Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Once I whip up a decent face lather I can’t really see the stubble to tell if it’s raised up.
Brushes Raise the Stubble - I disagree
- Thread starter Chandu
- Start date
If brushes and lather aren’t doing anything, then putting a hot moist towel on your face and then smearing Vaseline over your beard would work. I’m not willing to try that. Maybe some of the lather and brush disbelievers would care to give it a go?
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- #23
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
Lather and brush is just another way to lubricate your face for the shave IMO. I shave after a shower so I've already washed my face, so I don't need the brush and soap to cut oils or hydrate whiskers nearly as much as back in the days when bathing wasn't as frequent and so on, i.e., the days when brushes started being used.
If I bathed and shaved once a week, then I think the brush would live up to more of its touted properties. I just feel that for the daily or near daily shaver, many of those benefits don't matter or aren't happening. Today I need a brush to make lather and get it onto my face. I don't need exfoliation, hair raising, whisker cleansing...
Yeah, I think that a lot of what we think are "facts" around here are actually wishful thinking.
If I said it, you know it’s true...or at least what I understand as the truth. Perhaps I’m no better than the fake news.
<said with tongue firmly planted in cheek>
Sounds like you're quoting me now. Next week I will undoubtedly type something that is the complete opposite of what I typed earlier. I am without question a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction.If I said it, you know it’s true...or at least what I understand as the truth. Perhaps I’m no better than the fake news.
<said with tongue firmly planted in cheek>
I'd have made a great politician. But not a statesman. They usually have a moral code that makes them hold out for higher bribes. I have a feeling I could be bought cheap!
I think the real exfoliating happens with the razor.and blade.
This is pure coincidence, but lately I've tossed the brush to the side and instead been applying Proraso cream by hand. I don't feel a difference between a brush and brushless shave other than the cream texture. The benefit of using a brush is keeping your hands clean. As always, YSMV.
But you must agree it does feel great.
We could go on all year on this but why are so many thinking they do nothing, in fact, the brush works its magic with the soap for a reason.
The brush lifts the hair up away from the face if you don't think it does here is a simple trick, wet your arm hair and take a look the hair sticks to the skin when wet the water sucks it down onto the skin.
That's why you itch when you start to dry off as the hair is springing back up of the skin, so the idea of the brush and soap is two-fold first it lifts the hair and put the lubrication between the skin and hair to protect the skin.
The main idea of the brush to lift the hair enough for the razor to cut clean with a layer of soap between the two and it stops the hair from sticking down on the skin, that s why soap and brush go so well together and cannot use one without the other....
And that sums it all up for the perfect shave and no burning skin, hence exfoliation of the skin helps lift the hair so all the non-believer's hydrate your skin with water and shave and see how you glow...
The brush lifts the hair up away from the face if you don't think it does here is a simple trick, wet your arm hair and take a look the hair sticks to the skin when wet the water sucks it down onto the skin.
That's why you itch when you start to dry off as the hair is springing back up of the skin, so the idea of the brush and soap is two-fold first it lifts the hair and put the lubrication between the skin and hair to protect the skin.
The main idea of the brush to lift the hair enough for the razor to cut clean with a layer of soap between the two and it stops the hair from sticking down on the skin, that s why soap and brush go so well together and cannot use one without the other....
And that sums it all up for the perfect shave and no burning skin, hence exfoliation of the skin helps lift the hair so all the non-believer's hydrate your skin with water and shave and see how you glow...
I find the concept dubious as well, just like the idea that pores "open". The brush might help in other ways, though.
When I've tried shaving with Cremo in the dry winter months, I notice I have a problem hydrating my skin adequately vs. a brush and lathering shaving cream. On the other hand, using a brush and face lathering is potentially harsh for some skin types.
But if you shave during or after a shower, hydration isn't going to be a problem. My best wet shaves have always been on those days after I take a bath or shower.
My big issue with the whole wet shaving thing is that it's incredibly hard on my back for some reason to stand over a sink and wash my face for two minutes- the wear and tear adds up after a few days and I end up with a sore back (I had a spinal tap a few years ago and my back has not been the same since). I use micellar water normally to clean my face off, so I don't typically wash my face by conventional means.
The hot towel or washcloth thing does work as a substitute for a lengthy face washing, and very well, but it's a big hassle for daily shaving.
When I've tried shaving with Cremo in the dry winter months, I notice I have a problem hydrating my skin adequately vs. a brush and lathering shaving cream. On the other hand, using a brush and face lathering is potentially harsh for some skin types.
But if you shave during or after a shower, hydration isn't going to be a problem. My best wet shaves have always been on those days after I take a bath or shower.
