Brush Selection

[ShavingPrivateRyan]

Hello fellow wet shavers. I have a question about brushes and sensitive skin. I started out with a Van Der Hagen brush from walgreens (the cheap one with the green plastic handle). I liked it but mistakenly thought it was affecting my lather when I was trying to shave with Proraso pre/post cream. I didn't realize it wasn't actually shaving cream . Anyways that lead me to purchase a Tweezerman deluxe, which did seem to lather more effeciently, only one problem; the bristles feel prickly and sharp and the thing irritates the crap out of my face. I have very sensitive skin that is prone to drying out and burning caused from all kinds of acne washes, shower gels etcetera. I got a tub of TOBS sandalwood around the same time as the tweezerman and I thought the cream was the culprit for my irritation. I still think it dries me out a little compared to my sample of AOS unscented, which was heavenly, but the tweezerman is definitely to blame for a lot of irritation. Anyone with a very sensitive face have a suggestion for a good brush or something I can do to soften up the tips of the bristles on the tweezerman? I am in college and can't afford to spend hundreds on a brush for the time being. Let's set my price range at preferably $30 or less, $50 tops. I'd prefer to make the tweezerman brush work if possible. Thanks everyone

 

[branford]

I also started with a prickly Tweezerman brush and had very similar experiences to your own. My skin is very sensitive, and I believed that much of my initial irritation while wet shaving was to due to reactions from trying various soaps and creams. Although some of these products did cause irritation, I soon realized that the Tweezerman was causing me brush-burn. I tried washing the brush more thoroughly after each shave, using disinfectant, a hair conditioner, etc. Sadly, the brush remains prickly to this day.

I then decided that that a purchase of a softer silvertip brush was definitely in order. However, price was definitely a consideration. I decided to buy a Whipped Dog silvertip with a ivory resin handle, 22mm knot and 50mm loft. The brush is FANTASTIC. My Tweezerman has been forever banned to a cabinet, only kept as a nostalgic reminder of my entry into wet shaving. Most importantly, any brush with a 20, 22 or 24mm silvertip knot is only $26 at Whipped Dog, plus an additional $5 if you want Larry, the proprietor, to drill down the handle to lower the loft up to an additional 10mm. I personally lowered the knot an extra 5mm. Larry is also a professional and a gentleman. Email or call him with any questions, and he will be happy to offer his advice.

Good Luck!

My Brush:
View attachment 316187

 

[Danricgro]

Vintage blades brand brush. They are 2 band badger and fall right into your price range. I have never used one but they get very positive reviews. The Whipped Dog brushes also are very well thought of around here. I just wanted to present another option.

 

[ShavingPrivateRyan]

I also started with a prickly Tweezerman brush and had very similar experiences to your own. My skin is very sensitive, and I believed that much of my initial irritation while wet shaving was to due to reactions from trying various soaps and creams. Although some of these products did cause irritation, I soon realized that the Tweezerman was causing me brush-burn. I tried washing the brush more thoroughly after each shave, using disinfectant, a hair conditioner, etc. Sadly, the brush remains prickly to this day.

I then decided that that a purchase of a softer silvertip brush was definitely in order. However, price was definitely a consideration. I decided to buy a Whipped Dog silvertip with a ivory resin handle, 22mm knot and 50mm loft. The brush is FANTASTIC. My Tweezerman has been forever banned to a cabinet, only kept as a nostalgic reminder of my entry into wet shaving. Most importantly, any brush with a 20, 22 or 24mm silvertip knot is only $26 at Whipped Dog, plus an additional $5 if you want Larry, the proprietor, to drill down the handle to lower the loft up to an additional 10mm. I personally lowered the knot an extra 5mm. Larry is also a professional and a gentleman. Email or call him with any questions, and he will be happy to offer his advice.

Good Luck!

My Brush:
View attachment 316187

What does drilling the handle to change the loft do?

