Splash and go
Question for Synthetic Brush Users
- Thread starter johnwick
- Start date
+1
The only thing that remains to natural hair brushes, is the feeling of "real" hair. Performance goes to the synthetics hands down. Not to mention that synthetics can be tortured and don't shed fibres. The only fibre i 've lost from a synthetic, was when i opened a new Yaqi and moving my hand through the loft, a fiber came out, which might have been detached already in the manufacturing process for all i know.
That's all I have been using lately is my simpsons synthetic chubby. Hasn't shed any hairs whatsoever. It can take a lot of abuse even when using with shaving foam. Right now I have just been using cheap dollar store Super Max sensitive with no problems. I use my boar brush for my hard soaps, find it easier than using my synthetic though! Using proraso soap of course, which I find a boar brush seems to lather up faster between the two. I can't speak for other soaps or creams. I can say although I believe a good shaving cream may be a better choice using a synthetic brush for a faster shave, which is my goal, not to spend 30-40 minutes shaving.
+1
I love the feel of badger and the feel of boar. I like them aesthetically for feel and look. But the fact is that even the synthetics I don't particularly love make lather unbelievably easily, easier even than the Omega Pros or my 2-band badgers. My EJ XL synthetic is my most-used brush, and it has been since I acquired it a half-decade ago.
I don't soak it, just add a splash of water and start loading from the puck. It never fails.
The newer synthetics (gen4) is even better. I have a blackwolf knot from Wolf Whiskers with a stiff backbone that is luxuriously soft. Splash and go. It works as good as it looks.
- Thread starter
- #46
Funny this thread has come up again.
I just finished the FFFMM and used a cheap WCS 26mm Synthetic for around 30 shaves consecutively with WK Fougere Bouquet. It was absolutely wonderful each and every time. Using a damp brush I would simply load until I felt like it wouldn’t pick any more soap up, and each time I had the perfect amount of lather for three passes and enough for a 4th “aftershave” coating while I cleaned up.
The last two days (same soap) I used my previously well-liked Stirling 26mm finest badger and a SOC Boar. Both were frankly miserable at whipping up the lather I was accustomed to this past month with the synthetic. The Stirling was a lather hog that simply wouldn’t give it up, and the boar was so floppy on the face I couldn’t generate lather properly at all. I swear the boar started out beautifully with just the right amount of backbone, and within 60 shaves it has turned to a floppy mess. The boar lathering was so poor I literally walked into the other room after the first pass and grabbed my Synthetic to start over. That’s never happened before. It prolonged the shave but saved it completely from disaster.
Tonight on deck is my Fendrihan HMW badger. It’s been a bit floppy from the start (less than 10 shaves on it). I’ll bowl lather tonight instead of on the face. After this, it’s back to my collection of Synthetics to stop the madness.
I just finished the FFFMM and used a cheap WCS 26mm Synthetic for around 30 shaves consecutively with WK Fougere Bouquet. It was absolutely wonderful each and every time. Using a damp brush I would simply load until I felt like it wouldn’t pick any more soap up, and each time I had the perfect amount of lather for three passes and enough for a 4th “aftershave” coating while I cleaned up.
The last two days (same soap) I used my previously well-liked Stirling 26mm finest badger and a SOC Boar. Both were frankly miserable at whipping up the lather I was accustomed to this past month with the synthetic. The Stirling was a lather hog that simply wouldn’t give it up, and the boar was so floppy on the face I couldn’t generate lather properly at all. I swear the boar started out beautifully with just the right amount of backbone, and within 60 shaves it has turned to a floppy mess. The boar lathering was so poor I literally walked into the other room after the first pass and grabbed my Synthetic to start over. That’s never happened before. It prolonged the shave but saved it completely from disaster.
Tonight on deck is my Fendrihan HMW badger. It’s been a bit floppy from the start (less than 10 shaves on it). I’ll bowl lather tonight instead of on the face. After this, it’s back to my collection of Synthetics to stop the madness.
What i 've found astonishing in face lathering, is not just how quickly the synthetics build lather, but also how thick of a lather they produce with so little effort and like you say, their tendency to release the lather when needed, in the quantity needed.
I think Semogue tries to make "badgery boars". So soft that one could use them as alternatives to badgers. But, like in your case, the end user might want a real boar. That's where Omega comes into play.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Great post. And I have had similar experiences. The synths have spoiled me and I can’t use anything else now.
- Thread starter
- #49
It’s great to hear I’m not the only one and that I haven’t gone completely luney tunes. My HMW was fine for bowl lathering, but despite not being a densely packed knot, I again found it to be greedy.
I think what I’m finding I like most about synthetics is not that they simply whip up great lather, it’s that they “give it up” much easier. The painting strokes are much fuller and richer. And ultimately that allows me to incorporate even more water into the lather through that process.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Agree 100%.
New folks need to start off with a good 18mm-20mm synth & some ToOBS to discover what great lather is, what it feels like and what it looks like.
I don't know any particular benefit of soaking, aside from the fact I heard the longer you soak the better the lather it creates, u=its also true with natural ones!
I started with my dads old badger brush and thought it was great till i recently bought a Yaqi synth and honestly don't see myself using any other brush but the Yaqi.
+1 The lather of the synthetic, in face lathering, for the same amount of product, is thicker. It always amazes me. None of my natural hair brushes, manages to make so thick lather, so quickly. The synthetic does it and even with less product.
My RR 24mm chrome synth may not be my favorite brush in a den of Thater 2-bands, Rooneys and Simpsons badgers, but it's far better than any other synth I've had. I'm a creature of habit, so I still let it soak while I prep, knowing it won't make a difference.
None whatsoever from what I can tell.
Nylon fibers do absorb water, but I don't think enough that is useful for shaving.
The fibers in synthetic knots all seem to have a bit of a zigzag, compared to boar and badger hairs which are more-or-less straight.
My theory is that the waviness keeps the fibers from packing too close together, and the resulting air spaces between them are just the right size to hold water by capillary action.
So, the synthetic knot as a whole can "absorb" water, but mashing it around would squeeze the water out more readily than from natural fibers.
That what me think.
The fibers in synthetic knots all seem to have a bit of a zigzag, compared to boar and badger hairs which are more-or-less straight.
My theory is that the waviness keeps the fibers from packing too close together, and the resulting air spaces between them are just the right size to hold water by capillary action.
So, the synthetic knot as a whole can "absorb" water, but mashing it around would squeeze the water out more readily than from natural fibers.
That what me think.
Yep, but pretty warm (not hot) water.
Nylon fibers do absorb water, but I don't think enough that is useful for shaving.
The fibers in synthetic knots all seem to have a bit of a zigzag, compared to boar and badger hairs which are more-or-less straight.
My theory is that the waviness keeps the fibers from packing too close together, and the resulting air spaces between them are just the right size to hold water by capillary action.
So, the synthetic knot as a whole can "absorb" water, but mashing it around would squeeze the water out more readily than from natural fibers.
That what me think.
I think that synthetic fibres don't absorb water because they are solid (vs hollow in boar and badger). The ondulated external surface of the fibres though, traps some water, due to surface tension (same principle on how a leaf holds drops of water). This is a weak force and it causes the brush to rapidly loose much of the water when shaken (typical synthetic behaviour with wet but not shaken brush, that as soon as you press on your cheek, the water drips on your chest).
