Are badger brushes available with short hair ?

[Bass301]

I am a newbie DE shaver and my badger brush , received as a gift a few years ago and not marked with a brand name , seems to draw up a considerable amount of lather toward the knot when making lather on my face which is not convenient to squeeze out and use while lathering.

Are badger brushes available with short hair ?
This would limit the amount of lather drawn up toward the knot.

If available , please recommend an affordable brush ( translation : low price ).

Thanks ,
Kevin

 

[Loric]

Brushes do come in short lofts (height). Typically short loft brushes are best for face lathering and soap use. When you shorten the length of the hair there is less flex and you wind up with a firmer brush. This helps load hard soaps and to give your face a good scrub while you lather. There is no reason you cant use a short loft brush to bowl lather or for creams, but they are theoretically more suited for the former.

Can you tell us a little more about your preferences? Do you bowl or face lather? How big were you looking for a brush to be? What was your budget? I could name off quite a few brushes with a bit more info is all.

 

[JackJ]

Affordable is all relative of course, but my favorite brush among the four quality models I own is the Simpson Case, which can be had new for under $50, or slightly more than that if you get it with the matching travel tube. Its bristles are short at 42 mm nominal, with a 19 mm width. It definitely allows you to get the most out of your cream or soap, leaving only a small amount behind when you're done.

If you want to go really small, there's the Simpson Wee Scott for less than $40. Its bristles (aka, "knot") measure just 36 mm tall by 14 mm wide. It's got lots of fans, though some find the handle too small for comfortable use. I plan to pick one up eventually.

There may be less expensive options out there, but these are very high quality. The Case has a very dense, luxurious feel that I really enjoy.

Jack

 

[huntmol]

I think you should contact Rudy Vey - he does great work (custom lofts included) and it seems to me that all of his stuff is very reasonably priced.

 

[Loric]

I think you should contact Rudy Vey - he does great work (custom lofts included) and it seems to me that all of his stuff is very reasonably priced.

+1 Plus he makes amazingly beautiful handles

 

[Bass301]

Loric asked :
"Can you tell us a little more about your preferences? Do you bowl or face lather? How big were you looking for a brush to be? What was your budget? I could name off quite a few brushes with a bit more info is all."

My reply :
I much prefer to face lather with a stick and brush rather than use a bowl. I like the logic of having the lather and brush in contact with the beard as much of the time as possible. The loft on my current badger brush is about two inches (50 mm) long which seems too long for my use. I find myself holding the brush on the hairs rather than the wooden handle ----- "choking up " like a baseball hitter trying to make a long baseball bat seem shorter. A loft of one inch ( 25mm ) would seem about right compared to the way I have been using the two inch (50mm) brush. As with anything, I would like the price to be as low as possible. For purposes of this conversation , lower than US$ 40 with the lower the better.

Is it possible to just cut the too large brush down to size with scissors ?

 

[nole1]

I find myself holding the brush on the hairs rather than the wooden handle ----- "choking up " like a baseball hitter trying to make a long baseball bat seem shorter.A loft of one inch ( 25mm ) would seem about right compared to the way I have been using the two inch (50mm) brush.

I doubt you would really want a brush with a 25mm loft. You want it to have at least a little splay.

Is it possible to just cut the too large brush down to size with scissors ?

Only if you have another brush to replace this one with when you ruin it . Just kidding, kind of. Not to say you couldn't trim down a brush and make it still usable, I just wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Loric]

Is it possible to just cut the too large brush down to size with scissors ?

I would STRONGLY ADVISE YOU NOT TO DO THIS. If you cut badger hair it will be exceptionally sharp and prickly. You will get a short scrubby brush but it will never be comfortable again. Badger hair is remarkably durable and resists wear to a great extent, so once its trimmed it will retain its sharp cut edges for a long long time.

I love short loft brushes, but once you go down to 25mm its really just going to be to short to. It will be more of a hair spike than a brush at that point.
Plus it will not have the mass to hold much lather and you will most likely need to recharge the brush with soap every pass or two. The shortest loft I have in my collection is 44mm, and thats a 22mm knot. A very dense brush can sometimes hog lather and not let it go, so it might be worth it for you to look for a brush that is only of medium density.

Another possibility as that your lathering technique needs some improvement. There are some good threads and Youtube videos on the subject and would be worth a look.

If you really want to try for yourself how short you want your knot to be, you should buy a knot and handle from TGN and try it out at different depths. I just did this not long ago, and I'm exceedingly pleased with the proses and the result. I learned quite a bit about lofts and I got a brush that is "just right" for me. Just make sure you find a handle with a very deep knot bed. Tony at TGN might even be able to drill one of his stock handles out a bit more to accommodate your experiment.

I used slices of cork as filler to set my knots at different lofts. Then I glued it in with a good silicone adhesive. The silicone is good because it is water resistant but if you only use a dab you can gently pull the knot out after and reset it if you choose to move it. I did this a couple times and did not seem to do any harm to the knot.

 

[neilt]

depending on your price point, vintage brushes has some shorter loft rooneys that are new and some comments say they are very dense...

I don't face lather. I whip eggs and paint. I like the egg whipping part. My current brush has a loft of 62mm and works soaps in a hurry.

I personally think water quality pays more into your lather than does your brush or technique.