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🙋 Is Simpson Trafalgar T3 good for face lathering? 🙋 What about backbone? 🙋

Acmemfg

Acmemfg

IMG_1970.jpg

You will most probably like the Trafalgar. I was rather intrigued when they first came out. Surely the price of admission was quite reasonable. Bought all three sizes; figured I'd give it the "Goldilocks" approach. All worked fairly well. The T2 is arguably the best of the lot...especially for the brush character you seem to be looking for.
However for my purposes, the aforementioned Muhle STF and Shavemac Synthetic knots are preferable.
 
Chandu

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
If you want back bone and some scrub, there is a new German brush out that TSS carries. Here is the description from the site.

Description
SS Mimik Badger Faux Silvertip Synthetic Badger Shaving Brush | 25×49.5mm Synthetic Knot | New Generation ¡Lots of Backbone! | Black Lathed Resin Handle

All new 2020 verion of TSS’ house brand (Rein Dachs company) with larger latest-generation synthetic fibers mated to a broader bulbous 25mm knot in a bigger handle with a deeper setting.

All labor 100% Germany, materials are Germany (handle) and ‘European Union’ (strands).

Set to be scrubby with a large bulbous knot.

¡LOTS OF BACKBONE!

This knot is 100% produced in-house by the Rein Dachs people and they also set this to handle 100% by hand, unlike the less expensive Mimik Badger models (which are rear-crimped and machined-in so they don’t move around as naturally in my opinion as this one).
 
nav

nav

DaveHStone said:
@Rhody I really appreciate your input, thank you. However, at this point I am interested in trying out my first SYNTHETIC brush. I have both boar and badger brushes and I'm fine in that respect.

I am looking for a synth brush with strong backbone, not strong backbone in any brush.

As mentioned earlier, I'm not interested in stuff coming from China with dubious, ultra long shipping schedules, so no Yaqi and alikes for me. I've narrowed my choice down to two contenders - T3 and Roma Colosseum by Omega. If you can shed some light on the later, I'd be grateful.
Click to expand...

In that case, edwin jagger silvertip fibre would be the way to go.

It's my favorite synthetic (I've had around 70 in total). I would recommend the XL size but even the L is very nice!

Otherwise grab the T3...I only see positive reviews for these and I intend to grab one myself.
 
Chandu

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
nav said:
It's my favorite synthetic (I've had around 70 in total). I would recommend the XL size but even the L is very nice!
Click to expand...
Those are like hen's teeth these days. Same with the Muhle 25mm. For the life of me I don't understand why. People tend to want bigger synths and for Muhle to keep the STF line under 23 mm doesn't make sense from a leaving sales on the table perspective. They must have some reason, but I'm not sure what it is.
 
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DaveHStone

DaveHStone

Acmemfg said:
View attachment 1213729
You will most probably like the Trafalgar. I was rather intrigued when they first came out. Surely the price of admission was quite reasonable. Bought all three sizes; figured I'd give it the "Goldilocks" approach. All worked fairly well. The T2 is arguably the best of the lot...especially for the brush character you seem to be looking for.
However for my purposes, the aforementioned Muhle STF and Shavemac Synthetic knots are preferable.
Click to expand...
Such a great pic, tnx!!

What I am looking for is the one with fairly strong backbone, as I like to feel the brush against my face when face-lathering.

Would T2 then be better than T3?
 
BudgetShaverGuy

BudgetShaverGuy

Full Disclosure: I love Simpsons Badgers, am a fanboy in fact, but I think the Trafalgar synthetics are junk. With that said:

1) No

2) You can jack your car up with it
 
SharpieB

SharpieB

BudgetShaverGuy said:
Full Disclosure: I love Simpsons Badgers, am a fanboy in fact, but I think the Trafalgar synthetics are junk. With that said:

1) No

2) You can jack your car up with it
Click to expand...
I own a T1 and a T2 and wouldn’t call them junk at all. I think they are fine $20 synthetic brushes. Similar to Yaqi, Razorock, etc. which are similarly priced. Nothing special, but they are cheap.

I have about a dozen Simpsons and the only one I really dislike is the $50+ Classic synthetic. Most overpriced brush Simpson has ever released IMO and that includes the $600 limited brushes with goofy artsy fartsy handles that look like they are made of 2x4 scraps.
 
nav

nav

Chandu said:
Those are like hen's teeth these days. Same with the Muhle 25mm. For the life of me I don't understand why. People tend to want bigger synths and for Muhle to keep the STF line under 23 mm doesn't make sense from a leaving sales on the table perspective. They must have some reason, but I'm not sure what it is.
Click to expand...

Absolutely!
I just can't understand why muhle discontinued the 25mm version!

I am lucky to have both the muhle and EJ in 25mm and an EJ in 23mm.
 
South Dakota Guy

South Dakota Guy

I have the Simpson T2 and I like it but not for face lathering. My Yaqi 24mm Violet Blue synthetic feels a lot better on my face and has enough back bone to load soap from a triple milled puck. I find the T2 fibers pokey and uncomfortable for face lathering but works great for bowl lathering and face painting. I don't like scritch, real or synthetic. My T2 also doesn't splay well for me. But the OP asked about the T3 and I haven't used that model. YMMV
 
X

xiletero

Yaqi sagrada fam or RR 400 feel better for face lather than the Simpsons. And for some reason same loading time, you get more lather with Yaqi nd RR (I like doing 3 pass head and face w one load). Simpson is good, but a bit over rated for my taste.
 
DaveHStone

DaveHStone

I've been further researching what brush to opt for and pretty much made up my mind on T3, but it's now out of stock 😪

I've put together a table to have an easy overview of size, price, etc. This might be helpful to folks having the same dilemma as I do, especially if you live in Europe. ROMA brushes are made by Omega and I imagine them to be excellent. Colosseum with 31mm knot seems an overkill. With T3 out of stock, I think I'll give a test-drive to the smaller ROMA, which is my preferred size, with its 26mm knot.

1611919886321.png


If anyone has had a chance to try out either of the two ROMAs, I'd appreciate your thoughts!
 
DaveHStone

DaveHStone

Update: my T3 arrived yesterday and so I just had my first shave with it (pic below). I am absolutely happy with its performance.

The size is good, the loft shape is very nice and the handle is that traditional Simpson, which I wanted all along.

The brush has a very soft face feel, much softer than my Muhle Silver Tip badger, there is zero scritch or scratch, just very gentle, soft face feel. The backbone is tremendous, knot is densely packed. The little note inside the box said this brush is best used when painting the lather. Me, I like circular movement, so I tested it. It splays, but it bounces back almost instantly. I'm not sure if this will reduce somewhat with time and use. That said, I had absolutely no issues swirling the brush on my cheeks or neck. Works like a charm.

Lather is PHENOMENAL and extremely easy to build in copious amounts. I had enough for a 4-pass shave.

All in all, this was a great buy and I'm happy I got this brush. I could easily use it as a daily driver (probably will) 😊

1612954438381.png
 
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