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Favorite Small Brush

Left to right, For scale - Yaqi Sagrada Familia (24mm x 53mm) for scale, Tweezerman pure badger (approx. 20mm x 48mm) Wet Shaving Products Monarch silvertip (22mm x 50mm).

The Tweezerman was my first brush, purchased in May 2009. It was made of pure badger hair with the ends of the knot clipped with scissors to form the knot. In those early years, my face softened those clipped hairs.



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Funny, i have 2 of the 3 brushes. My first badger brush, was the same as your tweezerman, but without the tweezerman logo... And i bought it about the same time as you. It looks the same. I also have the Sagrada, but being a 24mm knot, i wouldn't call it a small brush. It has a small handle, but it's a medium size brush.
 
Probably my favorite truly small brush (which I'd define as <20mm) is the Simpson's Major in Best. It's not exactly the smartest purchase, as travel brushes go...a Case with the corresponding case is probably a better buy, especially considering that you're more likely to lose a travel brush and the Major's pretty darned expensive. But I just love mine...it's a wonderful little brush, and always does a bang-up job when I travel. (Though of course it hasn't gotten much use in the past year or so.) Plus, I just love how the handle fits together so nicely...there's just something satisfying about a quirky hand-turned turnback-style brush.
My primary travel brush is a Major in super. Yes it was relatively expensive but the turnback design and the performance of the knot make it a purchase I’m glad I made. Don’t kick yourself about the Case @Shavely Manden . I purchased a Case once that was not usable for me. Even though sold as best, it felt far too scritchy to ever want to use.

The Wee Scot is another great small brush but too small for me to use regularly. My last use on Saturday yielded a great shave.
 
Just received the little Culmak 30.
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Someone tryed epsilon synthetic or razorock plissoft brushes on facelathering? seen some differences?

my main brush the last 4 years has been a RR plissoft with a barber handle. It’s worked great for face lathering.Definitely has enough spring/backbone but very soft.
I’ve got pretty sensitive skin so I prefer synth’s over anything else.
 
I’m also not a fan of small handles. I’m fine with a smaller knot, but I like having a brush I can really wrap my hand around. any handle less than 55mm in height feels a bit small for me.
 
I am really amazed to see how my thoughts are changed in less than a year. I seriously was thinking that a shaving brush should be at least 22mm or even 24mm to perform good, but that was really a mistake. While I was searching for the history of shaving brush, I barely saw big knots. People were using small brushes and it was okay. They were just good. I don't know how things are changed, but I really think that a 18-19-20-21mm pure/best grade badger, boar or horse brush knot can guarantee you a good shave. But, of course, it is a pure YMMV thing. Although I really want to get a Berkeley 46 or any small brush from Simpson or FS, my favourite small brush for now is Yaqi 22mm Sagrada Familia 2band badger.
 
When i was a kid i used to watch my dad shave with a tiny brush compared to what i have today. The knots you see on social media posts are huge, all appear to be 24-26 mm giant badgers. i don't know if that's a good or bad thing- but seems like more gents might be into the larger diameter knots.
 
I agree with @Marco.... I admit the Tulip T1 is beautiful, the Major Super is ingenious, the PJ2 in Super is awesome, but for nearly the same price you can get a Chubby 1 in Super, and that's a lot more brush for the money.

Classic 1 and Chubby 1 in Manchurian would be my 2nd and 3rd choices for small brushes with the Berkeley 46 coming next
 
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