Chubby Shedding Woes

[CarlosAT]

I've been using my new Simpson Two Band Chubby pretty regularly over the past couple of weeks. At most, it's shed may 3 hairs in total during that time. Something odd happened this morning though. After not using it for a couple of days, I loaded it with Tabac soap this morning and I lost 8 hairs!!

I know it's normal for a new brush to lose hairs and this brush is really just breaking in, but should I be concerned about the sudden loss of that many hairs all at once?

Other then not using it every day, the only thing I can think of is that the tempature has broken 90 for the last 5 days and my bathroom isn't air conditioned. Could that be the cause? Other then that, I haven't done anything different.

I know I should probably give it a little more time before freaking out, but should I be worried or is this still within "normal" parameters? Of course, I don't think they have any Two Bands left, and that worries me too.

Thanks!

 

[gollum83]

Are you sure they came loose all at once? If you've been using Tabac regularly during since you have had the brush, then it could be entirely possible that maybe you didn't notice those until now. It's also possible that maybe those eight hairs have been loose, but didn't work themselves out from the rest of the knot until today. Regardless of how it happened, I wouldn't worry unless it sheds like that again in the near future.

 

[HoratioCaine]

...should I be concerned about the sudden loss of that many hairs all at once?

Maybe, but wait and see. Matt pretty much gave you the lowdown. When brushes are made, sometimes not every single hair in the knot gets cemented, so losing a few when the brush is new is nothing to get alarmed about, although I know you'd rather they all stay in. Eight does sound like a lot, but again, wait and see. If you don't lose any more, I wouldn't worry about it. If the pattern continues, you should contact either the vendor or the manufacturer to see about a remedy.

As for the heat, I doubt that would be a factor. Brushes can be soaked in fairly hot water, which is definitely warmer than 90 degrees. Today's epoxies can withstand a fair amount of abuse. However, if it is temperature related, that sounds like a clear defect, because no cement in a modern brush should be reacting that way. Again, wait and see.

 

[ambrose]

scary keep up posted

 

[moman]

Is the banding even in the hair. Does the head look slightly lopsided?

My guess would be that there are some short hairs in the head which haven't been glued in as firmly as the others. Run a comb through it when it is dry and see if you get just a couple (not so bad) or great clumps of hair (this would be bad!).

I'd keep my eye on it and see if the shedding dies down after a month or so of use.

If it doesn't I'd definitely contact the vendor and tell them. My experience with Vulfix has been excellent so I'm sure they'd look after you if there was something fundamentally wrong with the brush.

Fingers crossed

 

[CarlosAT]

Are you sure they came loose all at once? If you've been using Tabac regularly during since you have had the brush, then it could be entirely possible that maybe you didn't notice those until now. It's also possible that maybe those eight hairs have been loose, but didn't work themselves out from the rest of the knot until today. Regardless of how it happened, I wouldn't worry unless it sheds like that again in the near future.

They definately came out all at once. I look at the soap daily when cleaning up to make sure, and it's usually hairless; plus yesterday morning, I noticed them starting to stick out of the brush when checking how well the brush was loaded.

As for the heat, I doubt that would be a factor. Brushes can be soaked in fairly hot water, which is definitely warmer than 90 degrees. Today's epoxies can withstand a fair amount of abuse. However, if it is temperature related, that sounds like a clear defect, because no cement in a modern brush should be reacting that way. Again, wait and see.

Good to know. At least I can feel better that this isn't a newbie mistake.

Is the banding even in the hair. Does the head look slightly lopsided?

My guess would be that there are some short hairs in the head which haven't been glued in as firmly as the others. Run a comb through it when it is dry and see if you get just a couple (not so bad) or great clumps of hair (this would be bad!).

I'd keep my eye on it and see if the shedding dies down after a month or so of use.

If it doesn't I'd definitely contact the vendor and tell them. My experience with Vulfix has been excellent so I'm sure they'd look after you if there was something fundamentally wrong with the brush.

Fingers crossed

Thanks. Because of the density, I can shift the hair from one side to another and it will stay where I shifted it, but it's not lopsided per se, because when it dries, it balances out. I'll try a comb tonight to see what happens.


As for an update, I did lose another 8 hairs this morning. I'm still hoping that because of its density, it just has that much more that it can lose without it being abnormal, so I'm not going to freak out just yet, but I have to admit that I'm getting warmer.

 

[CarlosAT]

Another update for all of you that have been helping me. I combed out the brush last night and 4 hairs were lose and came out. This morning, 7 more came out as I loaded and lathered using Col. Conk's Almond Soap.

I'll see what the weekend holds, but I suspect that I will be sending out some emails come Monday.

 

[HoratioCaine]

Carlos, that does sound like an unusual amount. If that happened with any of my brushes, I know I'd consider it a problem. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that.

 

[CarlosAT]

Carlos, that does sound like an unusual amount. If that happened with any of my brushes, I know I'd consider it a problem. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that.

Thank you. I'm afraid they won't be able to replace this with another Two Band since they are out of hair at last check.

Another update ... I lost another 15 this morning. I'm going to contact the vendor today. Based on my and others' experiences, I'm starting to think that they rushed out the latest batch of two bands. Very sad!

