Confession: I no longer enjoy using natural hair brushes..

[Benoni]

I started my DE-shaving journey around 8 years ago. In the first 6 years, I've gone through a variety of high end badger (M&F, Shavemac,etc.) and boar brushes, the shaves were excellent. Some years ago I decided to add a 5 EUR synthetic brush from Omega to one of my orders, out of curiosity..

A few months later, I had given away most of my natural hair brushes. As much as I wanted to still like them, this cheap synthetic brush completely destroyed badgers that cost me 50 times more. I've only kept my SOC 2-band and first Simpsons brush around for sentimental reasons.

I now have a wide selection of synthetics, all of them together cost less than one of my pricier badgers. I think the biggest difference for me is the speed of building/releasing lather. (YMMV of course)

Has anyone here gone through the same evolution?

 

[nav]

I started my DE-shaving journey around 8 years ago. In the first 6 years, I've gone through a variety of high end badger (M&F, Shavemac,etc.) and boar brushes, the shaves were excellent. Some years ago I decided to add a 5 EUR synthetic brush from Omega to one of my orders, out of curiosity..

A few months later, I had given away most of my natural hair brushes. As much as I wanted to still like them, this cheap synthetic brush completely destroyed badgers that cost me 50 times more. I've only kept my SOC 2-band and first Simpsons brush around for sentimental reasons.

I now have a wide selection of synthetics, all of them together cost less than one of my pricier badgers. I think the biggest difference for me is the speed of building/releasing lather. (YMMV of course)

Has anyone here gone through the same evolution?

I love my synthetics even though I still have two dozen badger brushes. Mostly for the luxurious and traditional feeling they give.

Which ones do you have?

I have about 50 synthetics, mostly from Yaqi. TurnNshave knots are also excellent! My all time favorite are the muhle/EJ silvertip fibre brushes.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I started with three band badger, then tried synths, and am now settled on two band badger. The only synth I have kept is a butterscotch Simpson Chubby 2 which I use for travel as it dries quickly. It is the best synth I tried ahead of some Mervyn Cadmans and others. It is interesting how users often cite time saved as an improvement and I guess my synth lathers quickly. But my badgers can take less than one minute if I wish to build a great lather and in any case, I face lather and really enjoy it. I do not wish to save time lathering, or shaving, so do not wish to reduce the number of passes for example. I enjoy the ritual of preparation and the act of lathering and of shaving, it gives me time to relax and think, beard reduction is almost incidental. I think this hobby is a fun journey of trying things out until we find what we like and we all like different things.

 

[Seveneighth]

I started my DE-shaving journey around 8 years ago. In the first 6 years, I've gone through a variety of high end badger (M&F, Shavemac,etc.) and boar brushes, the shaves were excellent. Some years ago I decided to add a 5 EUR synthetic brush from Omega to one of my orders, out of curiosity..

A few months later, I had given away most of my natural hair brushes. As much as I wanted to still like them, this cheap synthetic brush completely destroyed badgers that cost me 50 times more. I've only kept my SOC 2-band and first Simpsons brush around for sentimental reasons.

I now have a wide selection of synthetics, all of them together cost less than one of my pricier badgers. I think the biggest difference for me is the speed of building/releasing lather. (YMMV of course)

Has anyone here gone through the same evolution?

It depends. I really only like boar brushes for straight shaving but with a safety razor I like more variety and generally settle on a synth for convenience.

Which is your favourite synthetic?

 

[Benoni]

I love my synthetics even though I still have two dozen badger brushes. Mostly for the luxurious and traditional feeling they give.

Which ones do you have?

I have about 50 synthetics, mostly from Yaqi. TurnNshave knots are also excellent! My all time favorite are the muhle/EJ silvertip fibre brushes.

It depends. I really only like boar brushes for straight shaving but with a safety razor I like more variety and generally settle on a synth for convenience.

Which is your favourite synthetic?

My current favorite is the Yaqi Sagrada Familia, mainly because of the handle size/feel. That's where I feel some brands can still improve, it's not hard to find a good synthetic knot but I'd like to see more ergonomic handles.

My first synthetic is still one of my most used brushes:

 

[shave/brush]

I like synthetics the best. I have tried good quality badgers and many boar brushes but nothing can beat the performance of a nice synthetic brush. My favorite is the RazoRock Big Bruce brush and my Chubby2 bush.
A big difference in prices. The Chubby2 cost $90. and the RazoRock cost only $11.00.

 

[Ad Astra]

Agree. Have one badger in rotation but all the rest are synthetics ... Have some excellent boars, nicely broken in ... Put away!


AA

 

[Jut]

I feel quite the opposite. I read posts such as yours from time to time, and buy another synthetic. I continue to not like them.

Many years ago, it was the H.I.S. brush, which was the **** of the walk as to synthetics at the time...absolute rubbish. Then the yaqi...same result. Just a month ago. It was a Simpson Duke 3 synthetic...awful as well.

I am a face lather...I often wonder if the people who love synthetic are bowl latherers; perhaps that would explain the stark differences in opinion.

I know that I keep reverting back to my happy place with Simpson badgers.

As Sly famously said, "different strokes for different folks "

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[nav]

I feel quite the opposite. I read posts such as yours from time to time, and buy another synthetic. I continue to not like them.

Many years ago, it was the H.I.S. brush, which was the **** of the walk as to synthetics at the time...absolute rubbish. Then the yaqi...same result. Just a month ago. It was a Simpson Duke 3 synthetic...awful as well.

I am a face lather...I often wonder if the people who love synthetic are bowl latherers; perhaps that would explain the stark differences in opinion.

I know that I keep reverting back to my happy place with Simpson badgers.

