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Is there any way to improve the performance of a synthetic brush?

Life is to short I would spend 10 -12 dollars at West coast shaving or Italian barber and spoil your self with a nice brush. I saw the Yaqi Sagrada Familia 24mm on sale at WCS for like $10.50 add shipping of $5 and you have a nice brush for many years!
Thanks for the info. That’s the thing, I know for a fact you can get something that works well for $10-$15. This is why I even bothered with posting this Karenesque rant to begin with. This company has the nerve to sell their stuff at far higher prices than reputable companies that have been around longer and it sort of makes me mad that other people actually paid $30 for this brush. Maybe they’re new to traditional shaving and get put off right away.

I remember laughing to myself when I saw the prices on their stuff because I knew it wasn’t going to be good. You read reviews off their website and it has the aroma of sock puppet account shills. I figured with shipping from ordering online I’m looking at around $20 anyway for a brush that may or may not work out for me anyway so I took a chance out of convenience since they marked it down considerably. The other shave gear they sell, the price just comes off as rather steep for a no-name company when there’s reputable brands out there at a much better price. Had they not marked it down I’d have stayed away. For what they charge at regular price for that brush and their other shave gear they should have allowed me to take the stuff into the men’s room and whip up a lather and have a quick shave LOL.
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
Synthetic brushes are great. However, it sounds like Target Bevel Shave brushes...not so much. There are a lot of sub $20 synth brushes that are great performers. Hope you land a good synthetic.
 
Bevel is a company that was originally targeted towards ethnic customers. The company is ethnic owned. The razor is not bad. I have one and very much like the razor with different handle ( mine was a used head with no handle ) I added my own handle. Bevel brushes were made in different qualities. They have one that's cheap that is made of pure badger. And they make one that is also supposed to be higher quality. The handles look nice and go well with their razor to give a look of a set which they were originally supposed to be.. I have often thought of getting one of their brushes to go with the razor I have by them and if I didn't like the knot it came with replacing it with another knot.... Not knowing which one exactly you got makes it harder to give any recommendations to you , because you might have the boar OR the synthetic or pure badger..... Yaqi currently has some brushes on sale with some being 7.99 including shipping which there are a lot of people on here that have them and like them so that might be the way for you to go. Someone on here called Bevel an unknown maker but that is a slight error because they were and are a highly publicized company. Bevel as a matter of fact has had a lot of other companies copy their products. Their brush handles has been copied as well as their razor heads. Bevel razor heads closed end design has been continuously copied by other makers.... You could have also just gotten a faulty brush because that sometimes happens with ANY maker. I have one high end brush that has been nothing but a shredder its whole life. It was / is so bad that the maker sent me a new one free of charge from Germany where it was made.... You may want to contact bevel about your bad brush and see what they have to say.... On a final note don't throw the handle away if you decide to go another way. You could always reknot it , please let me know before you throw it away as I might would be interested in the handle to replace the knot myself if you don't....
 
Oh as an addition to my last post... Target had another brush ( I don't know if they still do ) made by cremo that's a horse hair brush and its not bad. I have one and the cremo is in my normal rotation of my couple of brushes....
 
Bevel is a company that was originally targeted towards ethnic customers. The company is ethnic owned. The razor is not bad. I have one and very much like the razor with different handle ( mine was a used head with no handle ) I added my own handle. Bevel brushes were made in different qualities. They have one that's cheap that is made of pure badger. And they make one that is also supposed to be higher quality. The handles look nice and go well with their razor to give a look of a set which they were originally supposed to be.. I have often thought of getting one of their brushes to go with the razor I have by them and if I didn't like the knot it came with replacing it with another knot.... Not knowing which one exactly you got makes it harder to give any recommendations to you , because you might have the boar OR the synthetic or pure badger..... Yaqi currently has some brushes on sale with some being 7.99 including shipping which there are a lot of people on here that have them and like them so that might be the way for you to go. Someone on here called Bevel an unknown maker but that is a slight error because they were and are a highly publicized company. Bevel as a matter of fact has had a lot of other companies copy their products. Their brush handles has been copied as well as their razor heads. Bevel razor heads closed end design has been continuously copied by other makers.... You could have also just gotten a faulty brush because that sometimes happens with ANY maker. I have one high end brush that has been nothing but a shredder its whole life. It was / is so bad that the maker sent me a new one free of charge from Germany where it was made.... You may want to contact bevel about your bad brush and see what they have to say.... On a final note don't throw the handle away if you decide to go another way. You could always reknot it , please let me know before you throw it away as I might would be interested in the handle to replace the knot myself if you don't....
The one I have is definitely a synthetic. But yes I agree the handle is good looking, the brush does not shed at all either, literally zero yet those are the only positives. Just way too stiff and it does not hold lather well at all. Doubt it was a faulty brush, because I’ve seen other reviews online stating was too stiff. I’ve decided to hang on to it though and came up with a workaround to make it useable. I don’t face lather with the brush, I lather with a shave bowl then with a small amount of cream on the brush I work that into the beard. Then I put more lather from the bowl on the tips of the brush and use paint brush strokes to apply.

