I am curious if anyone has found if one brush, or one kind of brush lathers significantly better than others. To me they all pretty much do the job. For now, do not consider the asthetic aspectsof a brush, i.e., backbone, tip softness, scritchiness, etc. Just the ability to lather.
Forget scritchiness, softness of tips, backbone, etc.
- Thread starter Teddyboy
- Start date
You can't ignore backbone if you're looking for a brush that lathers really efficiently - that's what backbone does, especially if you're talking about soaps rather than creams.
Duke 2 was my go to for a long time. Got an FS finest and found the lather was easier to produce and apply with the FS. Now got a New Forest Tubby 2 super two band and thats even better for me as a face lather. So I've found that FS let the lather go quicker and the New Forest applies better and works sticks better.
I haven't found any one brush that just magically works better than all others. I think that's a chimera. I have, however, found one or two that diminish my enjoyment by not giving up the lather on the 2nd or 3rd pass. Only a couple, but they're there.
I have found that my semogue 620 is the most efficient at lathering any product. It coincidentally happens to be my brush with the stiffest backbone. So I don't think you can ignore that factor as I think it is the primary reason it is so efficient as vocalistbob stated
Hands down the best lather creating brush I have EVER tried are these 2 brushes from Mühle:
Mühle Silvertip Fibre - aguably the best synthetic brush ever made and according to rumors an improved version will be released this fall.
Left: Mühle Silvertip Fibre Stylo Thuja Wood 21mm, right Mühle Classic Silvertip Fibre 25 mm - I now own 16 brushes, 2 synthetic, the rest badgers of highest quality and NONE creates lather as fast and as much of it as these 2 brushes do - it's not even funny to compare them, when it comes to lather creation:
The synthetic brushes (Muhle, Frank, Men-U, HIS) IMHO make higher quality lather easier than their natural counterparts.
why some people can not get a lather is beyond me, its not that hard just swish around in soap or cream-----------i think some people just expect too much, every brush i have /had works great, soap or cream--yes there are brushes with more backbone, its a given, but they all will get lather fine, size would be the factor small for face lather and bigger for soap bowls- but i use my rotation as follows, boar for soaps and badger for creams------- but they work great in either situation
Talking strictly badgers, by far my Kent BK8 and Vulfix 2234 are the most efficient and fast lather makers in my den.
My two best lathering brushes are my Rooney 3/1 and my Semogoue 1305. My Vulfix 2233S is no slouch though.
- Thread starter
- #12
- Thread starter
- #13
Interesting. My understanding is that Kent, but especially Vulfix, are relatively soft brushes w/o a great deal of backbone. Is that correct?
I believe that you are correct. I have a Vulfix 2234 and it's one of the softest brushes I own. Because of that I haven't wanted to try a Kent.
If you know how to work a brush, most of them should work fine for applying lather to the face. Good luck.
So far it's been the Tulip1 2-band for me. It's super soft and not as dense as other Simpsons but I don't know what it is about the tips that picks up creams and lathers and whips them up in no time.
For hard soaps, nothing compares to my Simpson Rover LE (Best). For creams there are 2-3 brushes I like better than the Rover.
I have not tested all manner of brushes, just a Parker black badger and Omega '49 boar. When the Omega wears out, I'll get another. I have no need, or desire, to have any other.
Kent and Vulfix 223x are infamous with the notion they are soft, floppy, and with not enough backbone. I don't want to give an opinion about that. I'm just saying that those two are my fastest lather making badger brushes. My opinion is not based only on loading time alone but on the overall capability to make high quality lather easily and quickly.
I think the Semogue 620 fits the bill for all of these. It's soft with great backbone and feels as good on the hand as it does on the face. Not to mention that it's cheap. I love my Chubby 2 to chew up soaps but it still isn't as luxurious as my 620.
