Advice on brushes

[Jack Goossen]

When I started wet shaving, I did so with a boar brush.
It is the well known Proraso with the silver coloured handle.
Inspired by the brush threads on B&B, I acquired a nice soft Yaqi "Sagrada Familia".
I have not used it yet, but am curious about something.
I now get great lathering with the Proraso boar and thus ditto shaves.
It seems logical to me that rubbing brush and lather quite intens makes the soap penetrate deep into the skin.
Yet: I'm under the impression that high end brushes are much softer than my boar brush.
It is difficult for me to imagine such soft brushes penetrating the skin as deep as a harder brush.
Following my line of thought, this would mean a less effective shave using a softer (high end) brush.
I am sure there is some flaw in my supposed logic, but I cannot figure it out.
Please enlighten me on this subject

 

[if_6was9]

You don't want the soap to penetrate the skin. You want to create as slick a lather as possible so the razor glides. If you apply too much pressure when face lathering, you'll break the hairs off the knot. Been there, done that. A little pressure is fine to help exfoliate your skin, but I know many who "paint" their lather on with no swirling. YMMV

 

[Ivo4u2]

Harder brushes are more exfoliating as soft ones you could get the same with a scrub spongue
But for lathering some of my softest work best my horse is real floppy but a lather aholic

 

[NorthernSoul]

The main job the brush has to do is to build the lather. The scrubby feeling is optional so some people like it, others might not. Boars can be very soft at the tips after they've been broken in. They usually have more scrub than the softer grades of badger brushes, though. If you want a scrubbier badger, you can get a Two-band (or Finest grade, same thing). It is soft enough at the tips, without being too floppy as the Silvertip brushes can be. Finest grade is less expensive than Silvertip, so if you like the scrubby feeling, that's a benefit.

 

[rbscebu]

In all seriousness, order one of these Chinese guaranteed genuine pure best badger hair synthetic brushes while you are experimenting with other more up-market brushes. I have a few expensive badger brushes and bought one of these Chinese synthesis for a laugh. The Chinese synthetic is now the only brush I have used for well over a year. After trying my first of these, I purchased another 6 that I gave away.

Here is my brush now after well over 400 three-pass shaves face lathering.

​

You may be surprised at how well this Chinese synthetic brush works. If it doesn't work for you, you are not much out of pocket.

 

[Jack Goossen]

In all seriousness, order one of these Chinese guaranteed genuine pure best badger hair synthetic brushes while you are experimenting with other more up-market brushes. I have a few expensive badger brushes and bought one of these Chinese synthesis for a laugh. The Chinese synthetic is now the only brush I have used for well over a year. After trying my first of these, I purchased another 6 that I gave away.

Here is my brush now after well over 400 three-pass shaves face lathering.

View attachment 1369352​

You may be surprised at how well this Chinese synthetic brush works. If it doesn't work for you, you are not much out of pocket.

Thanks for your advice.
I still would like to know if brushing slash lathering firmly could give a better shave.
I saw different lathering techniques in the Tube.

 

[rbscebu]

Thanks for your advice.
I still would like to know if brushing slash lathering firmly could give a better shave.
I saw different lathering techniques in the Tube.

Soap does not penetrate the skin!

I always face lather by either first rubbing the soap in my facial whiskers/skin or applying a small dollop of cream to the brush. The soap/cream is then worked into a decent lather on my face with a damp brush, gradually adding water to get my desired consistency.

The main purpose of applying lather to face is to work the lather into all areas around each whisker. The lather also provides slickness and "cushion" (whatever that is, said the SR shaver).

A shaving brush does need some stiffness (a.k.a. backbone) to develop the lather and properly apply it. If the stiffer the brush was better, we would all be using steel wire brushes. What each person does is try different brushes until they find one or a few that work best for them.

 

[Medivh]

Synthetic brushes are overall better than anything else for variety of reasons like - the performance is just as good if not better compared to natural brushes, they also have a much lower maintenance, lower risk of shedding, almost indestructible and they are also extremely affordable.

I've tried a silvertip badger brush and it's really good and similar to the synthetics that I own and i've also used a boar, but after countless attempts to break it and to get used to it, I gave up and sold it. For me the boar is the worst brush and the main reason for that is because it ''eats'' too much soap/cream to get to the same level as the other types of brushes.