If you can find the brush on markdown like I did, it might be worth it if you like the handle enough, that part of the brush seems to be good quality. It was just something I saw available locally, marked down considerably from original price, so I grabbed it.
 
The one I have is definitely a synthetic. But yes I agree the handle is good looking, the brush does not shed at all either, literally zero yet those are the only positives. Just way too stiff and it does not hold lather well at all. Doubt it was a faulty brush, because I’ve seen other reviews online stating was too stiff. I’ve decided to hang on to it though and came up with a workaround to make it useable. I don’t face lather with the brush, I lather with a shave bowl then with a small amount of cream on the brush I work that into the beard. Then I put more lather from the bowl on the tips of the brush and use paint brush strokes to apply.

If you can find the brush on markdown like I did, it might be worth it if you like the handle enough, that part of the brush seems to be good quality. It was just something I saw available locally, marked down considerably from original price, so I grabbed it.

There are some on ebay BTW that have the "Handle" not bevel branded but with a different knot in them and they are less than 20 bucks including shipping. TBH I have seriously thought of getting one of the handles and then getting a different knot and replacing it with a better grade. I have seen some of the handles ( actual branded ) on eBay that are used that the knot was shot and have looked at them too.... with the prices of replacement knots from maggards or from ali express its really not that painful of an option when you consider what you will wind up with in the end.. BTW do you like the look of the rubberset 400 brushes?? If you do then you may want to check out the one on Murphy andf Mcneil that is available. It is black in color and is made of brass I believe and has a removable ferrule !! at 23.99 USD its not a bad deal and I think the knot in it is okay (or the one I got is okay )
Here is a link...

BTW I am editing my Post to add that I just went to the bay and looked and there are several of the bevels on there for less than 15.....
 
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There are some on ebay BTW that have the "Handle" not bevel branded but with a different knot in them and they are less than 20 bucks including shipping. TBH I have seriously thought of getting one of the handles and then getting a different knot and replacing it with a better grade. I have seen some of the handles ( actual branded ) on eBay that are used that the knot was shot and have looked at them too.... with the prices of replacement knots from maggards or from ali express its really not that painful of an option when you consider what you will wind up with in the end.. BTW do you like the look of the rubberset 400 brushes?? If you do then you may want to check out the one on Murphy andf Mcneil that is available. It is black in color and is made of brass I believe and has a removable ferrule !! at 23.99 USD its not a bad deal and I think the knot in it is okay (or the one I got is okay )
Here is a link...

BTW I am editing my Post to add that I just went to the bay and looked and there are several of the bevels on there for less than 15.....
Yeah I saw some of those on Ebay are the natural hair brushes. In the older reviews I read a lot of people complained they shed a lot but this synthetic one I have is a more recent model and doesn’t shed, just wish it had more give to it. But I have a use for it because occasionally I like to use Barbasol original foam and get a better shave with it using a brush and mixing it with some water. It requires a synthetic brush since my boar brush soaks up Barbasol instantly and makes it unusable but with a synthetic brush I can mix it up with a little water and make it less airy, it has better slickness and behaves more like a traditional shave cream.
 
Just my 2 cents...
I have never liked badger. I am a boar guy (I really like the scritch). That said, the finest synthetic I have ever used is the Omega Evo. I use this brush routinely. I would recommend it for anyone as I feels it would not disappoint anyone as at least a sometimes use brush if not an everyday user.
 
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