BK4 Bristle Loss?

[AJS]

Whilst I am very happy with my Kent BK4, it is an exceptionally soft brush which produces wonderfully dense, creamy lather, there is one slight concern I have with it, and, if you hadn't guessed from the title of the thread, that is the amount of bristles that I lose with each shave. After my initial lathering, there are always a handful of hairs in my mixing bowl, then when I shave I normally get about half a dozen hairs caught up on the razor blade (this happens with each pass) and finally, when I rinse the brush and shake it dry another three or four hairs work themselves lose. Initially I thought that this was just a case of the brush "settling" down, but I have had it for over three weeks now and the bristle loss continues unabated. Like I said I am very happy with the perfromance of the brush otherwise ( it is easily on par with the Rooney Super Silvertip I have, which cost a lot more) but the bristle loss is somewhat worrying. Should the brush settle down given a bit more time? Can a shaving brush have alopecia? Or, do I have something to worry about?
Regards,
AJS

 

[drP]

AJS,

Such an abundant hair loss is not normal after the break in period; if i were you i would contact Steve Davis of Kent with this problem; after all, Steve is a member of this forum, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Peter

 

[joel]

AJS,

Such an abundant hair loss is not normal after the break in period; if i were you i would contact Steve Davis of Kent with this problem; after all, Steve is a member of this forum, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Peter

I agree with Peter, I would contact the retailer with which you purchased the brush from (ideally first), and if you cannoy get resolution contact Steve Davis at [email protected]

 

[AJS]

Thankyou DrP and Joel. To be honest I was a little reluctant to contact Kent out of the blue because I got the brush from a third party supplier. Another problem is that I operate with a filing system called organised chaos; on the surface it is a wonderful, complication free practice which simply involves throwing everything into a big pile, thus avoiding the stress of actually having to arrange things in specific order. The short fall of the system only becomes apparent when you need to retrieve information from the pile, like I do now. Hahahaha. I cant even remember the name of the company that I got the brush from, I couldn't get onto the Kent site, so I went with the first company on the google search. I know the information is in there somewhere, but actually finding it will mean hiring some pretty expensive mining equipment ( I could also do with Indiana Jones to help sort through all the mess to be honest, or maybe Angelina Jolie dressed up in her Lara Croft outfit!) It's not my fault though, I'm a student I'm supposed to live like this!
Regards, AJS

 

[kwangomango]

Hi all,

I am experiencing a similar problem with my BK4. For the first week there was no shedding, the next couple of weeks i would maybe lose a couple hairs, here and there. Now after 4 weeks it is shedding like crazy! At a guess i lost 25 hairs this morning alone. What is going on? Could it be that i shake the brush too hard to remove the water? Could it be a change in the humidity?
AJS, did you get get in touch with Kent regarding this issue?

Thanks.

 

[Kyle]

Definitely contact Kent.

 

[AJS]

Hi kwangomango,
I never found the courage to tackle the filing pile so I didn't contact Kent. My problems with the BK4 seem to mirror yours quite closely (apart from not shedding in the first few weeks, mine did a bit) after a couple of weeks the hair loss was still continuing unabated so I contacted the members here and since then the problem has got even worse. I usually lose about 10-20 hairs in the bowl before I have even lathered my face, each pass that I do I usually get another 5-10 hairs caught up in my razor and when I shake the brush out another 15-20 (at least) bristles seem to work their way loose, and that's just what I am aware of. Like you I was worried about shaking the brush too hard (not that I did) so now I handle it with kid gloves, but still no change. I was really surprised by this, because everyone here speaks so highly of Kent, and I was disappoionted too because, despite the rapid hair loss, I really like the feel of the brush on my face it is very soft and luxurious and gives great lather but at the rate I am going (or more accurately, the rate the bristles are going) I don't think I will have much of a shaving brush left before long.
So far my experiences with shaving brushes have not been good, I have mentioned this before but for those who are not familiar with my tragic story:
I started with a Men-U synthetic which I just couldn't get on with, had the BK4 bristle loss problem and had a Rooney Super Silvertip stolen from a hotel room. I have a Simpsons PJ3 in super but I am scared to take it out of the box because of what's going to happen next.
Warm regards,
Alex

 

[Dennis]

Hmmm...

DrP = Contact Kent
Joel = Contact Kent
kwangomango = Contact Kent
Kyle = Contact Kent

now Dennis says...
Contact Kent, even if you did buy it directly from them it is still their brush.

I wonder if anyone sees any pattern there...



Dennis

 

[Jonnybc]

Hi kwangomango,
I never found the courage to tackle the filing pile so I didn't contact Kent. My problems with the BK4 seem to mirror yours quite closely (apart from not shedding in the first few weeks, mine did a bit) after a couple of weeks the hair loss was still continuing unabated so I contacted the members here and since then the problem has got even worse. I usually lose about 10-20 hairs in the bowl before I have even lathered my face, each pass that I do I usually get another 5-10 hairs caught up in my razor and when I shake the brush out another 15-20 (at least) bristles seem to work their way loose, and that's just what I am aware of. Like you I was worried about shaking the brush too hard (not that I did) so now I handle it with kid gloves, but still no change. I was really surprised by this, because everyone here speaks so highly of Kent, and I was disappoionted too because, despite the rapid hair loss, I really like the feel of the brush on my face it is very soft and luxurious and gives great lather but at the rate I am going (or more accurately, the rate the bristles are going) I don't think I will have much of a shaving brush left before long.
So far my experiences with shaving brushes have not been good, I have mentioned this before but for those who are not familiar with my tragic story:
I started with a Men-U synthetic which I just couldn't get on with, had the BK4 bristle loss problem and had a Rooney Super Silvertip stolen from a hotel room. I have a Simpsons PJ3 in super but I am scared to take it out of the box because of what's going to happen next.
Warm regards,
Alex

Kent's customer service is excellent, I don't think you need courage to contact them. They're wholly committed to their products and, I feel, they would prefer their customers to be 100% satisfied with their brushes.

Contact Kent!

 

[madmedic]

Their customer service in Kent is excellent. I received a double order a few weeks back.....and rather than incur expense ......I was told to keep the items.


Unfortunately it was not the order with the BK4 :-(

Brian

 

[roughrider]

I'll say it too. Contact Kent.

 

[AJS]

Firstly, DrP, Kyle and Joel, my reluctance to contact Kent should in no way be construed as a wilful attempt to ignore your advice; as usual it is appreciated and like I always say, if it wasn't for the members here I would have probably given up wetshaving a while ago. My lack of desire to contact Kent is down to my own personal hang ups and a crippling social ineptitude. But seenig as the general consensus seems to be to contact Kent then I will try and do so, as soon as I figure out how to word an e-mail that adequately explains why I was such a bonehead and waited so long to get in contact with them in the first place.
Warm regards,
Alex

 

[kwangomango]

I contacted Kent via email and they suggested that the brush was faulty. They sent out a replacement the next day(i live in England). Excellent service.