Questions about loft and shape.

[Hydguy]

Being pretty new to wet shaving, I'm not up to speed on most thing, but I've been doing some reading on the wiki, and loft is the length of the bristles.
Looking through various pics of of vintage brushes, and there doesn't seem to be the various shapes there are now, and they appear to be a fair bit longer in loft that most brushes now.
More modern brushes seem to come in mainly 3 types (bulb, fan, and hybrid) and the somewhat less common flat, where as the older vintage brushes are pretty straight.

When did this change occur, or is it a that the brushes just end up with a fairly straight look after years of use?

 

[BigJ]

This is a complex question! And there are tons of options depending on what you like, hair quality, etc.

Here are a few comments to get the conversation started:
1. Knot size is the diameter and loft is the length of the bristles. For me (a face latherer who prefers hard soaps) the optimal ratio is around 1:2 (so roughly 48 mm loft for a 24 mm knot) when I am picking a badger brush. I prefer a bit more loft with boar bristle, but not much.
2. Bowl and scuttle latherers often prefer a bit longer loft. Old time barbers often placed their fingers around the base of the knot which may explain some of the changes in preference over time.
3. In terms of knot shape, some manufacturers (such as Shavemac) also offer ‘flat-top’ knot shapes.

Hope this helps!!

 

[ackvil]

Many of the vintage shaving brushes were made of horse hair or boar bristle hence the long shape of these brushes.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Good questions, and to let you know, your personal choice can (and will) change over time. I started with mainly fans, but lately, say maybe a year and a half to two years, I do enjoy bulbs quite a bit. I think the first distinct choice options for the knot shape came from Shavemac, they offer fan, bulb and in several grades also flattop. Similar with handle choices. I used to have severe carpal tunnel syndrome and had a hard time safely gripping and holding the short stubby styles, like the Chubby. I went with a design that is in my opinion much more ergonomic, styles that have an area where the handle has a deeper grip area, like PJ, AS3M, Tulip, Keyhole and Beehive styles.
I used to face lather in th past, but now do mainly bowl lather, so I prefer a longer handle - just this morning I used a Thaeter with the octagonal short handle, and it was not good (for me!) to hold with the soapy hands I got with this short handle.
I do not use boars, and have little use of synthetics (these I use on the road, but have not been traveling since early March). My choice are badgers and here I prefer hairs such as Shavemac's two-band silvertip, or similar ones.

For loft, I do prefer a ratio of 1:2 in the medium size 22-26, a bit shorter for the larger brushes and a little bit longer for the smaller knots.