I have three different sized Muhle STF brushes, so I thought I would compare them.
The three are:
Muhle STF v2 Classic 19mm (48mm loft)
Muhle STF v2 Classic 23mm (56mm loft)
Rudy Vey with Muhle 25mm (56mm loft)
Here are the brushes after soaking and shaking out the water. Notice the difference in the appearance. The 19mm (bottom left) has been very well used and is not dense at all, and the fibers look kind of tangled and floppy. The 23mm (top) has large pointy clumps of fibers, while the 25mm (bottom right) has smaller pointy clumps. This looked strange, so I repeated the soaking and shaking and had the exact same result.
Next, I loaded up with Stirling One shaving soap. Can't recall the count, I think it was maybe a 15-20 second count. Same order of brushes as above.
Here you can see the three brushes loaded up. The 19mm again is less dense and tends to splay out, the 23mm is more compact, and the 25mm is a bit wider due to more hair in the same loft.
I worked all three brushes in a bowl, wetting the tips and working the lather until I got something decent. Here is a top shot of the brushes after scooping up all the lather.
And a front shot. Notice that the 25mm seemed to hold a lot more of the lather inside the knot where the other two held more lather on the outside.
I then worked the lather from each brush on my hand to show the lather quality and amount. Here is the 19mm.
And the 23mm. Notice how the lather is thinner on the hand and stays in the brush. I believe this is due to the tighter knot not releasing as easily.
The 25mm is definitely better in this regard and held a lot of lather.
Conclusions:
The Muhle STF knots are kind of hit or miss for me. They are for the most part extremely soft and resilient, making lather quickly. However, I have not found them to be very consistent. Some of the knots seem to bloom out more while others are very tight knots, which is not productive for lathering and not enjoyable. This particular 19mm has a great natural splay to the brush but is too small for more than one pass. The 23mm is similar to a 21mm that I had in the past, which is too tight of a knot and makes it too focused and difficult to splay while lathering. This 25mm is incredibly soft but I have the loft too dense to open the knot and make/release lather.
Even with the shortcomings (less than perfect face feel, lack of perceived backbone), I find the Plisson synthetic shaving brush to be overall easier to use and I believe the performance of that knot would not be as sensitive to the loft or natural bloom of the brush.
The three are:
Muhle STF v2 Classic 19mm (48mm loft)
Muhle STF v2 Classic 23mm (56mm loft)
Rudy Vey with Muhle 25mm (56mm loft)
Here are the brushes after soaking and shaking out the water. Notice the difference in the appearance. The 19mm (bottom left) has been very well used and is not dense at all, and the fibers look kind of tangled and floppy. The 23mm (top) has large pointy clumps of fibers, while the 25mm (bottom right) has smaller pointy clumps. This looked strange, so I repeated the soaking and shaking and had the exact same result.
Next, I loaded up with Stirling One shaving soap. Can't recall the count, I think it was maybe a 15-20 second count. Same order of brushes as above.
Here you can see the three brushes loaded up. The 19mm again is less dense and tends to splay out, the 23mm is more compact, and the 25mm is a bit wider due to more hair in the same loft.
I worked all three brushes in a bowl, wetting the tips and working the lather until I got something decent. Here is a top shot of the brushes after scooping up all the lather.
And a front shot. Notice that the 25mm seemed to hold a lot more of the lather inside the knot where the other two held more lather on the outside.
I then worked the lather from each brush on my hand to show the lather quality and amount. Here is the 19mm.
And the 23mm. Notice how the lather is thinner on the hand and stays in the brush. I believe this is due to the tighter knot not releasing as easily.
The 25mm is definitely better in this regard and held a lot of lather.
Conclusions:
The Muhle STF knots are kind of hit or miss for me. They are for the most part extremely soft and resilient, making lather quickly. However, I have not found them to be very consistent. Some of the knots seem to bloom out more while others are very tight knots, which is not productive for lathering and not enjoyable. This particular 19mm has a great natural splay to the brush but is too small for more than one pass. The 23mm is similar to a 21mm that I had in the past, which is too tight of a knot and makes it too focused and difficult to splay while lathering. This 25mm is incredibly soft but I have the loft too dense to open the knot and make/release lather.
Even with the shortcomings (less than perfect face feel, lack of perceived backbone), I find the Plisson synthetic shaving brush to be overall easier to use and I believe the performance of that knot would not be as sensitive to the loft or natural bloom of the brush.
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