Ideal Brush Geometry

[TrivQuad]

Sometimes we fall victim to the idea that more is better. My experience is small to medium width brushes with a short loft provide optimal backbone and control and require less product to produce rich lather. Dimensions may vary depending on knot material and face vs. bowl lathering but synthetic or super badger in the range of 21 to 23mm base and 45 to 50mm loft work well for face lathering — at least for me.
Larger brushes look nice but consume a lot of soap that ends up in the drain and longer lofts can be floppy and fling soap all over the bathroom.
l’m thinking of commissioning a beehive synthetic and am interested in others’ experience. I use soaps and croaps for the most part, Cella and Van Der Hagen Deluxe principally. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[oscar11]

Each to their own. I prefer bigger brushes but I'm sure smaller brushes are more efficient with soap. Most of my brushes are in the 26-28mm. range. Each brush depending on size and material has it's own geometry. I enjoy using g brushes and all my preshave prep is done with one.. Nothing g fancy just a brush. Enjoy your search.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I prefer a scrubby 2 band badger brush with a knot of up to 25mm and a loft of around twice the knot diameter. I very much enjoy the process of face lathering and for me a knot larger than 25mm greatly diminishes that experience; I would prefer a Simpson Wee Scot over a Chubby 3 every time. Soap efficiency is not a concern to me as I have enough to last a lifetime and more. I do find though that my one synthetic, an early Chubby 2 lofted at 55mm, uses less soap than my badger brushes. That is the best synthetic I have tried and I read that the current 50mm lofted version does not splay as easily as my example. My favourite brushes are my Chubby 1 and Duke 3 in Manchurian, with the Duke just sneaking the win.

 

[SCh5]

I find that small to medium diameter knots with short loft are ideal for face lathering ,
but are a PITA when making lather in a bowl/mug ,
while the opposite stands for larger diameter knots with longer loft.

 

[BigJ]

Nice to have lots of options!

For me, the ’answer’ is small/medium sized badger brushes with shorter lofts! But to each, his own.

 

[Rudy Vey]

To each his own. If you ask 10 guys, you get 10 different opinions. What you like is perfect for you, but may not be good for someone else. I have brushes from 19- 31 mm, but mostly use 24-28.
Loft to knot size ratio also depends on the knot diameter, hair type, and shape of the knot, so it is not so easy to generalize. I always recommend to go to Shavemac's website and check on the brush configurator for the different type of hairs and fibers. It gives you a pretty good idea, depending on size/shape and hair, one can see a loft difference of 6 mm for the same size knot depending on the hair grade.

 

[Steve_in_CT]

I recently picked up a Yaqi Ever Helpful 2 band badger brush from Ali Express for $24, and it is a great face lathering brush. Although it claims to be a 22mm knot with a loft of 46-48mm, my brush measures a loft of only 44mm. As such it is plenty scrubby, but the tips are quite soft. It is closest in performance to my 2013 Barbear Classico Mistura or my old, long gone Simpsons Duke 2 in Best. An inexpensive synthetic option, but with a bit more loft than you may want, is the Razorock Hive Mokasoft. I love the handle and find that the brush works great as a face latherer, but it certainly won't match the scrub of the Yaqi Ever Helpful. My only warning with the Yaqi is that it does take a bit of time and effort to eliminate the new badger smell.

 

[Ron R]

I recently picked up a Yaqi Ever Helpful 2 band badger brush from Ali Express for $24, and it is a great face lathering brush. Although it claims to be a 22mm knot with a loft of 46-48mm, my brush measures a loft of only 44mm. As such it is plenty scrubby, but the tips are quite soft. It is closest in performance to my 2013 Barbear Classico Mistura or my old, long gone Simpsons Duke 2 in Best. An inexpensive synthetic option, but with a bit more loft than you may want, is the Razorock Hive Mokasoft. I love the handle and find that the brush works great as a face latherer, but it certainly won't match the scrub of the Yaqi Ever Helpful. My only warning with the Yaqi is that it does take a bit of time and effort to eliminate the new badger smell.

I have the Ever -Helpful brush also(22mm 2 band badger) and I agree it is designed for folks who enjoy a scrubbier brush with soft tips in a badger.
Why I know this is because I also have the 22mm Sagrada Familia 2band badger and its loft is a little higher(2mm higher?) and maybe not as high a density and is a great little brush that has a softer face feel and also a great lather painter.
Both brushes are great with different face feels IMO.

Yaqi Ever-Helpful 22mm 2band badger...............................Yaqi Sagrada Familia 22mm 2band badger

Have some great shaves!

 

[Ron R]

Razorock has a Bee hive handle with a Brown Mew(Sinbad) 24mm knot synthetic and I have that knot in 2 other brushes and really enjoy that knot, excellent lather generator, heavenly cloud like soft tips, gentle scrubber + excellent lather painter.
I think most manufactures offer a good all around face feel for their knots for face feel when it comes to face feel, but folks like to tweak it more to their preference I suppose.
24mm Diameter by 52mm loft offers a nice face feel for a Mew (Sinbad) synthetic knot is good starting point for reference.

 

[linty1]

I feel like this is very much a ymmv thing. Having said that personally I dislike bulb shapes and am on the hybrid -> fan end of the spectrum. Size wise Most of my brushes are 24- 26mm, although Im not very picky in that regard.

 

[Yuritau]

I face lather and I've found badger and synthetic knots in the 13-18mm range with lofts around 40mm to be impeccable.

 

[jesseix]

I think it’ll probably depend on which synth knot you want too. I remember reading that one of the newer AP Shave synths (the G5A maybe?) really seemed to perform better and be more comfortable when it was set a little higher than what folks would normally go for.

 

[BanjoCowboyMartaTobes]

Being in the market for new inspiring shaves, I find it’s difficult to make spending easy. Scent lists for soap manufacturers, multi plate razor bundles and multi sized brush lots. Sure there are a few, Captains and Stirling list scents (which is awesome) Karve razors have a nice lower bar list but it’s so tough for a newly enlightened guy to spend money without a significant amount of research. I would love to see a 4 brush learning lot for say $100. Style of handle, loft size, there is so much to wing before one feels confident going for a 2 band Simpson. I am not prone to Amazon or aliexpress and I dig my 49 Omega boar however I might not want several more sizes of that same quality. This is my rant after a few pints. Eagerly reading the next many posts. Thanks and good morning!