Does "splaying" the brush help with lathering?

[Rudy Vey]

Too much splaying (with pressing the brush in your face with too much force) may result in the following (good for us brush makers... but not for your brush). A bit pressure is tolerated, but too much is too much...the result is often seen in this donut hole effect, hairs break off and eventually this is what the brush can look like - you may see the first results in smaller hairs in your soap or lather bowl. I think the right word is "moderation" when it comes to applying pressure to get a splay effect.

 

[Cino]

I see it as splaying the hair around the circumference of the brush which is 360 degrees

 

[Cino]

Too much splaying (with pressing the brush in your face with too much force) may result in the following (good for us brush makers... but not for your brush). A bit pressure is tolerated, but too much is too much...the result is often seen in this donut hole effect, hairs break off and eventually this is what the brush can look like - you may see the first results in smaller hairs in your soap or lather bowl. I think the right word is "moderation" when it comes to applying pressure to get a splay effect.

Rudy - I splay the knot to 1/3 (typically) the loft, +/-. Is that too much? I've never produced a donut hole but don't want to tempt fate.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Rudy - I splay the knot to 1/3 (typically) the loft, +/-. Is that too much? I've never produced a donut hole but don't want to tempt fate.

I think this would still be fine, I also splay a little bit, but never thought about it in degrees or angles. There are really no rules I think, but I could imagine the denser the brush is, the more one will see this if too much pressure is used.

 

[Barbarian80]

Too much splaying (with pressing the brush in your face with too much force) may result in the following (good for us brush makers... but not for your brush). A bit pressure is tolerated, but too much is too much...the result is often seen in this donut hole effect, hairs break off and eventually this is what the brush can look like - you may see the first results in smaller hairs in your soap or lather bowl. I think the right word is "moderation" when it comes to applying pressure to get a splay effect.

From the looks of that hair that brush must have felt like lathering with a pin cushion.

 

[rbscebu]

I use a stick soap and face lather. As a SR shaver, the condition of my lather is very important. "Cushion", whatever that is, doesn't come into it.

I find that the amount of splay needed when lathering is very much related to the backbone of the brush. When shaving with my Proraso Pro boar brush that has a strong backbone, I tend to build my face lather with just the tips of the bristles. When using my Chinese synthetic brush, I build my face lather with a little more splay.

Be that as it may and not withstanding the foregoing, you should just do whatever you find best for you. There are no rules in shaving.

 

[Mysterious Mose]

I think this would still be fine, I also splay a little bit, but never thought about it in degrees or angles. There are really no rules I think, but I could imagine the denser the brush is, the more one will see this if too much pressure is used.

It depends on how you define the angle. I suggest you look at the brush from the side, bristles up, so that the brush is kind of like the letter "Y". The base of the letter is the handle, the upper part, like a "V", is the bristles. The angle is the angle in that upper part. If you don't apply any pressure, the angle can be small, say 60 degrees or 90 degrees or 120 degrees. It would look like \|/. If the brush were pushed very hard onto the face, the angle would get bigger and bigger until the bristles are flat out to the sides, then the angle would be 180 degrees, as in the letter "T". That's what I think is meant by splayed. If the angle were greater than 180 degrees, say, 270 degrees it would look like /|\. 360 degrees would be like |||. The brush would have been turned inside out.

I keep thinking about a traffic court case I defended around 1985. (I'm a lawyer.) The defendant was accused of going through a red light. The police officer testified that he faced the traffic light at an angle of 135 degrees. In making a case at trial, the police officer is supposed to look at the traffic light from the viewpoint of what the defendant would have seen. That would have been an angle of at most 90 degrees. Nevertheless, the judge convicted the defendant.

 

[Possum092]

I am over here dying from laughing so hard. Grown men discussing splaying, just the tip and doughnut holes It’s shaving brush…use it like you stole it and stop worrying about a few lost hairs. Remember to never touch the bristles when removing leftover soap and getting rid of excess water, it could damage the hairs.

 

[BigJ]

Whatever works is just fine IMO!!

 

[Phoenixkh]

I am over here dying from laughing so hard. Grown men discussing splaying, just the tip and doughnut holes It’s shaving brush…use it like you stole it and stop worrying about a few lost hairs. Remember to never touch the bristles when removing leftover soap and getting rid of excess water, it could damage the hairs.

I always don rubber gloves when I'm squeezing the bristles... no human contact, right? <Eg>