I ventured into the realm of wet shaving tentatively. I purchased a cheap badger hair brush and stand combo from Amazon to keep my razor stored and get my wet shave kit started. After my first few shaves, though the stand seemed to be solid and of good quality, I was not impressed with the brush. It was abrasive in feel, limp and clumpy when wet or loaded with lather, and overall quite underwhelming. The most positive comments I could make about the brush are that it dried quickly and held on to the pleasant smell of my TOBS shaving cream.
In my perusing of B&B, I found that badger brushes are generally a get-what-you-paid-for component of your kit. This came as no surprise given my experience. Essentially, if you want a high quality badger brush, you pay the price. As I was not ready to make an investment of that caliber without further information and significantly more experience, I began to investigate other less costly options. Boar intrigued me as it seems one can obtain an excellent quality brush for quite a small investment. The only downsides to the boar brushes being time to eliminate the natural odor and soften of the bristles through frequent use. Certainly not a deal breaker (I am convinced that, at some point, a good Omega or Semogue will join my kit).
However, during my search, I came upon the thread discussing a B&B pass-around of an impressive collection of synthetic brushes. I was instantly drawn into the discussion. I was somewhat disappointed that the timing of my coming upon the pass-around and my relatively recent joining of the forum prevented me from participating. Nevertheless, I found the reviews and conversation in that thread to be enlightening. So much so, that I resolved to skip boar and badger (for now) and make my next brush (and first brush acquisition disorder purchase
) a synthetic. The RazoRock brush of the pass-around appealed to me but I was unexcited by the sheer size of that monster. I paid a visit to RazoRock's site and decided upon the RazoRock BC Silvertip Plissoft Synthetic Shaving Brush (a 24x57). I placed my order and waited (somewhat) patiently. I took delivery of the brush yesterday and had my first shave with it this morning.
This brush is amazing.
Where my starter badger was abrasive, this was silk. Where the starter was floppy and limp when loaded, this had backbone and structure. I was quite surprised; and all the more so in view of the price!
With the amount of TOBS that was required to get a sufficient amount of lather to accomplish a good 3-pass+cleanup shave using my starter brush, the RazoRock synthtic silvertip whipped up enough lather in my bowl for the entire neighborhood and of a vastly superior lather quality, as well. To the point that, had I not been the one to load the brush, I would have been convinced I had been set up with an entirely different shave cream. Needless to say, my first impressing of the brush from RazoRock leaves me quite impressed. I might even venture to say that it just might stave off the SBAD for the time being.
While the function of the brush is excellent, it is also quite elegant and attractive. Here are a few pictures I took once the brush had dried after my shave this morning (if I'd had the presence of mind I would have taken a few pictures to share with the brush loaded):
In my perusing of B&B, I found that badger brushes are generally a get-what-you-paid-for component of your kit. This came as no surprise given my experience. Essentially, if you want a high quality badger brush, you pay the price. As I was not ready to make an investment of that caliber without further information and significantly more experience, I began to investigate other less costly options. Boar intrigued me as it seems one can obtain an excellent quality brush for quite a small investment. The only downsides to the boar brushes being time to eliminate the natural odor and soften of the bristles through frequent use. Certainly not a deal breaker (I am convinced that, at some point, a good Omega or Semogue will join my kit).
However, during my search, I came upon the thread discussing a B&B pass-around of an impressive collection of synthetic brushes. I was instantly drawn into the discussion. I was somewhat disappointed that the timing of my coming upon the pass-around and my relatively recent joining of the forum prevented me from participating. Nevertheless, I found the reviews and conversation in that thread to be enlightening. So much so, that I resolved to skip boar and badger (for now) and make my next brush (and first brush acquisition disorder purchase
) a synthetic. The RazoRock brush of the pass-around appealed to me but I was unexcited by the sheer size of that monster. I paid a visit to RazoRock's site and decided upon the RazoRock BC Silvertip Plissoft Synthetic Shaving Brush (a 24x57). I placed my order and waited (somewhat) patiently. I took delivery of the brush yesterday and had my first shave with it this morning.This brush is amazing.
Where my starter badger was abrasive, this was silk. Where the starter was floppy and limp when loaded, this had backbone and structure. I was quite surprised; and all the more so in view of the price!
With the amount of TOBS that was required to get a sufficient amount of lather to accomplish a good 3-pass+cleanup shave using my starter brush, the RazoRock synthtic silvertip whipped up enough lather in my bowl for the entire neighborhood and of a vastly superior lather quality, as well. To the point that, had I not been the one to load the brush, I would have been convinced I had been set up with an entirely different shave cream. Needless to say, my first impressing of the brush from RazoRock leaves me quite impressed. I might even venture to say that it just might stave off the SBAD for the time being.
While the function of the brush is excellent, it is also quite elegant and attractive. Here are a few pictures I took once the brush had dried after my shave this morning (if I'd had the presence of mind I would have taken a few pictures to share with the brush loaded):
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People often mention it's lack of backbone, but it has slightly more backbone than a silvertip badger set at a loft twice as high as the knots diameter in mm's. 
