My Father's Erskine 200 Nylon

[Raissermesser]

It has not been used since the early 1960s. With the nylon bristles, it looks like it hasn't been used much at all, though I did find some soap residue on the handle. Before I found it, it had been stored in precisely three locations: the medicine cabinet; a shelf in his closet; and a repurposed shoe holder handing in his closet. Any gunk would be from storage, and when the house was fumigated in the early 1970s. Remembering the fumigation gave me a bit of a pause, but also remembered everything else was safe after a thorough washing. It has a tiny bit of discoloration on one side that I can't figure out, and might predate me. My father had went to foam, and when I accidentally broke his shaving mug, he wasn't upset at all.

I decided to wash it and put it into use. First was the anti-bacterial soap simply because it was handy. Washed the bristles with it, and lathered a few times with it in my hand. The discoloration remained, but the rest looked good. But it left the bristles with a tacky feel. So I decided to lather it up and rinse it.

The results was shocking. I did it exactly like my father taught me to lather, and it was like shoving a cylinder of plastic into the mug. Did not notice this when lathering with hand soap. It took a good deal of force to make the bristles give, and they didn't remain enough water. Had to add more water, and ended up with soupy lather. Well, wasn't going to shave with it, so I rinsed the brush as planned, and put it back up for now.

First thought: "Now I know why he went to foam." But you could get brushes locally then. I did in the 1970s. I have a synthetic, but it's a modern one, and doesn't behave like the Erskine.

Looked at it this morning. The bristles hardly look used at all, but that could be due to the nylon. But from the soap residue, I know that he did use it.

Don't know what to think about this brush. My guess is that synthetics have improved greatly since it was made. It was really a shocker.

 

[Ad Astra]

Very cool heirloom, no matter what!

Might consider re-knotting with one of today's great synthetics.

Synths were terrible even just a few years ago, but today they are so, so good.


AA

 

[Sonoftakis]

Synthetics have improved a lot but they are still synthetics in my view. Nothing beats the feel of natural badger hair but I fully understand YMMV

 

[Raissermesser]

Will say that my Fine angel hair synthetic beats my scratchy VDH knot, but that's not saying much. Next month, I hope to try an honest-to-good silver tip badger knot, and we shall see what we shall see.

The difference in water retention between the synthetics surprised me. Any retention is due to surface tension between the bristles, so it's likely dependent on density and bristle thickness. My father's method was to hold the bristles under the tap, wet them, shake out the excess, and apply to the shaving soap. This works with the Fine synthetic, but didn't do as well with the Erskine. The Erskine bristles are tightly packed, and my initial effort at lathering on the puck forced it up into the bristles almost like watching water creep up fibers.

 

[BigJ]

Great to be able to use a family heirloom, even if it is not up to today’s synthetics!

 

[Raissermesser]

Used it today. Happened to think about a puck of Williams in the closet, and how I never got a good lather from that brand. Then thought about the spine on this brush. Put the puck in my Old Spice mug (bought it new in the 1970s; it's lower than the classic Old Spice mugs), soaked it and the brush, and had at it.

Why did I soak a nylon brush? Because after my experience lathering it to clean it, I wanted to be sure it had plenty of water between the bristles. Note that my father didn't soak it, and I don't soak my modern synthetic. May try the under-the-tap method with it again.

The results was success. The brush made a lather on the Williams. Not the best lather, but better than I usually get. Did a three-pass shave Just Because, and for the last pass had to whip up more lather, using a tad more water. That was the best lather of the shave, and up to par.

The brush...well, it's not for face lathering. Used the painting method. Worked just fine for that.

 

[FireDragon76]

It has not been used since the early 1960s. With the nylon bristles, it looks like it hasn't been used much at all, though I did find some soap residue on the handle. Before I found it, it had been stored in precisely three locations: the medicine cabinet; a shelf in his closet; and a repurposed shoe holder handing in his closet. Any gunk would be from storage, and when the house was fumigated in the early 1970s. Remembering the fumigation gave me a bit of a pause, but also remembered everything else was safe after a thorough washing. It has a tiny bit of discoloration on one side that I can't figure out, and might predate me. My father had went to foam, and when I accidentally broke his shaving mug, he wasn't upset at all.

I decided to wash it and put it into use. First was the anti-bacterial soap simply because it was handy. Washed the bristles with it, and lathered a few times with it in my hand. The discoloration remained, but the rest looked good. But it left the bristles with a tacky feel. So I decided to lather it up and rinse it.

The results was shocking. I did it exactly like my father taught me to lather, and it was like shoving a cylinder of plastic into the mug. Did not notice this when lathering with hand soap. It took a good deal of force to make the bristles give, and they didn't remain enough water. Had to add more water, and ended up with soupy lather. Well, wasn't going to shave with it, so I rinsed the brush as planned, and put it back up for now.

First thought: "Now I know why he went to foam." But you could get brushes locally then. I did in the 1970s. I have a synthetic, but it's a modern one, and doesn't behave like the Erskine.

Looked at it this morning. The bristles hardly look used at all, but that could be due to the nylon. But from the soap residue, I know that he did use it.

Don't know what to think about this brush. My guess is that synthetics have improved greatly since it was made. It was really a shocker.

I have shaved with that kind. Stiff and scratchy. Even the Omega Syntex is better.

The secret to older synthetics is to start lathering with the brush relatively dry and dribble in water gradually. Otherwise they will dump water.

I used Williams and an Omega Syntex for a few years until I killed the brush (it just tangled and the fibers started breaking- now at least I comb out my brushes once in a while). A decade or so ago an Omega Syntex was really not far from the best in synthetics, they had just started coming out with 2nd generation synthetics that had softer tips.