Men-U Pure Bristle Shaving Brush

this was my first brush, and I feel I lucked out in the boar department. I have found I prefer badger, but the overall performance of this brush has me really reaching for it lately.

Tips worked in after about 20 lathers, although it was plenty pleasant up to then. now, however, it has that wonderful stiffness and softness on face balance I was wanting out of it.

Overall, I believe this one will stay in the rotation for a long time to come. Does a terrific job on soaps, and for a boar does surprisingly well with creams as well. The lather never fails to impress--not as good as my silvertip, but good for $20.

This is a boar brush so if you like your badger then you probably won't like this. I prefer boar when I'm using soaps you can get just as good a lather from soap with badger but I find it takes longer and more effort, personally I think boar is so much easier and loads up with soap almost instantly. One common misunderstanding seems to be complaining that boar brushes are prickly, this is because they are INITIALLY. After a bit of use the ends split and soften and the prickliness goes away if you haven't given your boar brush a chance to wear in (and that's at least two weeks) then don't complain about how prickly it is - you've missed the point. Boar is also much stiffer than badger so you need a firmer hand for lathering.

I've had this brush a long time now (couple of years), I don't use it much though as I tend to use my Omega 48 just because it's newer and it's at the front of the shelf. Actually there's very little to chose between them - the Men-U has a slightly shorter knot but not enough to make any impact. Knot thickness and density are almost identical as is the stiffness of the bristles.

Price - depends on how you look at it, compared to even a cheap badger it's a bargain at less than £10, on the other hand compared to other boar brushes it's merely competitive.

Handle is not high quality, quite a cheesy plastic thing, it does the job just fine but there's no tactile pleasure in it. Unfortunately this is very much the same as the Omega.

This brush needs a good soaking before use, even more so than a badger brush but if used properly will produce beautiful lather enough for 3 or 4 passes quickly and easily.

Tends to shed more than my Omega and probably loses a bristle every three or four shaves - I guess that means eventually it'll thin out and stop working so well but given the thickness of the knot it'll be many years before that's a problem.

If you want to try a boar brush this is comparable quality to the best available.

I thought this brush was good value and indeed a lot better than some i bought at twice the price and i shaved with this for about 2 years and still have it, for the price great!

Had one for a year and still does a great job ,cleaned it yesterday with hydrogen peroxide [got all the gunk off] just like new,why change ?.

i got one of these for under £3 from boots on offer- and yes it was the bristle rather than synthetic- and i have been greatly impressedby the product. i have only once noticed a lost bristle and even if it was falling apart, i couldnt complain for a couple of quid. if your in need of a cheap brush i would advise you check boots quick- may be still on offer as i onlyy got it a month or 2 ago

I've been using a Vulfix 404 mixed, a VS5 and this to try to determine the best non-badger brush. Several forum members have commented that there's really very little to choose between this and the legendary Omega boarbrush, with some people actually prefering this. The only fault I have is that it'd be nice to get a larger handle. The quality/ softness of the bristles and density of the knot are very good and its really hard to fault. If you like boar, this is probably about as good as you'll get, but if you don't have this, you'll probably have an Omega instead and will be happy anyway! I wouldn't reccommend a VS5- for the price difference in percentage terms, the VS5 is very good value for money, but for the sake of a fiver to upgrade? There's no point skimping. Get this or an Omega and you'll be happy.

At Ulta. I made a mistake thinking of the PREMIUM Men-u Brush which looks like gets decent reviews on B&B.

I could barely get a lather using the Men-U Cream. I had to rinse and wash several times to get the smell and dye/color out. It was weird. When I washed it and squeezed, the water was a different color (forgot the color but I am thinking reddish/pink).

For $15 more the C&E BBB is 100 times better in every category.
I gave this a 6 on price just because it is cheap but I wouldn't buy this for $10.

The stand was the only plus but was a crappy stand that I thought at least I could use for my C&E BBB but the BBB was too big to fit.

I ended up returning this brush.

I've been using this brush for the past 2 months now and I think it's a very good product.

Price
I think the brush was a bit expensive in Oz compared to a badger brush but I still think it worth it if you are between changing your cheap bristle/boar brush for something better but not quite ready to go to a badger. I am not a fan of badger brushes and I think this one is an excellent compromise.