 

[tezza]

Yes, you can ge a whipped dog silvertip very inexpensively and it will be a very good brush for the money. I had a pure badger brush which was a stiff and scratchy as porcupine needles. Tore up my face real bad. I tried everything to soften it - washing, scrubbing, conditioning and on and on, and one day it occurred to me that the brush was scratchy because the tips were cut to shape the knot, not natural, and what I needed to do was to distress the very tips in a way that would make them fray. I knew women have trouble with split ends, particularly when bleaching their hair, and also trouble with frizzy ends - ah ha! Perfect. So I bought some Loreal blue powder bleach and some 40 volume peroxide, and I bleached out the tips. 3 times. AND IT WORKED! Made the tips completely soft. All stritch and scratch gone! I went a bit too low on the last pass, allowing the bleach to soak up into the shafts as well which took out a bit of the backbone but I was able to use the brush, and it was comfortable! - So if you do this remember; just bleach THE TIPS! And do it incrementally. It will work, for sure and for about 8 bucks. Worth a try since you can't use the brush anyway.

 

[ShavingPrivateRyan]

Also, all of the silver tip selections are out of stock. What is the difference between silver tip and black?

 

[franz]

In your price range I'd consider a boar brush. In my experience boar is often softer and more easily tolerated on the skin than a midgrade badger.

You can find a quality Semogue for ~$20 shipped (look for a knot described as Best 90% tops, which is a finer, less scrubby grade that will tend to break in more quickly). Omegas are fine, too. The B&B Essential over at WCS looks to have a nice knot and will set you back about the same amount of cash.

 

[yellafella321]

Silvertip brushes are generally very soft and can be quite floppy unless the brush is very dense, which also means very expensive. One way to combat that is to reduce the loft, or length of the hairs.

Stay away from pure badger, chances are it will be just as scratchy as your tweezerman.

 

[branford]

Also, all of the silver tip selections are out of stock. What is the difference between silver tip and black?

Pure black knots are usually much more coarse and stiff than a soft silvertip, although I have never tried Larry's pure black. If your skin is sensitive like mine, for literally a few extra dollars, I would opt for the silvertip. Also lowering the loft of a brush by drilling down the hole will make the brush firmer against the face. Many, even most, prefer a firm brush. I, however, like my brushes a little floppy. YMMV. I decided to compromise, and only drilled down 5mm. Although I am quite pleased, if I had to do it again, I would opt for a 22mm knot with a 52mm loft (drilled an extra 3mm) or a 24mm knot at the full 55mm (the 20, 22 and 24 knots are 65mm and the handles have a standard 10mm deep hole).

WD knots also go in and out-of-stock fairly often. Email or call Larry with any questions about the differences between the pure vs. silvertip, loft height, knot diameter, handle choice, brush availability, etc. He will promptly get back to you and address your concerns.

You may also want to consider the Chinese brushes on Ebay like Lijun and Frank Shaving. I decided to choose Whipped Dog because of the excellent reviews, ability to easily converse with Larry and receive the brush within days, and I preferred to buy from an American vendor. Also note that if you consider other brushes such as the well received two-bands from Vintage Blades, that different hair types and grades have a noticeably different feel against the skin. Given your similarity to me, I would still recommend starting with a soft, flexible brush like a silvertip. I have used a two-band, and although a decent brush, my silvertips predominate in my rotation.

My experiences and experimentation with different hair types and grades can be viewed in this thread.

EDIT: I would also recommend the Proraso soaps and creams if you have sensitive skin. I often have burning reactions to many well-loved products, and Proraso always leaves my face calm and refreshed. The Green Tea and Oatmeal for sensitive skin in the white tub is my favorite, lasts a long time and can be purchased for around $10.

 

[Beerhunter]

GF has suggested I buy a new shave brush because my VDH is pathetic looking "I deserve a good brush"
OMG she has opened a Pandora's box with that quote. Now how much money to spend and which brush?
PS. No matter what brush I buy its her fault.

