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Are natural hair brushes days NUMBERED?

Can you explain how soul and or personality in a brush (or lack thereof) effects your shave?

I'll give @Stubblebum's post a shot.

Beautiful and wonderfully pure shaving (courtesy my lovely friend @Burundian Hawk ):
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With synthetics:

With soul:
 
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Unless you got a Chubby 2 2 Band Silvertip and spent $350.00 that would be the comparison, but as long as you are enjoying your shaves that is the important thing my friend.

I had a Duke 3 Manchurian that cost as much as the Chubby 2, 2 Band Silvertip, but I did not like it as well, so just spending money doesn’t always mean it is great.
Especially with simpsons. I've tried two different knots from them (Best and Super) and I have found many badger options that I like much better for much less cost.

(Sent from mobile)
 
Naturals will still be produced because people will still buy them regardless of the superiority of synthetic performance of for no other reason to be old school...or just familiar. I enjoy my badgers but none of them can go toe to toe with a modern synthetic's efficiency. Faster and better lather using less soap. They're softer, they're way, way tougher, they dry faster and are inexpensive to produce, never stink, don't have to be soaked, break in very quickly, are cruelty free and have even catching up with water retention albeit a different mechanism

The only card naturals have to play is heat retention.
You use "superiority" like it's an objective term.

Face feel and backbone are two attributes very relevant to me that differentiate my natural hair brushes from synthetics.

One hair type is not Superior to the other, because it depends on the user's preferences.

Which one is the best match for a particular user ... might be a better way to put it.

For me, synthetics, most of them at least, fall short of both Badgers and boars in important areas.

(Sent from mobile)
 
Especially with simpsons. I've tried two different knots from them (Best and Super) and I have found many badger options that I like much better for much less cost.

(Sent from mobile)
I completely agree, their Supers are to soft for me , and their Best has to much variance knot to knot to be sure what you are getting
 
Especially with simpsons. I've tried two different knots from them (Best and Super) and I have found many badger options that I like much better for much less cost.

(Sent from mobile)
I completely agree, their Supers are to soft for me , and their Best has to much variance knot to knot to be sure what you are getting

I happen to love Simpson’s Super. My favorite grade. Subjectivity, folks.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I was recently gifted a badger brush. My first. Today, my boar brush was ditched in the rubbish bin, and the badger will take its role. That role is for when I want a scrubby brush, either for exfoliating, or dislodging an ingrown hair.

However, it's still no competition for my synthetics for daily shaves. No pre-soaking, easy to rinse, quick to dry, no stink, long lasting, no break-in, quicker to use, more economical with soap, cheap to replace, and more consistent between individual brushes.

If this gifted badger ever conks out. It will most likely be replaced with boar again. I don't mind inconsistency in £5 brushes, but I get the distinct impression from feedback here, that badger is way more variable than boar or synthetic. That's of no use to me, especially not at the prices they sell for. I have no issue with a good badger brush, but they are not a certainty when placing an order, and too high a price tag for me to be unsure of the performance and feel of the individual brush that will arrive. I'd rather pay a fraction of that price, and have greater confidence over what performance and face feel I will get from the brush I receive.
 

Messygoon

Abandoned By Gypsies.
Unless regulated out of existence, I suspect natural hair brushes will remain the top choice for most. Boar and horse hair are plentifully available through animal processing. Badger less so, but I understand relatively humanely obtained. Synthetics offer low cost entry into wet shaving, leading many to move up to natural brushes.

That said, I am not dumping investments to take a position in brush producer stocks. Umm… that is… not unless Elon Musk perfects a synthetic electric solar sable brush that self-lathers, -rinses, and -returns dry to the sink countertop in an upright position.

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I hope the days of naturals aren’t numbered — I’m just sad that only badgers, boars, and horses are featured on the natural side when there are so many other mammal species on the planet.
Some japanese brushes seem to use a few different kinds of hair racoon and supposedly goat and bear. I have been curious, but not enough so.

I think synthetics could be just as good, they splay fine and lather really good, but unfortunately most manufacturers lump us into one category thinking we want super soft tips and a soft brushes without scrub etc. This is not the case and don't think it will ever be the case with me unless I have sunburn.
 
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I think a DEFINITIVE distinction should be made here.

Not all synthetics are ALIKE.

My first was one from “Fendrihan’s,” which I used for travel.

Singularly unimpressive. 🙁

Next, I tried some synthetics from WCS and Yaqui.

Whoa, what a difference, in EVERY aspect.

Would put some of those head to head with your best “Simpson’s” or “Edwin Jagger’s” without even blinking an eye.

Even I am surprised to be saying that! 🧐
 
Everybody has preferences concerning things like face feel and backbone... but neither of those things are inherent to one hair type over another. One badger brush can have a totally different "face feel" to another badger brush. Same with backbone. It's entirely subjective. What feels good is subjective.

Efficiency as a tool is not subjective. Synthetics are much more product efficient in that they virtually always require less soap than naturals to make the same amount of lather. They are more time efficient by requiring less time to lather than naturals. These characteristics, among others, can be reproduced and measured. There is absolutely no question that synthetic dry faster... never have to be soaked. They never take weeks to break in. They never require animal harvest. These are consistent quantifiable advantaged. How important each of these traits is to each of us will vary per individual but the traits themselves are fixed and many are unique to synthetics.

You can "prefer" a blue Honda Civic to a red Ferrari because you like the color blue, have a sentimental attachment or some other subjective preference. That doesn't discount that Ferraris are, by a large, the superior tool in regard to their base function.
 
You use "superiority" like it's an objective term.

Face feel and backbone are two attributes very relevant to me that differentiate my natural hair brushes from synthetics.

One hair type is not Superior to the other, because it depends on the user's preferences.

Which one is the best match for a particular user ... might be a better way to put it.

For me, synthetics, most of them at least, fall short of both Badgers and boars in important areas.

(Sent from mobile)
Face feel, backbone and other "preferences" are entirely subjective as well as specific to each individual brush and not inherent to naturals. Many of synthetic attributes are consistent, objective, measurable and specific to synthetics. Specifically their functions as a tool.
 
Well I do like synthetics sometimes, so I do hope they improve. I have a hunch face feel matters more than high efficiency, so as to not waste some soap on B&B :laugh:
I agree it's more important but face feel is specific to individual brushes and doesn't represent naturals or synthetics as a whole. ..which is what we're comparing here.
 
Synthetics have come a long way since they were introduced. In 2012 I bought my first synthetic brush: a Parker. It was probably the worst brush I have ever owned. You can read about it at the link.

Since then I have purchased 10 more brushes. The second synthetic I owned, a H.I.S., I gave to my son. It was very "springy" and resulted in lather being sprayed on the mirror. Another brush, a Plisson Cade, I sold. Some on the forum like that brush. However, for me, it lacked any backbone and I never liked the feel of it. I currently have 8 in my rotation and one, a Muhle Silvertip Fibre, that I use when I travel.

Syn brushes in rotat.jpgMuhle Sil Fibre.jpg

On the other hand, I have 21 badger brushes with one additional one I ordered from Rudy Vey.

Badger brushes in rotation.jpgZenith Manchurian.jpg



So you might say, I like badger brushes three times more than synthetics.
 
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