So I recently acquired a synthetic shave brush, as I've read alot of the internet chatter about them, and thought what the heck I better try one out. I bought one from Maggards and I should have looked at the dimensions before I ordered, because I got a 24mm knot, and holy crap that thing is huge! seemed to make a good lather, much like my Simpson Pure Badger. I'm sure I'll get used to it, one thing I noticed though was that it was so soft. I'm not sure if I'll get more synthetic brushes down the road, but hey now I can say I have one.
first shave with a synthetic brush.......somewhat interesting.
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I have a RazoRock Snowman. It’s fun to play with, but I haven’t the patience to get used to it. At least not yet. Amazingly, it holds a ton of water and my lather is soupy, if I’m not really careful.
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Synthetics vary. The Plisson-type knot you have is good for some situations such as face lathering with a shaving soap stick. The tuxedo knots have more backbone, so better for soap pucks. You don't want much water in them, just add a little more water from time to time as you build a lather.
I have a few and find I'm using them more and more. Just got a sterling kong , great brush, BIG but great
I also have a Maggard 24mm synth and have been using it daily since May of last year. It is very soft with just enough backbone to load up the brush and build an excellent lather.
I have Badger, Boar, Horse and Synthetic brushes.
There are a lot of varied synthetic knots with different characteristics. I regularly use synthetic brushes with Full Moon, Mühle STF, Shavemac, Tuxedo, Cashmere/Angel and the new 2BED Synthetic FAN knots.
Synthetic brushes work well for 'painting' lather. The Full Moon, Mühle STF, and Shavemac are pretty good 'scrubbers', too.
Just my opinion and YMMV.
There are a lot of varied synthetic knots with different characteristics. I regularly use synthetic brushes with Full Moon, Mühle STF, Shavemac, Tuxedo, Cashmere/Angel and the new 2BED Synthetic FAN knots.
Synthetic brushes work well for 'painting' lather. The Full Moon, Mühle STF, and Shavemac are pretty good 'scrubbers', too.
Just my opinion and YMMV.
My first brush was a Semogue 820 (boar), and I have tried many badger brushes as well. I am now exclusively using synthetics. It was easier for me to do such a thing as I wasn't steeped in the use of boar/badger like many shavers have been.
I have been kicking around the idea of getting a synthetic brush and I order most of my stuff from Stirling. I was looking at their tuxedo brush but I don't see one named "Kong". Do you know what size yours is as I see another one that is a touch bigger and I am wondering if that is the one you have.
Thanks.
KM
Synthetics tend to be softer than the natural hairs. They also make a lot more lather than natural hairs as I believe the natural hairs absorb a bit of the lather during the shave. Regardless, I use both synthetics and natural hairs as I enjoy the feel of each.
I use omega synthetics and get on really well with them
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
I use synthetic brushes for 98% of my shaving needs, I really enjoy the Razorock Plissoft and Yaqi line of synthetics.
I have a Omega boar brush that I take out for a whirl every once in a while, it's hard to beat a Synthetic brush IMO.
I have a Omega boar brush that I take out for a whirl every once in a while, it's hard to beat a Synthetic brush IMO.
I just got a couple synthetics a few days ago for the first time. I defiantly have some learning to do. It takes substantially more time to load the brush compared to my Omega 48. The last of splay on my face kind of makes it feel weird to me compared to the Omega. It’s nothing to put a good thick lather with the Omega but this 28mm Yaqi gives a thinner coat of a seemingly thicker/drier lather than what seems right to me.
I’m still working on it though! I’m hoping I’ll have an ‘ahah... this is great’ moment. When I first got my Omega boar... it took a bit to figure that one out. Now, I think Ive got it loaded up perfect inside 20 seconds.
The wife likes hers coming from her tired Whipped Dog 24mm high mountain badger. She likes something with a soft feel and said she was able to load up all she needed in the shower with one try.
I’m still working on it though! I’m hoping I’ll have an ‘ahah... this is great’ moment. When I first got my Omega boar... it took a bit to figure that one out. Now, I think Ive got it loaded up perfect inside 20 seconds.
The wife likes hers coming from her tired Whipped Dog 24mm high mountain badger. She likes something with a soft feel and said she was able to load up all she needed in the shower with one try.
I never have to load a synthetic brush more than 5 secs. with any soap/cream. Are you dampening the brush a tad first? Synthetics are better face latherers. Perhaps you need to press down a bit more when loading.
YaQi makes the best synthetic brushes extant. Period. Everything else is a generation behind if not using their knots.
the kong is 28mm it's big but I really like it , it's become my goto brush
I recently got a Yaqi Sagrada Famiglia. I have to say, I really love it.
I did the same as I do with my boars... fill my sink with hot water for my soap dish to sit in. Shower. Come out. Put my brush in the still-hot water. A little shake to get the water will in it and get it warm. Give a flick or two out of the water to get rid of excess water and start loading. I thought I gave plenty of pressure, but ended up dipping the tips of the brush in the water a few times to get the lather to build up more as it seemed to be working dry. It seemed that the brush simply held little water, which is reading appears to be a characteristic of synthetics. Synthetics may be better face latherers than boars with practice... but I certainly have little and my Omega 48 is well broken in with a few years of use and is easy to make lather. If you can load a synthetics in 5 seconds, that'd be impressive as I'd only have 10 turns across my soap in that amount of time. I was probably working it for a good 30 seconds... then doing water dabs and doing a little more working over the course of another 30, and still had to do water dabs when face lathering to get it to work out, and wasn't that impressed with the results.
The other issue may be that this Yaqi feels kind of springy on my face with hardly any splay at all. I was having to really jam it against my face to get it to open up at all. Perhaps I lost at the synthetic loft lottery... as in reading after getting it, synthetics don't really break in much and sometimes the glue can be a bit excessive.
But... I'm not too discouraged. I never expected to get it perfect right off the bat. In the end, my preference may simply be for a lofty, broke-in boar over any synthetic.
I liked my synthetic right out of the gate. It didn't take any adjustments to get used to it. It lathered tough to lather soaps easily and consistently.
I started out with the VDH boar, moved on to badgers and have used only my Razorock Plissoft exclusively for the last 2 years.
Using cream, I prefer to hand lather and will continue to bowl lather with soaps.
I’ve found that the more water initially, the better. No backbone issues with Plissoft.
Using cream, I prefer to hand lather and will continue to bowl lather with soaps.
I’ve found that the more water initially, the better. No backbone issues with Plissoft.
I've found that synthetic brushes really do vary quite a lot. I quite like the Razorock Plissoft knot, but find it a bit insubstantial feeling. The Muhle STF is a bit better, but the one I owned was rather lacking in density; maybe I was unlucky. The Yaqi Tuxedo and Brown Mew knots just hit the spot for me, striking a nice balance between softness and backbone. They'e not displaced my M&F, Shavemac and other quality badger knots, but they have gained an equal place in my rotation.
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So after using it today for the third time, I squeezed alot of the excess water out and went to lathering my container of TOBS Sandalwood, and it did make a heck of a lather, much like how my simpson badger does as well. I did add a little of water to the mix. I'm starting to get somewhat used to this new brush, it's just so damn big, and it's only a 24mm knot. If anyone can recommend a smaller one, I might be on board with getting another one.