 

[Jack Goossen]

I still have a lot to learn.
Will use the Yaqi tonight and use the razors and blade I've used the past four weeks.
Would it be useful to soak the brush all afternoon?

 

[Jack Goossen]

Synthetic brushes are overall better than anything else for variety of reasons like - the performance is just as good if not better compared to natural brushes, they also have a much lower maintenance, lower risk of shedding, almost indestructible and they are also extremely affordable.

I've tried a silvertip badger brush and it's really good and similar to the synthetics that I own and i've also used a boar, but after countless attempts to break it and to get used to it, I gave up and sold it. For me the boar is the worst brush and the main reason for that is because it ''eats'' too much soap/cream to get to the same level as the other types of brushes.

Thank you for your reply.
As such I do not mind 'wasting' soap.
What puzzles me is why I see some people on the Tube rubbing their brush rougher than others, who seem to 'paint' the lather.
What do you think?

 

[Kyle89]

I still have a lot to learn.
Will use the Yaqi tonight and use the razors and blade I've used the past four weeks.
Would it be useful to soak the brush all afternoon?

you don't need to soak synthetics if you don't want to

 

[Medivh]

Thank you for your reply.
As such I do not mind 'wasting' soap.
What puzzles me is why I see some people on the Tube rubbing their brush rougher than others, who seem to 'paint' the lather.
What do you think?

It's a different method on applying the lather on your face and there's no wrong or right way to do it rather than what works for you. For some people the painting method works great, while others prefer to do more circular moves. Same goes for the lather. Some folks like their lather to be yoghurt like, while others prefer it to be more watery or a bit dry. You have to experiment and find out which brush and lathering method works for you.

In my opinion, the best results come when I use a bit more cream or soap and then use more water as well. Try different combinations by adding more material or water and with a little practice you will find your own perfect combination.

 

[Jack Goossen]

you don't need to soak synthetics if you don't want to

Is it not useful?

 

[Kyle89]

Is it not useful?

The fibers won't soak up water so in that regard, not useful. It will retain heat for a little bit when soaked in warm water though for those who like that sort of thing.

 

[musicman1951]

Soap does not penetrate the skin, thank heavens.

Soak boar brushes.

You can soak badgers and synthetics. It doesn't do anything, but it won't hurt them. 5-10 seconds to get them wet and a little warm (unless you like cold).

Nothing wrong with liking a scrubby brush, lots of people do. I hate them. But it's just a preference, they all make lather. Use what you like. When you try your first synthetic you might want to swirl it a little slower to keep the lather on your face (rather than your arm, and the wall, etc.).

 

[Tirvine]

I agree that techniques are all over the place. I face lather and find that if the lather is deficient in any way a bit of more scrubby motion on the cheek usually fixes the lather's quality, but the act of applying it is a mixture of painting and swirling. I have never soaked a brush and have used various badgers and one synthetic since I began shaving in the 1960s. To ensure warmth, I dip my already loaded brush in the tiniest bit of hot water for the second and third passes.

 

[Jack Goossen]

I agree that techniques are all over the place. I face lather and find that if the lather is deficient in any way a bit of more scrubby motion on the cheek usually fixes the lather's quality, but the act of applying it is a mixture of painting and swirling. I have never soaked a brush and have used various badgers and one synthetic since I began shaving in the 1960s. To ensure warmth, I dip my already loaded brush in the tiniest bit of hot water for the second and third passes.

Thank you

 

[Tirvine]

Thank you

You are welcome. I think you ought to just play with everything until you find what works best for you and then stop changing and start repeating. As long as lathered soap coats your whiskers it will be fine!

 

[GoodOdour]

I started with a boar, then went to badger. I’m now back with boar. And I’m finding that soaps, like Trumper’s Eucris, that I had dismissed as producing poor lather with badger, now lather great with boar.

 

[jmd]

tl;dr. Blunder through, as if reaching for a light switch in a dark and unfamiliar room, confident that it will be there to unveil a handsome fella upon discovery.

I like how people take an engineering approach to find a solution to a problem/obstacle, and I enjoy others searching for and finding the vocabulary to describe a successful method/algorithm/recipe (that it might not have even occurred to them they were using) to help others. And I celebrate the small adjustments that make a difference.

That said. The only thing I know for sure about soap, brush, and lather, is that whenever I learned (and I don't remember the learning curve there must have been, it may have been visually imprinted before I could speak), I learned it in part because it had never occurred to me there was something disadvantageous to this or that soap or brush.