My big issue with the whole wet shaving thing is that it's incredibly hard on my back for some reason to stand over a sink and wash my face for two minutes- the wear and tear adds up after a few days and I end up with a sore back (I had a spinal tap a few years ago and my back has not been the same since). I use micellar water normally to clean my face off, so I don't typically wash my face by conventional means.
The hot towel or washcloth thing does work as a substitute for a lengthy face washing, and very well, but it's a big hassle for daily shaving.
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I've always believed this. What the brush probably does is massage in moisture, the soap breaking down the surfaces resistance, allowing the whisker to swell making it less dense and easier to cut. But lift the whisker? Sounds physically impossible. Think about it. Whiskers are not only tough and stiff but very, very short which makes them even stiffer. The higher the loft on a brush the floppier, right? Do you really think when the softer and longer hair of the brush comes up against the shorter, stiffer whiskers that it's the whiskers that's going to give?
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Interesting thought.
I don't know about the hair raising but what I do know is boars, being stiffer, provide a much better lather than synthetic. I started with a cheap synthetic and then moved to boar and never bothered with synthetic again. I don't even own that synthetic anymore.
However I do suppose it raises the hair somewhat or at least lubricate the bottom part of the hair which I believe might be something synthetic can't achieve.
I don't know about the hair raising but what I do know is boars, being stiffer, provide a much better lather than synthetic. I started with a cheap synthetic and then moved to boar and never bothered with synthetic again. I don't even own that synthetic anymore.
However I do suppose it raises the hair somewhat or at least lubricate the bottom part of the hair which I believe might be something synthetic can't achieve.
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- #34
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
I would definitely agree with this when my whiskers are longer, 4 or more days. So for the non daily shaver I think brushes help at least place the lather where it needs to be even if the whisker may bend back to whence it came.
Big +2 to these comments.
I am not sure whether the brush does, or does not, lift my whiskers. I just like the way the process of applying lather to my face with a nice shaving brush feels.
I concur. Stubble raising and stubble holding by lather peaks is a myth.
A grown-up male's facial hair growth is on average between 0.3-0.5mm per 24h. If you shave daily or even just twice/week, hair will still be so short, that there'd be nothing to "maneuver" in any direction, be it up or down.
The only way to "raise" the hair is to stretch the skin in the opposite direction of the hair growth pattern. This way, you physically (mechanically) make the stubble protrude, thus it becomes easier to shaver.
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I wholeheartedly agree with your disagreement, who thinks like that ?
I never used the brush for the purpose of raising the hair, only to work out a good lather, spreading it evenly on my face and enjoying a guilty pleasure of pampering myself.
Infact, to actually raise the hair by using brush, you'll have to rub the brush against the growth and that'll be temporary and it'd do nothing good but cause unnecessary irritation.
if I wanted to raise my facial hair, I just have to decide to use my old inefficient razor, that'll scare up my facial hair.
I never used the brush for the purpose of raising the hair, only to work out a good lather, spreading it evenly on my face and enjoying a guilty pleasure of pampering myself.
Infact, to actually raise the hair by using brush, you'll have to rub the brush against the growth and that'll be temporary and it'd do nothing good but cause unnecessary irritation.
if I wanted to raise my facial hair, I just have to decide to use my old inefficient razor, that'll scare up my facial hair.
I completely agree with @Chandu on this one. Although there are many, many benefits to using a brush prior to shaving I believe “lifting whiskers” only occurs if the hairs are long enough, and thus pliable enough to be moved and stay in a vertical position. Not unlike a comb through wet-shampooed hair. Although the shampoo will help weigh down the hairs in place or make them stick together vertically, they will still spring back to their resting positions if too short.
Now, I would assume what constitutes as “long enough“ would depend on factors like hair/root/follicle hydration, length and overall shape of the hair, the type and amount of software used directly on the hairs, the technique (direction in relation to growth, amount of torque placed along the brush fibers), location relative to gravity, time, and any I might have overlooked.
As an aside, brushes can be used to manage longer hairs from beards and mustaches to prevent them from getting in the way of the shaving area.
Now, I would assume what constitutes as “long enough“ would depend on factors like hair/root/follicle hydration, length and overall shape of the hair, the type and amount of software used directly on the hairs, the technique (direction in relation to growth, amount of torque placed along the brush fibers), location relative to gravity, time, and any I might have overlooked.
As an aside, brushes can be used to manage longer hairs from beards and mustaches to prevent them from getting in the way of the shaving area.
Great response Dave! I’m slightly annoyed I didn’t think of adding the mechanical lifting via skin pull aspect to my post as well. I will add though, for any who might not know, that pulling the skin to raise the follicles while shaving ATG is a great way to cause in-growns especially if you are prone to them or are of black descent. My only recommendation regarding that is when pulling the skin for an ATG pass, try to just keep the skin just taught enough to prevent bunching up. Good slickness will reduce the need for over pulling the skin.
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