Muhle STF vs Plisson Synthetic

[Jarick]

I just received my Muhle 33K256 a couple days ago and decided to compare against my L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic.

Dry brushes:



Similar sizes overall, with the Muhle having maybe a touch smaller handle and no visible knot cup. They measure out pretty close as well in terms of knot and loft.

Here are the brushes after being soaked in water:



And here they are after the water has been shaken (not squeezed) out:



Visually, they look pretty close so far.

Next, I loaded up with MWF for 30 seconds:



Here is the Muhle after working in the bowl for a minute or so and adding a touch of water. Lather doesn't look great, which is par for the course for MWF, especially because I don't think I loaded as much as I should.



Same thing for the Plisson:



Lather was very similar, just seemed to be less of it. I think the Plisson didn't load quite as much soap as the Muhle did.

The end result:



Good lather I would say. Plenty for the Muhle, and a decent amount for the Plisson.

Next, I decided to palm lather some WSP Rustic Lavender soap. This is an MdC clone and seems to lather very well.

Here are both brushes after a 15 count of loading:



The Muhle, after adding a bit of water and working the lather:



And the Plisson:



I definitely noticed a difference in feel. The Muhle had a LOT more backbone and was more prone to pushing and working the lather outside the brush. The Plisson was softer and tended to mix the lather inside the brush. You don't get the sensation that you are scrubbing and working really hard, but you do get a really good lather.

Here's the end result:



Again, pretty much the same quality and quantity lather for both brushes, just different ways to get there.

 

[celestino]

Congratulations on the new brush.

 

[tvad]

I did a similar comparison a few months ago. I primarily face lather, and the lather produced by each brush was equivalent, although the Plisson was softer on my face.

Based on the better face feel of the Plisson, and the equal lathering performance of each brush, I could not justify owning the Muhle synthetic.

 

[Sullybob]

Thanks for a great write up and pictures Jarick.

 

[Batman]

Excellent comparison...super close results.

 

[Musikmann]

I have both brushes and prefer the Mühle for the backbone.

 

[Method2Madness]

Wow...awesome write up with pictures. Thanks for posting!!

 

[shevek]

Nice review and pics

 

[BSAGuy]

That is a great comparative review. My wife gave me a Plisson for Christmas and I am a very happy shaver.

 

[kansaskyle]

I did a similar comparison a few months ago. I primarily face lather, and the lather produced by each brush was equivalent, although the Plisson was softer on my face.

Based on the better face feel of the Plisson, and the equal lathering performance of each brush, I could not justify owning the Muhle synthetic.

Since I primarily bowl lather, I kept the Muhle for daily use and use the Plisson for travel when I face lather. Best of both worlds for me!

 

[Peter_A]

I have both brushes and prefer the Mühle for the backbone.

+1. I have 2 Plissons (faux tortoise-shell and the L'Occitane wooden one), and for the Muhles, I have both the 21mm and the 25mm (both in faux horn).

 

[KenHowald]

I have a long way to go... I have ordered a couple of Silvertip knots to try in the handles I make, I have not gotten near the foam build up that you achieve, I am just using a knot from Woodcraft right now.

 

[Jim232118]

I love my Muhle synthetic. Never tried the Plisson but the Muhle is very soft, lathers extremely well and provides more backbone than I expected.

 

[Jarick]

More comments about the Muhle,

It doesn't want to splay much. It would rather kind of swirl around. Imagine a boar brush that hasn't been soaked. The backbone is extremely high and it doesn't splay, so it would just be the tips painting around.

Once you do splay it, it opens up and is very scrubby. Tips are still soft though. But this particular brush seems to have tips that stick together and make it act spiky. It almost feels prickly when tapped against the face. None of my other Muhle STF brushes do this, including my 25mm. That one acts a little different in that it's a wall of pre-splayed fibers. It feels much softer. But it always felt this way. I've also used several other Muhle/Pur-Tech knots that don't get nearly as spiky as this current one.

As for the Plisson,

It does splay very easily and seems to hold a bit more water in the knot. It doesn't feel scrubby but is very effective at building lather. Hard to describe, but imagine a well-soaked boar like a Semogue. The bristles open way up and the brush builds the lather between the skin and the knot. Unlike say a dense badger brush where it seems more like the lather builds inside the knot.

The tips of the Plisson appear softer due to the lack of backbone, but there is a tiny bit of irritation that can occur, a very micro scritch. It's not a pleasant scrub like a split end boar or finest badger, but more like a tiny little scratchy feeling. Very hard to describe, and very minor. But it's there.

These are initial impressions from the Muhle, but given what I know about other knots, I think I prefer the Plisson. In my mind, the Muhle would maybe knot hold as much water, but would be softer and splay easily enough. In practice, I think maybe the loft is still too low, and it should be closer to 60mm instead of 55mm. The Plisson is a definitely unique sensation as it barely feels like a brush is being used at all, but it mixes lather quicker and more thoroughly than anything I've used. I still seem to prefer a good badger though.

You can read my comparison between the Plisson and my old Shavemac silvertip here.

 

[Polica]

Thanks for posting this comparison. Much appreciated.

 

[tvad]

OP, given your preference for the Plisson over the Muhle, yet your preference for "a good badger" over both of the synthetic brushes, what specific badger brush do you like?

 

[Jarick]

The latest one I have is a Thater 49125/2 that I really like. I like it over the synthetic because it just has a more luxurious feel, like a massage, and zero irritation for the skin. Plus it holds three passes worth of lather easily. But it takes a couple days to dry out.

Another one I really like is the TGN Finest brush. It's not the same level of quality, and lather seems to get stuck in the knot a little more, but it has a good amount of backbone and very soft tips. It's maybe a little more than half as much money as the Thater.

If there were a second generation of Plisson with slightly softer tips (i.e. a bit more taper to them), that would be really close to ideal. I'd also really like to see the colors changed, as the orange and brown looks really bad to me. I'd prefer to see badger striping and colors. Also, a turned acrylic handle would be great.

 

[kingfisher]

Thanks for the comparison.

My wife got me a The Grooming Company synthetic brush for Christmas and it moved immediately into my top 3 brushes. It's small but loads quickly and makes beautiful lather. It's completely soft on my face even though it has plenty of backbone in lather building (I'm a bowl latherer).

Anyway, I love my new synthetic and may just get another one at some point in the future.

 

[blzrfn]

The Plisson is the only synthetic brush that I found enjoyable enough to keep around. All the others that I have tried (Muehle STF V2, Muehle Black Fibre, The Grooming Co.) were all too springy for my face lathering preference. I have also used a first generation Nylon brush which actually had all of the characteristics I could ask for in a synthetic brush except for the tips weren't very soft. In fact if they could get the first generation nylon density and resiliency combined with the soft tips of the latest fibers that would be perfect.

 

[tvad]

The latest one I have is a Thater 49125/2 that I really like. I like it over the synthetic because it just has a more luxurious feel, like a massage, and zero irritation for the skin. Plus it holds three passes worth of lather easily. But it takes a couple days to dry out.

Thanks. I had been shopping for quite some time for a good badger brush for face lathering. Went through several "top rated" brushes and sold them all in favor of the Plisson Synthetic. Just ordered a Thater 4292/4 Finest 2-Band.