Post your travel brush photo here!

[JCinPA]

I've noticed several threads with people asking for travel brush recommendations, and they usually go 2-3 pages then die out. Let's make a perpetual thread for photos of your favorite travel brushes! Maybe it will have some legs?

I was a road warrior through my military and civilian career until several years ago, now I don't travel for work at all. But I got an old vintage Ever-Ready 750, in pretty rough shape and had Reyes Restores clean it up and fit it with a knot for me. I did not request a knot, I just asked him to do his magic on it. And magic it, he did! Very nicely polished now, and he put a synthetic knot in it, but I did not save the paperwork so I don't remember what it is. Here it is sitting on a Tabac refill box for size comparison.

It's a wonderful little travel brush. I don't put it in a tube when I travel, there are loops in my old (discontinued) Alpha One Niner Recon Eight dopp kit (discontinued) that hold it nicely, and I always remember to take it out after travel to dry. It lives on my brush shelf until it goes back in the dopp kit.

Other travel kit are Bic Metal disposable razors, C.O. Bigelow small tube of Proraso or a La Toja stick. I have Thayer's WH and Pinaud Clubman in these little 1 oz Nalgene bottles.

Amazon.com

Post your shave brush photo here, and tell us about your other travel kit and tips! Maybe we can make this an evergreen thread.

 

[Coler]

So, my actual travel brush is this really nice Mondiale synthetic. This is what I use if I know I will have to pack up and travel with a wet brush.

Fairly sure the knot is same as Muhle STF. It face lathers really nicely, splays easily, releases the lather perfectly especially when painting. It's actually just a good brush, full stop, not 'just' a good travel brush.

It punches way above its weight, sizewise and packs away nicely. I used to use a Simpson Major in Best for this application and this is better because it dries far quicker.

Brain bowl for scale.

If I am going away for less than a week I bring this. A full week I'll take something else with it. One of my regulars in a Simpson tube. Two weeks or more, I take this for travel days, one boar and one badger.

Software, I bring a puck or a tube of something. Travelling over a week I probably bring a hard soap and a cream. One razor. Some A/S lotion and a balm.

My annual Summer vacation - 3 weeks - I bring 4 or 5 lather options because why not. One or two razors. One A/S lotion, a neutral balm, some cologne/EdT.

If flying I check a bag so blades are not a problem. For our summer holiday we tend to take a ferry to Europe with our car so packing space is not at a premium.

I have a leather dopp that rolls up which I use for short trips. I use a big Filson canvas dopp for the longer ones. That thing is a cavern.

 

[rreynoso]

I do two types of travels:

Quick business travels, no more than 3 days.
- Tabac stick
- Yaqi Moka Synth
- DSCosmetic AX-SE 3 plates

Long business travels or vacations, 5 or more days, even weeks.
-Tabac stick
- Muhle Rocca
- DaVinci silvertip 26 mm
- Big dopp bag with Tabac AS, Cologne and soap...


Cheers

 

[JCinPA]

Outstanding beginning to what I hope will be an evergreen thread!

Both of the above posters have brought up a good point-- is this an efficiency trip for business for a few days? Or an extended stay? And of course, if an extended stay when you don't have to limit yourself to carryon restriction, the sky is the limit. But I'm especially happy for the quick trip, efficiency ideas. And THANK YOU FOR THE PHOTOS!

BTW, feel free to include photos of any other gear, but do post your travel brushes, as those are the star of this thread. I cannot for the life of me figure out why Alpha One Niner discontinued the Recon Eight Dopp, though. It was the perfect size, and not over complicated with hanging hooks and other gimcracks and geegaws. I like the loops in the small side, which held my shave brush, but otherwise it was a beautiful, simple design.

 

[KW Driver]

Omega 40033 and 599 are my primaries. Usually they travel in the Tom Bihn 1qt clear travel cube as a 3-1-1 bag. I’ve done a month out of it and it’s my weekender/carry on, leaving the house kit. I’ve also got a LL Been medium travel kit that’s good for months.

Didn't quite make the cuts: Omega mixed midget, bambino, Wee Scott (too small) my uncle’s Ever Ready 150-L I reknotted with a silvertip

 

[Marco]

Simpson
Trafalgar T3

​

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I have a choice of a Simpson Classic 1, Wee Scot, and two Majors, one of which was made in the Simspon London factory before it was destroyed in World War Two. I also have an interesting bone brush of unknown manufacture in the style of a Major.

 

[Garry357]

This is my Omega Travel - Pure Badger.

I haven't used it for fear of losing it, so I always travel with a synthetic.

My typical travel kit on the right. I like a mix of mild blades.

 

[BradWorld]

Frequent traveler. My exclusive travel brush for the last few years has been the Muhle STF 23 mm. Before that I mainly traveled with an old Plisson L’Occitane synth for many years. But I used to mix up the brushes a little bit back then. Since I got the little STF (actually size medium I think) it’s been my exclusive travel brush.

