Ever used a brush to the end of its life?

[Ignatius]

In this land of AD's, most of us rarely finish a tube of SC, let alone an actual brush. Discounting lemons that fell apart in a week, have you ever used a brush until you had to retire it?

Looking at mine, I think my Omega 31064 might last a couple of years daily use.

Virtual Village Silvertip loses a hair or two per shave, may last a year of daily use. It will take a while at this rate.

 

[goby]

In this land of AD's, most of us rarely finish a tube of SC, let alone an actual brush. Discounting lemons that fell apart in a week, have you ever used a brush until you had to retire it?

Looking at mine, I think my Omega 31064 might last a couple of years daily use.

Virtual Village Silvertip loses a hair or two per shave, may last a year of daily use. It will take a while at this rate.

$15 C&E boar, my first brush, lasted about 5 years. I was sad to see her go.

$5 boar (I forget what brand) lasted a year

$20 Savile Row has lasted 7 years... and I'm still using it although I really, really want a nice $50 - $75 brush

 

[Jim]

I have used up several, I found B&B when I googled "shave brush" to replace it.

 

[Rudy Vey]

One of my most memorable restores was a brush (a Kent) that was given by parents to their son for his graduation. Thirty years of use later nearly all the hair was gone and he approached me to restore the brush for him.
I removed the knot remnants, cleaned the handle up and put a new knot in.
My customer was very happy to get his brush back nearly as new for another thirty years of use!

 

[Ignatius]

One of my most memorable restores was a brush (a Kent) that was given by parents to their son for his graduation. Thirty years of use later nearly all the hair was gone and he approached me to restore the brush for him.

Wow, was he still using it in the 'before' state?

My customer was very happy to get his brush back

I'll bet he was

 

[Torcams]

I had a Vulfix 376 Super that I used daily for about 18 years before the hairs started becoming brittle and falling out in the center, a bit like the Kent in Rudy's photo.

Now I'm about a year in with my Rooney 2/1 Super...

 

[galopede]

Ever used a brush until the end of its life? Not yet but working on it!

Gareth

 

[heirkb]

Ever used a brush until the end of its life? Not yet but working on it!

Gareth

Me too. Probably (hopefully) never get there considering how many I have (7). Some guys have like 30, so they're even less likely to kill a brush

 

[dbconlin]

I haven't, but my father is still using a brush from the 70s and it looks worse than that old Kent. His is made of camel-hair. It is gnarly. I will be gifting him a replacement for it soon, probably not Xmas, but for his birthday upcoming this spring. He is pretty frugal and probably hasn't even thought of the possibility that he needs to replace it.

 

[NoFair]

My 4 year old daughter adopted my old brush as a toy, but it was still pretty decent after 15 years of use.

My Rooney and Shavemac will probably look at least as good in 20 years

 

[Wingnut]

One of my most memorable restores was a brush (a Kent) that was given by parents to their son for his graduation. Thirty years of use later nearly all the hair was gone and he approached me to restore the brush for him.
I removed the knot remnants, cleaned the handle up and put a new knot in.
My customer was very happy to get his brush back nearly as new for another thirty years of use!

Yup! Nobody can say that I waste things, now can they?!

BTW, that new brush is doing just GREAT, and no doubt will last at least as long even though I'm using it daily. If any of you are thinking of getting a brush restore done, I HIGHLY recommend Rudy for a quality restore and a great experience.

 

[Wingnut]

Wow, was he still using it in the 'before' state?
I'll bet he was

Hey, it was my only brush, and before I found B&B and acquired various AD's

 

[gollum83]

Sure, a VDH boar. It was my first brush and didn't quite make it long enough to see it's first birthday.

 

[BlackBard]

I have used up several, I found B&B when I googled "shave brush" to replace it.

Exactly the same for me. I have used up (to the bitter end) several brushes, with the exception of the VDH boar I recently got. I tossed it out after the first day. It's badger for me, all the way. They have all lasted several years in daily use. I have never had more than one brush at at time, so they do get a work out.

 

[RetroGrouch]

Here's another example. My friend was still using this old Simpson W2, clearly well beyond its intended lifespan. The second photo shows it with a new Golden Nib knot.

 

[*King G*]

so is it safe to say that brushes have about a 7-15 year life span? that's actually better than I thought.

 

[Mink]

After only one shave, my VDH boar brush committed suicide and jumped in the trash....poor thing.

On another note, it would seem that the stiffer pure and best badger brushes wouldn't last as long as the softer, better quality badger brushes. Any long time users of badger brushes notice anything like this?

 

[BlackBard]

After only one shave, my VDH boar brush committed suicide and jumped in the trash....poor thing.

On another note, it would seem that the stiffer pure and best badger brushes wouldn't last as long as the softer, better quality badger brushes. Any long time users of badger brushes notice anything like this?

Other than my current EJ Best Badger which I have only had for about 2 months, all my previous brushes were pure badger, to my knowledge. Some lasted for nearly 10 years. I don't really keep track of such things, but I guess the one my EJ replaced was in the game for about 6-8 years of daily use. It was a Col. Conk.

 

[andrew98]

so is it safe to say that brushes have about a 7-15 year life span? that's actually better than I thought.

I have 4 brushes in regular rotation (5 once the 2009 B&B LE gets here). I'm stopping with the LE. A Rooney Finest is the only brush I would consider buying in the future, and it will be a while, possibly never, before I buy one of those. I would expect at least 10 years out of a quality brush, possibly 15 to 20, so I'm hoping I'm now set for life.

-Andy