Help - Simpson Late Hair Loss

[jjl2008]

My Simpson Colonel is now 6 months old and is starting to lose a noticeable amount of hair with every shave. Is this normal or should I be concerned?

I started wet shaving in December and bought a new Colonel in best in February. Since I typically run late in the mornings and I have sensitive skin, I typically only wet shave 3-4 times a week. The other times I use an electric razor. My wet shaving routine includes soaking my Simpson brush in warm water while I shower but since my shaving bowl is wide, almost the entire brush gets immersed in water. In the beginning I switched between soaps/creams and bowl/face lathering but for the last three months, I've almost exclusively face lathered with DR Harris Marlborough soap. After shaving, I always rinse my brush, lightly squeeze out excess water, shake it a couple of times, and then hang it on my brush stand to dry.

In the beginning, my brush lost maybe a hair or two every now and then. However, the last couple of weeks I've noticed 2-3 hairs falling out during every shave and today I noticed 7-8 hairs. It's a little alarming. If this isn't normal, could my soaking routine be the problem?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mblakele]

No, that is not normal. Step one: contact the retailer. They may have advice for you.

If not, try what we have on the wiki, under Shave Brush Shedding.

What to do about shedding

If a brush is relatively new and seems to be shedding loose hairs, try running a comb through the knot several times. This will remove loose hairs that aren't glued down, and may put a stop to the shedding. If the shedding doesn't stop, or if you see glued hairs coming out, contact the vendor or the brush maker. You may want to collect the hairs or bristles so that you can take a picture for the vendor, or get a second opinion from folks on the brush sub-forum.

If a brush sheds broken hairs, soap residue may have built up inside the knot. Try cleaning the brush as described here: How to Clean a Shaving Brush.

If a brush is very old, the hair may be so dry that it breaks easily. In this case try applying hair conditioner to the knot. Work the conditioner into the knot, and let it sit for an hour before rinsing out the conditioner. Repeat as needed.

Finally, review your treatment of the brush. Avoid scrubbing it against a towel, or mashing it into anything hard. Avoid really hot water. Avoid tight circular brushstrokes. This doesn't mean that you have to treat the brush like fine china, but try backing off a little bit and see if it helps.

 

[graysonhenryrussell]

Contact mark at Simpson, he will take care of you.

 

[Foyle]

That's not normal. Sometimes brushes just start shedding. Contact the vendor or Simpsons and inquire as to whether or not you can have the brush replaced under warranty.

 

[Lamb Root]

The same thing happened to my Duke (2). It shed hair more and more every time I used the brush, and finally brush lost so much hair I had to throw it away. I owned it for about 3-4 years though.

 

[jjl2008]

Thanks for the replies.

Just to update my post, I contacted the main email address at Simpson's website and got a reply from Mark the next business day. He said that the first step should be to contact the retailer (which I plan on doing right after updating my post). He added, however, that this is not out of the ordinary as some hairs will work their way out of the brush. He noted that there are over 2000 hairs in every brush. He suggested that I clean the brush with any normal hair shampoo and then comb the brush to remove any loose hairs. He then asked me to tell him how the brush is doing after 2-3 months.

So I washed the brush a couple of days ago and gave it a light combing. I'd estimate another 20 or so hairs came out during the process. I finally got around to using the brush this morning and noted another 15-20 hairs coming out during 3 passes. So now I'm going to contact the retailer just to give them notice and am going to wait to see if the hair loss continues.

 

[Useless shaver]

Hope you get a replacement, it doesn't seem normal, as others have said.

Just a thing off topic: around 20,000 hairs (not 2,000) are needed to make a quality dense brush, I think

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/128897-Help-brush-keeps-loosing-hair

http://www.waremakers.com/mühle

 

[jjl2008]

Hope you get a replacement, it doesn't seem normal, as others have said.

Just a thing off topic: around 20,000 hairs (not 2,000) are needed to make a quality dense brush, I think

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/128897-Help-brush-keeps-loosing-hair

http://www.waremakers.com/mühle

You are right ... over 20,000. Thanks.