This brush is small in comparison to most every other brush I own. But it still feels like a normal sized brush. The loft is very high. Which makes it a bit floppy. It can fling lather if you’re not paying attention. But the face feel is excellent, as it is with all STF brushes. It splays instantly. And transfers the water to the lather at the perfect pace. Despite this brush being completely contrary to my likes on paper, this 23 mm STF works amazingly well in practice.

Here is a photo of my travel kit. Exception being that I only used that flexi razor contraption on this one trip. I normally use a BIC Metal, Guard, or Trac II for carry-on duty. However, I check my luggage 90% of the time and take one or more DE razors and a collection of blades, soaps and splashes. But the STF has been a constant.

By the way, that bag is a Maxpedition Tactical Toiletry Bag. It is a wonderful travel companion that has been all over the world with me. It’s at least 10 years old if I remember correctly. The brush case I 3D printed many years ago to fit my Plisson. When shopping for the STF, I remember measuring the inside diameter of the case with calipers and getting the biggest STF brush that would fit. I thought it would have needed to be the 19mm. But I was pretty happy when i discovered the 23 mm would fit. And I have not changed my travel brush since.

 

[Shaverraver666]

Not posted here in quite some time but this is relevant as I am travelling for work next month...
This gives you a rough idea of what I take for short trips...
A Simpson "Major" , a shaving stick in this case La Toja, but I also have Speick and D.R Harris.
A little Merkur travel razor.
For longer travels when I can add more luggage I take a bigger brush and a Rockwell 6S.

Stay blessed all and safe travels!

 

[Rudy Vey]

Here is mine, a 19 mm Muehle STF knot in one of my handles. For years this was my most used brush as I was traveling quite frequently until COVID hit. Now, she is only used on vacations, like the one that starts tomorrow!!
As one can see the chrome plating on the ring comes off, it is just a black plastic under it. I think it is north of 11-12 years old, and has traveled quite a bit: USA, Canada, Mexico, South and middle America and Europe.

 

[JCinPA]

The Brush MasterTM posts! Thank you so much @Rudy Vey ! Now that, to me, is a travel brush. Along with mine in the OP, either a 19 or 20mm, smaller is what I was thinking for a travel brush. If someone wants to bring a 26mm chubby, that's fine, it's all about YOUR shave, but that is exactly the kind of brush I'm looking for! Thank you for posting. Maybe this thread will become evergreen, with posts like yours to fuel interest!

As long as you post a photo of your travel brush, feel free to post any other travel gear or tips! My tip to the road warrior is get some of those 1 oz nalgene bottles to put your favorite splashes in (I take WH and Clubman in mine). How you get blades to your destination, what your favorite Dopp bag or gear is.

Rudy, that brush is the archetype travel brush, IMO. Thank you!

 

[nemo]

The two on the right were used at first but were pretty tiny so I started using the 19mm Simpson Commodore 1.
I liked the bigger brush over the Wee Scot and my re-knotted Omega plus it fits nicely in a pill bottle.
Lately though I haven't traveled so they gather dust, no air miles for any brush.

 

[Edgelord]

I use any one of these three.

 

[Edgelord]

Simpsons needs a medium size travel tube.

 

[Dolphinjon]

I’m on the road for the next 5 months and have been looking for a travel brush. Thanks for starting this thread. It’s really helpful.

 

[JCinPA]

I don't know the knot size for my travel brush in the OP. It's probably a 19-20 though, and that seems to be the sweet spot for travel brushes so far. Except for Marco, who believes one should go big or go home!

@Dolphinjon When you say on the road, is it lots of short overnight trips or longer stays? If you're checking bags or driving, size isn't an issue, bring your favorite gear. I would live for a solid week out of a carry-on, though, and I liked smaller everything.

A Simpson Commodore X1, 88mm overall height, 19mm knot with 44mm loft seems about perfect, and not too, too small.

 

[JCinPA]

I'm glad Reyes chose to reknot mine in synthetic, though. I think that's probably better for a travel brush than natural bristles. This is a nice size/shape with a 20mm synthetic knot.

Premium 20mm Knot Synthetic Shaving Brush | OneBlade

Ultra soft but with sufficient backbone, the OneBlade shaving brush has synthetic hairs that effectively exfoliate and prep to shave.

www.onebladeshave.com

 

[KW Driver]

And that’s why I like the 40033 and 599. Plenty big enough knots, short overall relative size, ergonomically acceptable handles. 18mm is my smallest acceptable longer than a couple days knot for happy shaves.

5 months gone I’d be taking full sized inexpensive brushes (2 historically, or one in the “with me” carry-on small kit, maybe 2 in the big kit for diversity. One Speick stick in the carry on kit, and 2-3 twist up tubes for soap, length of trip dependent enough to last without a reload). And I wouldn’t be doing 5 months out of carry on only luggage, so there’d be room for a semi-permanent solutions at least.

And I’m glad I’m not long term road warrior-ing it these days

 

[Lil Cooties]

My travel brush has been the Omega 50068 from a Proraso travel kit, fits perfectly into an IKEA PLATS salt shaker (steel tube in second pic). I find it capable and holds enough lather.