I really like synthetic brushes, and while there are plenty that are very soft feeling, I have yet to try one that's as soft as the Kent BK4 that I used to own. The gel tips on my Shavemac 3-Band Silvertip are softer, but with more backbone since I didn't have it set with a lot of loft, so quite a bit different experience than the BK4.
Looking for a really soft brush - reccomendations
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Softer than a Kent BK4? That's asking a lot; I thought mine was like a pillow.
My Omega boar brushes are incredibly soft yet have good backbone even after many years of use. Omega Pro 10048. They are quite inexpensive on Amazon and would certainly be worth a try at the price - not much to lose. Also, they break in rather quickly so long as you don’t treat them too kindly. My advice is to treat them like a cheatin’ wife. For instance, for a couple of weeks, don’t rinse them - just leave them in the bowl. This will help the ends split. I’ve been using one daily for about 11 years and bought two last year as backups.
Comes down to quite a few variables. One of the biggest is batch variance. For the softest 3-band find an 80s Plisson HMW 3-band. Absolute softest I’ve experienced out of hundreds of brushes for a Silvertip. VP Leonhardy has quite a few from 2015ish that would be quite excellent. Kent is no slouch. The fan shaped knots were always quite soft. Had some newer ones that weren’t so soft. Since Kent is out of the badger game not much left to do there. I have a recent Shavemac Finest that uses a combination of their pure and Silvertip grades that is quite soft and close to a Shavemac I bought from WCS a decade ago. The absolute softest fiber is the true synthetic stuff as that is just sheer softness and doesn’t have the total package that badger feels. Vie long 3-band Silvertip has been consistently excellent.
You can find softer brushes, but this is like any hobby. The search can drive you insane. Still, I can’t say I regret the sheer scope of brushes I’ve seen, have, and had. I truly love them.
You can find softer brushes, but this is like any hobby. The search can drive you insane. Still, I can’t say I regret the sheer scope of brushes I’ve seen, have, and had. I truly love them.
If you want a super soft brush try an Edwin Jagger Best Badger
If it’s soft for you that’s great. My experience that was my very first brush and it was not good. The tips were clipped making it quite scratchy and prickly as a result. For most makers Best is a good grade, but that brush was not. Mind you this was back in 2009. It’s possible they changed something, but I’d steer people away from that brush personally.
Really, I love mine, it's possibly my favourite brush. I've had it about a year and use it at least 3 to 4 times a week.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Omega ^ silvertip, dry. New, but washed, etc. Very soft but also decent scrub and backbone. Wonderful handle, too, if you're interested in that aspect.
Thumbnails, left to right:
- Brand new & never wet.
- Brand new from the top, never wet.
- Damp.
Omega ^ Evo. Extremely soft. Decent backbone & scrub; excellent feel for a synthetic. You might be fooled into thinking this one's a silvertip.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Some great recommendations here. From my own experience I think you'd want to have at least one of each hair type. The only one I can't speak to his horse hair, which I have not yet tried. You have a soft badger but if you want to try another one that is extremely soft I can recommend an Envy Shave Luxury Silvertip. The word Luxury in the name is totally appropriate. It is super soft, yet the knot is dense giving it decent backbone. I absolutely love the two that I have. I put them in handles that I had purchased separately. You also want to consider boar. As someone said earlier, boar does need to be broken in. And not all boars are created equal. I have several Omegas as they get good reviews and they are cheap. But among my favorites are their Connaught Omega with faux Jade handle. That one was soft right out of the box. And it's only gotten better with each use. And it never needed a soaking to deal with any funky smell. No smell either right out of the box. It's my favorite boar. And then there are synthetics. They can be extremely soft. I haven't tried lots of brands mainly because I've been very happy with my many RazoRock Plissoft brushes, which like the Omegas are extremely cheap. My favorites? Hard to say. I really like the regular sized Bruce. For a larger brush experience I like the Beehive, which I find may be softer than the others. It's dense enough to give it some nice backbone. I also have the 400 with noir knot and butterscotch handle. It may be the handle on it that does it for me but the knot is nice as well. With sythetics and boars there really is no reason not to try them given how cheap they are for good quality.
No problem with that at all. After all it is all about what you like! People fall into the trap of there being a best brush, or best anything for that matter. There is no one best item for anything. If there was, there wouldn't be so much diversity in the marketplace.
If you want an extremely soft and comfortable brush, the AP Shave Co. Cashmere and Yaqi Cashmere brushes are very nice to your face. Both of mine are 24mm brushes. Best with bowl lathering.
Yaqi on the left:
AP Shave Co. 24mm Cashmere:
Yaqi 24mm Cashmere:
Which one is the better Cashmere brush? As the eminent philosopher Neil Young wrote: "A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse" but I'd give a slight nod to the AP Shave Co.
YMMV
Yaqi on the left:
AP Shave Co. 24mm Cashmere:
Yaqi 24mm Cashmere:
Which one is the better Cashmere brush? As the eminent philosopher Neil Young wrote: "A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse" but I'd give a slight nod to the AP Shave Co.
YMMV
I second the vote to a switch to, or at least try, bowl lathering. It separates the lather building process from the face painting/face scrubbing functions so that you can control each independently. That gives you a lot more freedom to use whatever soap you want and to choose different brush types as well.
I am really picky about my lather so I spend a lot of time swirling in the bowl. That would be murder on my face especially for the third pass if I was face lathering. Also, I like a good scrub prior to the first pass and a synthetic just doesn't do it. On the second and third passes I want really soft tips to paint and daub with. A well broken in boar bristle brush gives you exactly that.
I have two synthetics in my rotation, a tuxedo knot and a plisson. When I use them it is always a little disappointing and I always look forward to getting back to the boar.
I am really picky about my lather so I spend a lot of time swirling in the bowl. That would be murder on my face especially for the third pass if I was face lathering. Also, I like a good scrub prior to the first pass and a synthetic just doesn't do it. On the second and third passes I want really soft tips to paint and daub with. A well broken in boar bristle brush gives you exactly that.
I have two synthetics in my rotation, a tuxedo knot and a plisson. When I use them it is always a little disappointing and I always look forward to getting back to the boar.
One of the softess brushes is a Vulfix 2235S; it is like lathering with a pillow. Available from McGuire's in the UK priced at £43.50 which is a good price for that badger brush.
www.maguiresbarbershop.co.uk
Progress Vulfix 2235 Super Badger Shaving Brush
Progress Vulfix 2235 Super Badger Shaving Brush at Maguire's Barbershop | Progress Vulfix Shaving Brushes | Badger Shaving Brushes by Progress Vulfix | Progress Vulfix 2235 Super Badger is a larger format brush and one of "Pre
kent silvertip is already a soft brush. if you want to go softer, probably synthetics is the way to go. also try out the shavemac standard silvertip. also i got this silvertip brush from koraat, its pretty soft and looks nice aswell. my softest brush though is a vulfix silvertip.
That just can't be right. Have you tried other brushes?
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If you aren't too concerned about backbone try a makeup brush. Seriously, they do lather up and such.
I have this exact same brush. I got it because I was looking for a step up from my first brush, an Art of Shaving Pure badger. Both the AOS and EJ are the same size. Ironically, my EJ Best has easily as much scritch to it as the AOS Pure. I hate it. I hate them both. They both reside in a bin that sits under a bed in the guest bedroom along with all the other gear I no longer use. Those two brushes have the most scritch of all the 17 brushes in my collection, other than a Parker King Size Pure Badger, which I like because of the large size of the knot. I would not describe this brush as being soft. But then again, like everything shaving, YMMV.
The indignity.....