 

[ambrose]

that is sad I hope it all works well for you.

 

[strat1117]

I had a similar experience a couple of months with a Rooney 1/2. It was absolutely fine for about 3 weeks and then, for no apparent reason, it started shedding like crazy. It was replaced, no questions asked, and now all appears to be well.

I'm confident your vendor will take care of it for you. Let us know what happens.

Good luck!

 

[HoratioCaine]

My new CH2 is shedding quite a bit. I've only used it once so far, so it's quite early to tell how it will go over time. Still, it was quite startling to see. I can say right at the start that I've never owned a brush that has shedded this much over its entire life, let alone in its first use. My Plissons and Kent have never lost so much as a single hair. My older Simpsons do lose a hair on occasion, but nothing like this. I have to admit it has put me on guard somewhat about what Vulfix has done with the brand. I hope my fears get allayed with further use.

 

[ambrose]

oh man thats not good

 

[HoratioCaine]

oh man thats not good

I'm inclined to agree, although I'm taking a wait and see approach. I'm certainly not trying to start a panic; I'm just noting what I've noticed so far. Things could improve - or they might not. Time will tell.

 

[RetroGrouch]

I'd give it a bit of time before I jumped to conclusions. I've had several brushes that lost hairs for the first several shaves, but it eventually stopped.

For the first shave in particular, it's quite normal for Simpson brushes to lose several hairs. They're just loose (not glued in) and weren't properly combed out. Once the unglued hairs shed themselves over the first few shaves, it usually stops or slows dramatically.

There are several thousand hairs in an average shaving brush. A few hairs -- or even a few dozen hairs -- makes no difference.

Give it a few weeks and see what happens. If it's still shedding several hairs per shave after several weeks, then you definitely have a problem. Until then, try not to worry.

 

[gollum83]

I'd give it a bit of time before I jumped to conclusions. I've had several brushes that lost hairs for the first several shaves, but it eventually stopped.

For the first shave in particular, it's quite normal for Simpson brushes to lose several hairs. They're just loose (not glued in) and weren't properly combed out. Once the unglued hairs shed themselves over the first few shaves, it usually stops or slows dramatically.

There are several thousand hairs in an average shaving brush. A few hairs -- or even a few dozen hairs -- makes no difference.

Give it a few weeks and see what happens. If it's still shedding several hairs per shave after several weeks, then you definitely have a problem. Until then, try not to worry.

Well the thing is I think Carlos has done just that. As he stated in his first post he has been using this particular brush pretty regularly over the past couple of weeks. Now that said the shedding has only really been an issue as of late, and if it was me I would give it two weeks to quit shedding like this, but it is Carlos's call.

And speaking of calls, did you get a response back yet Carlos? I'm kind of curious to hear how things went with the vendor.

 

[Rudy Vey]

I'd give it a bit of time before I jumped to conclusions. I've had several brushes that lost hairs for the first several shaves, but it eventually stopped.

For the first shave in particular, it's quite normal for Simpson brushes to lose several hairs. They're just loose (not glued in) and weren't properly combed out. Once the unglued hairs shed themselves over the first few shaves, it usually stops or slows dramatically.

There are several thousand hairs in an average shaving brush. A few hairs -- or even a few dozen hairs -- makes no difference.

Give it a few weeks and see what happens. If it's still shedding several hairs per shave after several weeks, then you definitely have a problem. Until then, try not to worry.

You are right, there are several thousand hairs in a brush. Let me give you all an idea: 1 gram of Badger hair has approx 1000 hairs. A medium sized knot of 21 mm weighs in at 14 gram, so there are about 14000 hairs in this knot. This is an info I got from Bernd at Shavemac, and I believe it can be also found on their site.
Nevertheless, shedding a few hairs during the "break-in" phase is quite normal, so I would not worry too much about it. But, if the number of hairs you find coming out does not decline or stop totally after, say 10-14 days, then I definitely would contact the seller and ask for a replacement.
My only brush that shed hairs so far was made with a 24 mm Silvertip knot, and it lost 3-5 hairs the first say 10-15 shaves, so total of about 50 hairs. Then it stopped and has lost maybe two or three since end of March.
My Finest and Pure badger brushes have not lost any hair at all.

 

[HoratioCaine]

My new CH2 didn't shed a single hair during my second shave with it. Perhaps the shedding was just an unusually high number of loose hairs that didn't make it out with the combing at the factory.

 

[CarlosAT]

Hey guys! Sorry I fell off the face of the earth for a while. As for an update, after losing over 40 hairs in 4 days, I contacted the vendor. He promptly responded and said to keep using it and if it doesn't subside, to send it back to him and he'd forward it to Simpson (Vulfix) to get a new knot put into it.

I gave it a day of rest and then used it the following day. It lost 24 additional hairs on that day.

In the words of Popeye, "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!" I sent it back to the vendor yesterday. Hopefully Vulfix has some more Two Band hair lying around somewhere to get a new knot in there.

 

[mretzloff]

Keep us posted on what happens.

I guess Vulfix has carried over Simpsons' quality control problems.