As Sly famously said, "different strokes for different folks "

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I'm a face latherer and still love synthetics.
Having said that, a Simpson X2 Best is still my favorite badger brush.

You really should try a muhle/ej silvertip fibre brush.

 

[pdieten]

I feel quite the opposite. I read posts such as yours from time to time, and buy another synthetic. I continue to not like them.

Many years ago, it was the H.I.S. brush, which was the **** of the walk as to synthetics at the time...absolute rubbish. Then the yaqi...same result. Just a month ago. It was a Simpson Duke 3 synthetic...awful as well.

I am a face lather...I often wonder if the people who love synthetic are bowl latherers; perhaps that would explain the stark differences in opinion.

I know that I keep reverting back to my happy place with Simpson badgers.

As Sly famously said, "different strokes for different folks "

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Might be a matter of finding the right knot. I face lather too and didn't appreciate my first synth all that much. I was recommended to try a cashmere knot, and that one I like enough that I'm happy to use it in rotation alongside my badger brushes, though I'm certainly not giving those up. Looks like a boar, behaves the exact opposite of one. Soft tips and the right amount of give when face lathering.

 

[Esox]

Has anyone here gone through the same evolution?

I did.

I started with an Omega boar. It was my only brush and I used for about a year. Then I bought a Yaqi 24mm Silvertip and used it for quite a while. I liked it much more than my Omega. Then I got a Maggard 22mm Plissoft type synthetic as a gift and loved it from the first shave.

It loads PdP63 twice as fast as my boar, has decent backbone, a little scrub and no scritch at all while being at least as soft, if not softer, than my Silvertip. It hogs no lather at all, which is something I found annoying with my badger, and releases the lather until theres no more to release.

I've been using that brush for about a year and a half now and it hasnt lost a single bristle. Both my boar and badger lost about 6 each in the time I used them.

I've also used an S Brush knot in a custom handle and the RR Tuxedo. I prefer my little Maggard to them both.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I feel quite the opposite. I read posts such as yours from time to time, and buy another synthetic. I continue to not like them.

Many years ago, it was the H.I.S. brush, which was the **** of the walk as to synthetics at the time...absolute rubbish. Then the yaqi...same result. Just a month ago. It was a Simpson Duke 3 synthetic...awful as well.

I am a face lather...I often wonder if the people who love synthetic are bowl latherers; perhaps that would explain the stark differences in opinion.

I know that I keep reverting back to my happy place with Simpson badgers.

As Sly famously said, "different strokes for different folks "

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I agree. My Simpson Chubby 2 Synthetic is the best synth I have tried and it is my travel brush as it dries quickly. That said, it is not a patch on my badger brushes. So, how do I judge that? It by one metric only and that is when I use my Simpson Chubby 1 Manchurian I have a huge smile on my face; it makes me feel good about life and about myself. The synth just makes very good lather, it is merely a tool and nothing more. It is about findng what makes you happy and for me the badger does that and the synth does not.

 

[muzichead]

I was a boar user from the time I started using a brush and ordered my 1st badger in Jan 2017. It was from Larry @ Whipped Dog and really liked it but like everyone else at the time I was intrigued by synthetics so I ordered a Plisson type from Larry and it was game on from there. I immediately went down the hole, as they put it. That brought on not only trying all different types as they came along but also if I decided I liked a particular knot I would order the knot only option and set it in a handle I liked that I'd bought separately. I made several brushes for myself and most are gone now but the ones that are still here are all from Milton @ TurnNShave that I set myself in custom handles. I have the Quartermoon, Angel Hair, and Timberwolf. I am now done going down that hole and am set for life as I have those 3 and the original synth from WD that I rotate through and am very happy with where I'm at... I'd add as well, when I started with synthetics I was a bowl latherer and about a year in became a face latherer full time and all bowl are gone and not missed at all.

 

[03Jarhead]

Yep. Same here. Got rid of all of my natural hair brushes. Boar hair didn’t really make that great of a lather and badgers wouldn’t release the great lather they made. I have none of those problems with synthetic.

 

[shave/brush]

I like using a shave stick and I find for some reason I can not get a second pass from any boar brush and the lather is just not as good from a badger. A synthetic bush beats them all to hell.

 

[BigJ]

Interesting!

Guess that I am ‘old school’ as I still prefer natural hair!!

Great to have so many options these days!!

 

[nemo]

Haven't gone through that evolution and I feel I could never do that, I enjoy all types of brushes. My sympathies on your loss and happiness that you found what you like.

You'll likely come around at some point, variety is the spice of life.

 

[lancre]

I started with a rubbish pure badger, then graduated to a synth and finally to boars. Since then, I've found some badgers I like, and still use my synths for travel, but boars are king for me.

 

[BradWorld]

When I started, synths were pure junk. I bought an Omega synth who’s bristles looked like they should be scrubbing the deck on my boat. Went through the boar and badger ranks until I settled on a Duke 3 as my main brush. Then Plisson came out, and it was a short and fast progression to synth world. I went through a ton of synths as they kept getting better and better. I now rotate between a Yaqi Timberwolf, an Atomic Rocket, and couple of Razorocks that all have the same knot pretty much. I have other synths, but really enjoy the ones I’ve been using recently. If the PAA Atomic Rocket was my only brush, I would be perfectly okay with that. It’s that good. I think I paid $12.95 for it. And yes, I 99% face lather.

 

[Timeclo]

Synthetics definitely have the best performance but in terms of feel, I'd say natural hairs have an edge, hence "natural." SHD badgers have a nice massage feel on the face and boars have this really soft (once broken), tickling sensation on the face as well. I think there's a place for all types of hairs but synthetics are fine, no doubt.