the less easily to splay. The most easy to splay Yaqi is the plissoft with 56mm loft (or more). The Razorock Big Bruce would also be a good example. 26mm Yaqis should also be floppier than 24mm ones.
I know the L' Occitane by fame. It was the first Plissoft in the market and had no appreciable glue bump if i remember correctly, to the point that many complained that it was a "mop". But as you easily illustrate, people have various tastes. You like it. I also happen to prefer Plissofts and Timberwolfs over higher backbone Yaqis. The difference is that all Plissofts (not only Yaqis) after the L' Occitaine, had glue bump to increase the backbone. Some like this, some don't. With Simpsons high backbone is always a guarantee. Again, some like it, some don't.
If your Erasmic was only £3 (that’s like, what? $735usd these days?), it might be less wasteful of your finite time on this planet* to commit the brush to your garbage bin and provide a refuse station rat a stylish means of keeping its teeth fighting fit.
* = I’m assuming you may only have another 100-110 years left of wet shaving and have no idea whether you’re bound for a career on the International Space Station. So with the first guess, you’ll join everyone else here in not outliving certain species of turtle and shark and, with the second guess, you won’t literally be on Earth even if you do manage to outlive a Greenland shark.
@DaveHStone , in the photos you posted, the Trafalgar has Simpson synthetic fibers and the Yaqi has Mew fibers. Obviously, the fibers with the cuter name are worth the wait.
@Burundian Hawk , are the only complaints on the Ω Roma brushes regarding the writing and graphics? The Colosseum version looks stinking cute to me and I hope to nab one some day even if the decal wears off like on my Ω10048. Hoping it doesn’t wear my face off like the Ω10048.
@Burundian Hawk , are the only complaints on the Ω Roma brushes regarding the writing and graphics? The Colosseum version looks stinking cute to me and I hope to nab one some day even if the decal wears off like on my Ω10048. Hoping it doesn’t wear my face off like the Ω10048.
@Burundian Hawk , are the only complaints on the Ω Roma brushes regarding the writing and graphics? The Colosseum version looks stinking cute to me and I hope to nab one some day even if the decal wears off like on my Ω10048. Hoping it doesn’t wear my face off like the Ω10048.
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About QC, yes, what i have seen so far is that the graphics fade out very quickly. Otherwise the other "complain" is that it is harder to splay than the Trafalgar. The knot is more stiff. Some regard it as annoyingly stiff. All comparatives that i have either read or watched in videos, agree that the Trafalgar is the better brush compared to the Omegas, even though the fibers seem the same and it is not worth to own both.
@saj1985
Since you reside in the UK, if i were you, i 'd buy a Trafalgar, if not for anything else, to speed things up. Then, in case you want something "floppier", you might want to buy something like a Razorock Big Bruce 26mm or a Yaqi plissoft with 56mm loft (like the black marble barber handle). So that you can try high and lower backbone brushes.
[/QUOTE]
About QC, yes, what i have seen so far is that the graphics fade out very quickly. Otherwise the other "complain" is that it is harder to splay than the Trafalgar. The knot is more stiff. Some regard it as annoyingly stiff. All comparatives that i have either read or watched in videos, agree that the Trafalgar is the better brush compared to the Omegas, even though the fibers seem the same and it is not worth to own both.
@saj1985
Since you reside in the UK, if i were you, i 'd buy a Trafalgar, if not for anything else, to speed things up. Then, in case you want something "floppier", you might want to buy something like a Razorock Big Bruce 26mm or a Yaqi plissoft with 56mm loft (like the black marble barber handle). So that you can try high and lower backbone brushes.
Thank you. That information works for me.
- Thread starter
- #39
@Big Jim @thombrogan @Kaldane
heres a few pics of the erasmic brush and also the wilkinson sword brush too
heres a few pics of the erasmic brush and also the wilkinson sword brush too
Believe me sir, i would have preferred otherwise too, since the Omega costs less and i like Omega boars. But being a bit...fond of brushes myself, i did my research and the Trafalgar is better. I may buy one Trafalgar myself eventually... In the future, just out of curiosity to see the fiber. But i am so happy with my Yaqis, that i have no haste.
