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Time For A New Brush

Recommend a brush for me!

I have been using nothing but boar brushes for the last 5 years. They have worked, but I am wondering what I may be missing in terms of getting the most out of my soap. Whenever I get less performance from a soap than I know I can, it seems likely that I have not loaded enough soap. Only part of this may be due to the brush, but I am willing to try a new brush to step my game up.

I use a variety of soaps, from soft to hard. I find that a stronger backbone helps with loading the brush. I face lather.

Can you recommend a badger or synthetic brush? Perhaps I will try both. I don't want to spend a lot of money, as this would be a first step toward finding what works for me, and then maybe upgrading from there. So best bang for the buck.
 
Hard to go wrong with Yaqi Sagrada Familia Tuxedo for face lathering. Best price I have seen is at West Coast Shaving at $11. Yaqi Purple Haze with Mew Brown knot is also a contender at WCS.
 
Hard to go wrong with Yaqi Sagrada Familia Tuxedo for face lathering. Best price I have seen is at West Coast Shaving at $11. Yaqi Purple Haze with Mew Brown knot is also a contender at WCS.
=1. The Yaqi Sagrada Familia is a fantastic brush at a great price; a real lather machine, with a nice face feel and very attractive handle. I think you have to pay quite a lot more to get a badger brush in the same league. Some users rave about Yaqi badger brushes, which aren't too much more and might be worth a try, but I can't vouch for these personally. What I consider a top performer at a reasonable price is the Elite Manchurian knot. However, "reasonable" is still a lot more than the Yaqi.
 
You can’t beat the Yaqi on price/performance but since I could not afford a Simpson’s Chubby in Badger, I opted for the Chubby Synthetic which while not cheap, is a fantastic lather machine and with enough backbone too!


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If synthetic is your preference, I would go with an Omega Hi or Shavemack syn. Both have sufficient backbone to handle any soap. If you want to try badger there are many options available depending on your budget.
 
Go for a quality 2 band badger. They have much more backbone than silvertip but still are very soft tips and badger keeps the heat of your water better than any other brush.
 
Yaqi 2-band badger, silvertip, or synthetic are excellent for their value. I've tried all three and they do an excellent job at lathering and feel great on the face. For specific recommendations, I'd suggest the 24mm Yaqi Fan badger, 26mm Yaqi Tuxedo, and 24mm Silvertip.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Stirling finest or Yaqi two band or anything (silvertip or Manchurian) by Zenith.

Maseto on eBay.

Nothing wrong with any of these. I like 'em all.

Happy shaves,

Ji
 
If synthetic is your preference, I would go with an Omega Hi or Shavemack syn. Both have sufficient backbone to handle any soap. If you want to try badger there are many options available depending on your budget.

my recommendation is a Shavemac synthetic. It is a great brush.
 

mrlandpirate

Got lucky with dead badgers
705.jpgrazorock 400 $20
 
If you face lather and are looking for badger, a short lofted and dense Simpsons brush is almost obligatory.
They can be a bit on the pricey side but in the next couple days you should be able to find a deal. A Classic 2 in best badger might be just right.
 
Maggard is putting the 26mm SHD's on sale for $34 for Black Friday, and the handles for $8. Cannot recommend them enough, if $42 is within your budget and you are OK setting it yourself.
 
Thanks for your suggestions.

I wouldn't have a problem spending $50, but I don't want to spend $150 without first knowing that it has a good chance of working really well for me.
 
I just saw that Shavemac will offer a 25% discount this Friday. That might help keeping the budget. I paid 46 Euro for my synthetic without discount and really love it. It lathers very well (both bowl and face), dries fast and I like the look of it with the 173 handle.

mycroft
 
I'll be the odd voice and suggest you try a Vie-Long horse hair brush. I really enjoy my brown haired horse, it is a nice middle ground between boar and badger.
 
Simpson Duke 3 2-band or Simpson M7 in Super or Chubby 2 in Super.

All three are excellent I’m different ways. If you can only have one, get the Duke. It’s outstanding.


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