 

[Sir Lurkalot]

ShavingPrivateRyan (good name!):

Ok, I'm going to try to steer you in the correct direction with badgers and the boar guys chime in as well. The WD pictured above is a very reasonable brush and a very nice knot as well. I prefer badger over boar but that's not saying boar is bad. I just prefer badger. You don't need to spend a fortune on a good brush. I started with a Burma Shave boar brush . I knew I didn't like it at all. It wasn't dense enough and it's lathering abilities were so so. I bought a Tweezerman badger and it worked much better. It lacked density however, but, it wasn't a total loss as it did the job. I then located an Omega in pure badger. These are stiff bristles but they have softened enough for me. Still not a very dense brush. The price wasn't terrible. I think I paid $26 for it. If you have sensitive skin, stay away from it. I checked the B/S/T forum and found a Simpson "The Colonel" in best badger. This is my favorite brush. It's dense, has backbone and the tips are soft against the face. It's a great brush for face lathering. Best of all the price was right. I recently purchased a Lijun brush for a very low price and wasn't expecting much. The brush is advertised to be in finest badger. I was surprised by how dense it was when I received it. It had alot of backbone and I thought I would end up getting rid of it because it was very stiff, initially. However, I have been using this brush over the last several days and it is breaking in very nicely. It's starting to "bloom" as they say around here. It is quite the lather hog but on the other hand, it holds the lather in the brush very well. It also has a very nice handle in butterscotch. I hear the Lijun's have a molded handle and not a lathed handle. I suppose the molded handles keep the cost down. It's still a nice handle for being molded. I hear good things about WD and The Golden Nib. Check these sites and hopefully you can find something that you will like and it won't break the bank.

Here's a link to The Golden Nib which explains the different types of badger knots.

 

[German]

I have all three VB 2 Band sizes and they are very soft and inexpensive.

Vintage blades brand brush. They are 2 band badger and fall right into your price range. I have never used one but they get very positive reviews. The Whipped Dog brushes also are very well thought of around here. I just wanted to present another option.

 

[celestino]

Frank Shaving synthetics: $20 delivered, very, very soft, lather monsters and they dry within 2-3 hours at room temperature.
Great all-round brushes. Good luck.

 

[bosseb]

Let's set my price range at preferably $30 or less, $50 tops.

I have very sensitive skin and have this rotation of brushes. I think most of them are in your pricerange!


From left to right: my boars: Vulfix 'Hyde Park', Omega black/clear handle, Semogue 620. My synthetics: Franks Shaving 23 mm, Muhle 19 mm, Muhle Kosmo 21 mm. My horses: Vie-Long 21mm (35/65 % mane - tail), Vie-Long 21mm (50/50 % mane - tail).



From left to right, front row - my badgers: Muhle Silvertip 21 mm, Simpson Berkeley, New Forest Manchurian 22 mm fanshaped, New Forest 22 mm Silvertip bulbshaped.
The softest brushes I know of are the Muhle Silvertip Fibres. I have the older models, I hear that the new ones have better density!


I can say with total confidence that if your skin dries out you need to use an emollient moisturizer after the AS balm. Do not trust the (non alcoholic) AS in this.
Bosse

 

[branford]

bosseb, very handsome collection!

 

[Bearsfan]

I have very sensitive skin and have this rotation of brushes. I think most of them are in your pricerange!

View attachment 316422
From left to right: my boars: Vulfix 'Hyde Park', Omega black/clear handle, Semogue 620. My synthetics: Franks Shaving 23 mm, Muhle 19 mm, Muhle Kosmo 21 mm. My horses: Vie-Long 21mm (35/65 % mane - tail), Vie-Long 21mm (50/50 % mane - tail).


View attachment 316423
From left to right, front row - my badgers: Muhle Silvertip 21 mm, Simpson Berkeley, New Forest Manchurian 22 mm fanshaped, New Forest 22 mm Silvertip bulbshaped.
The softest brushes I know of are the Muhle Silvertip Fibres. I have the older models, I hear that the new ones have better density!


I can say with total confidence that if your skin dries out you need to use an emollient moisturizer after the AS balm. Do not trust the (non alcoholic) AS in this.
Bosse

Sensitive skin and no 830? Say it ain't so!

Seriously, that is one soft brush.

 

[ShavingPrivateRyan]

Thank you for the overwhelming responses everyone! I ended up getting my hands on a nice Franks Shaving Finest badger. I would post a picture but I don't have a camera . Is it common to get "fly-aways", as the ladies call them, on the outer edges of your brush? Also the tips of the hairs seemed to be absorbing the soap and it would not rinse out no matter how long I tried. Ended up soaking it in a light dish soap solution and followed that with a soak in a light solution of distilled vinegar. It cleared it right up but man that was the weirdest thing. Neither one of my el cheapo brushes has ever done anything like that.