I am very interested in flattop brush knots and have read good things about face lathering with them. Does any sell flattop knots or do I need to custom order a brush in order to get one? I have seen a vie-long flattop but at 110 it is well out of my price range. Thanks
Flat top knots
- Thread starter Jcabbage
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TexanInKC brought a couple over to our brush party in KC a week or two ago. I thought they looked pretty weird, but he swore by them. I can't remember who made them. You might ask him. I'll nudge him to check out this thread.
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I really think they look quite cool since I saw one (maybe shavemac) on here a few months back. I have a vintage simpson kh2 I want to restore but I don't think I will put a flattop in that one. Thanks for the help!
I have only seen 2 flat-top knot makers: Vie-long and Shavemac. I believe the vie-long knot comes in 3-band but you can request a 2-band. I just recently bought a 2-band one off a gentleman in another forum so I can't speak to their performance just yet.
I have a 2-band flat-top from Shavemac. I believe that the only type of hair that shavemac makes in their flat-top is their D01 hair which comes in 3-band or 2-band. I see them going for $120-$200 (you'll have to do the conversion) so they can get pricey if you like bigger knots. I think the sweet-spot for a flat-top though is a knot of 22-23mm which will run you at about $150 or so. I love my flat-top and would definitely put it in my top 2 brushes behind my holy grail brush Rooney 1/2 Finest.
Given the shape of the knot, you will get more brush on your face but it will be more evenly distributed. It feels different than other brushes. The 2-band feels relatively scritchy on the face which I like and I argue can be a little more scritchy than Rooney Finest, although some argue with me on that. It's a great brush because it loads your product really well, creates an incredible lather, and has fantastic flow-through. I do a 4 pass shave, create enough lather for all 4 passes and usually don't have much lather left over at end of shave.
Shavemac has an expert build section that you need to find a link for. Someone here has it and can provide it. You can't easily access it from their page. It will give you an idea how much it'd cost. Good luck with your search.
I have a 2-band flat-top from Shavemac. I believe that the only type of hair that shavemac makes in their flat-top is their D01 hair which comes in 3-band or 2-band. I see them going for $120-$200 (you'll have to do the conversion) so they can get pricey if you like bigger knots. I think the sweet-spot for a flat-top though is a knot of 22-23mm which will run you at about $150 or so. I love my flat-top and would definitely put it in my top 2 brushes behind my holy grail brush Rooney 1/2 Finest.
Given the shape of the knot, you will get more brush on your face but it will be more evenly distributed. It feels different than other brushes. The 2-band feels relatively scritchy on the face which I like and I argue can be a little more scritchy than Rooney Finest, although some argue with me on that. It's a great brush because it loads your product really well, creates an incredible lather, and has fantastic flow-through. I do a 4 pass shave, create enough lather for all 4 passes and usually don't have much lather left over at end of shave.
Shavemac has an expert build section that you need to find a link for. Someone here has it and can provide it. You can't easily access it from their page. It will give you an idea how much it'd cost. Good luck with your search.
Flat top brushes are for those who like to feel them big on the face but don't want thick dense monstrous knots. So, they bloom nicely, have good flow through, and a lot of hair is in contact with the skin. To compensate for the big coverage on the face, usually the knots are suggested to be about 22 mm maximum diameter. A popular loft size for such a brush is about 46 mm. My D01 flat top is 22 mm with slightly higher 48 mm loft, but I like it that way. Another important requirement to enjoy a flat top brush is to apply lather with it using rather painting and slapping motion than mashing and swirling. As it was already mentioned, they are good for face lathering predominantly.
Here are 4 Shavemac brushes with different hair grades and different knot shapes for comparison - Silvertip bulb, D01 2-band fan, D01 3-band flat top, and D01 3-band fan:
Here are 4 Shavemac brushes with different hair grades and different knot shapes for comparison - Silvertip bulb, D01 2-band fan, D01 3-band flat top, and D01 3-band fan:
When Rudy Vey restored this Erskine handle for me, we went with a flat-top D01 knot from Shavemac. The handle could only take a 20-mm knot without modification, so the idea was to make it feel a bit larger.
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Here is a picture showing a bulb, fan and flattop side by side. Hair is D01 Two-band. I recommend not to go too large with a flattop: somewhere in the range 18-22 mm seems to be the best. These brushes feel huge on your face. I believe that 24 mm is too big, I had a couple of customers who wanted them so big, but eventually found out this is a huge brush on your face. My sweet spot would be a 20 mm with a loft of 40-44 mm. Already from this picture you can see how big the flattop "face area" is....
BTW, they can be made with either hair: two or three band D01.
BTW, they can be made with either hair: two or three band D01.
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