How to use a Dense brush?

[Kyle Hyde]

I got a nice vintage handle with a 22mm golden nib Finest knot in it from a recent trade. I looks awesome, and it is so dense. It is significantly denser than my finest 23mm shavemac I used to have.

However, I just can't get good lather out of it. It is really soft, but I am getting irritation from it because it won't release the lather and I have to scrub a lot. I tried using extra soap, more water, less water...I even tried bowl lathering with it. It just won't release the lather. If Rooneys are supposed to be the densest, I can't even imagine using one of them.

What is the secret to these dense brushes? Bowl lathering, face lathering, squeezing lather out of the brush for the first pass?

 

[ari95]

The densest brush I have is a Rooney 3/1. It works best for me if I face lather. A good soak, and let the water drip out with a bit of a shake. I use plenty of soap or cream. Have you tried washing you brush? I don't know if that would help. For me it just took some time to get used to a denser knot.

 

[lamaman3]

I had this problem with the B&B 2008 LE. Thing was very dense and even when I face lathered, the lather coating was thin because it was hogging all the lather in the dense bristles - I used to squeeze it to release the lather but sold it for that reason.

 

[Antique Hoosier]

How to? Personally I don't.... I prefer those brushes that hold a lot of water, build huge lather and then release it as "flow thru" a term coined by a fellow traditional wetshaver. That is why although they are big time popular, the Rooney Heritage brushes never appealed to me. One of the greatest flow thru brushes of all time IMO is the Kent BK4.