When I started DE shaving, I bought an Edwin Jagger Best Badger brush. Then a year later I bought an Omega Synthetic brush, the "Lucretia Borgia". I liked the BB just fine, but I wanted a synthetic, partly for travel and partly because I couldn't help seeing a dead badger in front of me every time I picked up the otherwise excellent EJ brush.
I really like the synthetic. It lathers much better, uses half as much product, and it's wonderfully soft on my face. Also, I no longer see that dead badger staring at me in the mirror.
But I was disappointed in the drying time for the synthetic. Subjectively, it seemed about the same as the badger.
So I decided to measure it. Here are some rough results. My digital scale measures in 5 gram increments and I didn't check it at exact intervals, but this is what I found.
After soaking both brushes in warm water for half and hour, the synthetic had absorbed 10 gms of water, while the badger absorbed 15 grams. No surprise there. We all know a badger brush really soaks up the water.
I squeezed the water out of both brushes, then shook them both vigorously to get rid of as much remaining water as possible, as if drying them to put away. The synthetic dropped down to 5 grams and the badger dropped to 10 grams, twice as much as the synthetic. Again, pretty much as expected. To touch, the badger was obviously wetter than the synthetic.
After just 10 minutes though, the badger dropped to 5 grams, the same as the synthetic. Both were equally slightly damp to the touch. If I were traveling, I would have packed either one as "mostly dry". This was a surprise. Why such a big drop? My guess is the bloom of the badger exposed each hair to dry separately. The synthetic fibers, by contrast, were tightly plastered together.
After an hour, no change.
After 3 hours, no change.
After 8 hours the synthetic was completely dry, by weight and by touch. For the badger, the scale still said 5 grams, and by touch it was very slightly damp. This I expected. Natural bristle absorbs water inside the hair, while for the synthetic, the water is all on the outside. Finally, a confirmation that synthetics dry faster than badger.
After 16 hours, no change. The badger still weighed the same and still felt a bit damp.
At last, after 20 hours, the scale said the badger was dry. It still felt a bit cool though, as if still drying some, even after the synthetic had been bone dry for 12 hours. After 24 hours the badger was still cool, maybe not yet absolutely dry.
Conclusion: after just 10 minutes, both brushes were basically equal, slightly dampish but packable. It took 8 hours for the synthetic to dry completely, and 20-24 hours or more for the badger brush. So technically, you could say the synthetic does dry faster. But in reality you wouldn't wait that long. By the time you're ready to pack your dopp kit, either brush would be dry enough to go in. At least in this case, it seems the fast drying time of the synthetic is something of a folk tale.
I really like the synthetic. It lathers much better, uses half as much product, and it's wonderfully soft on my face. Also, I no longer see that dead badger staring at me in the mirror.
But I was disappointed in the drying time for the synthetic. Subjectively, it seemed about the same as the badger.
So I decided to measure it. Here are some rough results. My digital scale measures in 5 gram increments and I didn't check it at exact intervals, but this is what I found.
After soaking both brushes in warm water for half and hour, the synthetic had absorbed 10 gms of water, while the badger absorbed 15 grams. No surprise there. We all know a badger brush really soaks up the water.
I squeezed the water out of both brushes, then shook them both vigorously to get rid of as much remaining water as possible, as if drying them to put away. The synthetic dropped down to 5 grams and the badger dropped to 10 grams, twice as much as the synthetic. Again, pretty much as expected. To touch, the badger was obviously wetter than the synthetic.
After just 10 minutes though, the badger dropped to 5 grams, the same as the synthetic. Both were equally slightly damp to the touch. If I were traveling, I would have packed either one as "mostly dry". This was a surprise. Why such a big drop? My guess is the bloom of the badger exposed each hair to dry separately. The synthetic fibers, by contrast, were tightly plastered together.
After an hour, no change.
After 3 hours, no change.
After 8 hours the synthetic was completely dry, by weight and by touch. For the badger, the scale still said 5 grams, and by touch it was very slightly damp. This I expected. Natural bristle absorbs water inside the hair, while for the synthetic, the water is all on the outside. Finally, a confirmation that synthetics dry faster than badger.
After 16 hours, no change. The badger still weighed the same and still felt a bit damp.
At last, after 20 hours, the scale said the badger was dry. It still felt a bit cool though, as if still drying some, even after the synthetic had been bone dry for 12 hours. After 24 hours the badger was still cool, maybe not yet absolutely dry.
Conclusion: after just 10 minutes, both brushes were basically equal, slightly dampish but packable. It took 8 hours for the synthetic to dry completely, and 20-24 hours or more for the badger brush. So technically, you could say the synthetic does dry faster. But in reality you wouldn't wait that long. By the time you're ready to pack your dopp kit, either brush would be dry enough to go in. At least in this case, it seems the fast drying time of the synthetic is something of a folk tale.