Quality
Quality is great on that brush. I do loose a hair here and there but nothing serious. The thing was made by Omega so it's good stuff.

Density
This point is good, compared to my other bristle brushes, this one is quite dense.

Stiffness of Tips
The tips are stiffs and do not break.

Softness of Tips
following the previous point, this brush doesn't sting. It was comfortable right away.

Ergonomic
The handle is quite good. I've got a good hold of it. It's the exact same handle than my Omega Pure Badger Aluminum handle.

Latherability
One word: Impressive. I used soaps and creams and this brush can do both without much problems. Creams are easier but soaps do lather very well with this brush.

Overall, I recommend this product

I have used this brush for the past 2 months. Here are some things I have noticed.

-The brush holds alot of water, I am surprised on how much water it holds. It also is easy to shake the dry it when you are done.

- The brush lathers up very quick. Just a few swirls and the lather is good to go.

- The handle is too light. Compared to my other brushes which all have a solid feel to the handle, this one feels hollow and light. I cannot get this brush to sink in the water, it wants to float.

- The bristles stand up taller than a boar brush. A boar brush tends to splay out when used, this one stands tall.

- A great brush overall. The bristles are colored to look like boar/badger hair, a nice touch.

- This brush has no smell at all. Nothing like a badger or boar.

For the money this is expensive for what you get, I would think the price point would be around $35 not $55.

For those interested in a sythetic brush, this is a great option to consider.

Enjoy,
Sebright

What an excellent starter brush!

Reasonable price - especially considering it comes with a stand and a sample-size amount of shave cream (although your appreciation of this particular product is down to specific taste - see my review on men-u shave cream)

Does lose bristles like mad!!!! But also lathers like mad!! Does take some getting used to though - i.e. the lathering technique...

But as purely a starter brush - this is the best way to go!

I quite like the modern look of this brush too!

Hope this review was helpful!
p.s. check out my other reviews!

I liked this brush as it lathers well and is relatively soft. I emailed Men-U, and I did come to find out that this is indeed a Boar brush. I might not have bought it if it would have said that on the packaging, but all in all it is not bad. For the price ($20.00 @ Ulta in the US), I like the tweezerman badger better, but this isn't a bad brush at all.

The only thing I particularly liked about this brush was the fact that it came with a stand. I was especially disappointed with its grip, which for some reason I can't get a comfortable hold on leading to quite sore wrists. It also loses bristles like mad, which admittedly the enclosed document warns one to expect early on but I have seen no reduction in bristle loss.

It lathers adequately, though as I said I find it uncomfortable, and is decent. I didn't expect much more for the price really, but I have rated the brush disregarding that.

I have to agree with the review above. You really can't do to badly with a decent brush for about $20.00 with a stand. It is currently my go to brush, replacing a pretty old pure badger brush from Germany. I think it lathers pretty well, and is pretty stiff. I would really like to know what the bristles are made of, they do not feel like Boar, or require the amount of effort to make a lather like one either. All in all a good starter brush.

This is a great brush, which can be had for about £10-£12 from various places, including Boots. This is the pure bristle version, but beware, they also make synthetic brushes. It is probably boars bristle, not Badger bristle, but its still quite comfortable. Forget the cheap Wilkinson brushes that you can get in Tesco, they are too hard. These are still comfortable, and are great if you just want to give wet shaving a go, but don't want to spend large amounts of money. It comes with a small tube of shaving cream, which smells quite nice, and works well. I could get about 7 shaves out of it, but barely. Still good for such a small tube I think.

The handle feels great, and the brush can hold a lot of lather. Obviously it depends on the product you use (I could never get the Wilkinson Shaving Soap workin well, but Tabac shaving soap was exellent), but generally, the brush can generate a lot if prepared well. It also comes with a nice little plastic stand, which will also hold other brushes quite well, which is a bonus, as a lot of the posh badger hair brushes don't seem to come with stands.

The only downside I have found with this brush tends to loose a bristle once in a while, but that is also noted on the packaging. To start with, this brush is great, and when you feel like you enjoy wet shaving enough, you can always upgrade to a badger hair brush, and if you no longer use the brush, you can use the stand with your new badger brush.