What's new

Shavemac 2 band silvertip break in

I recently purchased my first Shavemac from Berndt (24mm two band silvertip bulb). It's a beautiful, symmetrical knot, but it is much more prickly than I had anticipated, particularly when I splay it against my face. Is it reasonable to expect that this prickliness will disappear with continued use over time, or is that just the nature of a Shavemac silvertip two band? Would the feeling be about the same, or less noticeable in a fan knot as compared to a bulb? Thanks
 
I have a 24mm 2 Band Bulb (1st from left) and have not found it prickly/scritchy (poking of single hairs) but mildly scrubby. Same goes for the 22mm 2 Band Fan (3rd from left) and even for the 24mm D01-2 Band Bulb (2nd from left) which has a ton of backbone and scrub. What other brushes are you using?

72FEEB18-1ADD-41A6-8B60-2ABC6CE12EE5.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I recently purchased my first Shavemac from Berndt (24mm two band silvertip bulb). It's a beautiful, symmetrical knot, but it is much more prickly than I had anticipated, particularly when I splay it against my face. Is it reasonable to expect that this prickliness will disappear with continued use over time, or is that just the nature of a Shavemac silvertip two band? Would the feeling be about the same, or less noticeable in a fan knot as compared to a bulb? Thanks
Break in as we know and use for Boar does not apply to badger bristles; The tips may get a little bot more comfortable after few uses but that's it nothing more.

Different people have different skins and expectations! Some find the boar bristles very soft and not prickly.

In the matter of softness Backbone plays an important role i.e. the Loft is as important as the knot if not more. You can use the most soft bristles in the world and set the loft very negative (deeper) and it will give you some scrubby/prickly feeling.

Two band badgers are generally a little bit thicker and less soft than silvertip and bulbs have more backbone then fans.

I have two Vielong silvertip badger brushes which are amongst the softest silvertip; One of them 26mm/50mm and the oder 26mm/55mm. The first one has sometimes a very little bit of prickly feeling (while face lathering), the second one null prickly.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I recently purchased my first Shavemac from Berndt (24mm two band silvertip bulb). It's a beautiful, symmetrical knot, but it is much more prickly than I had anticipated, particularly when I splay it against my face. Is it reasonable to expect that this prickliness will disappear with continued use over time, or is that just the nature of a Shavemac silvertip two band? Would the feeling be about the same, or less noticeable in a fan knot as compared to a bulb? Thanks
I think it depends on the specie of badger, I have a Yaqi aqua 24mm High mountain silvertip(their high end badger $) and it has a ever so slight prickliness(scritch) to it and some folks really enjoy that feel. I also have Yaqi 24mm silvertip badger brushes that have no (scritch) at all to them and feels like a soft pillow on the face when face splay scrub lathering and they call them sometimes white mountain silvertip badger also and there is a difference in hair color from my different badger specie of silvertip brushes. I like using both these silvertip brushes a lot, The Yaqi Aqua high mountain silvertip badger has a much softer feel to the brush when dry compared to the Yaqi white mountain silvertips and it is just the species difference IMO.
Other folks have mentioned this also about the Yaqi aqua High mountain silvertip yet it still is a nice brush to use and it has very slight (scritch or prickliness) has softened over time with use also I discovered + very enjoyable face feel.
When lather painting there is no face feel difference but when scrubbing there is a slight difference of the two brushes IMO.
Over 95% of badger hair comes from China and folks who harvest them know the different species of badgers well over there.
(L)Yaqi Aqua 24mm High mountain silvertip badger..(R)Yaqi Mysterious space 24mm white mountain silvertip badger. There is even a difference in color of hair & the High mountain silvertip badger has a softer feel when touched dry.
Different spiece of badger brushes..jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: cf1
I have 3 Shavemac 24mm brushes (along with others) I am rotating. One is a 2 band bulb (like you have) the second is a D01 fan (dense, tons of backbone), the third is a 2 band fan. I can say of my 3, the bulb is my favorite and it’s not even close. That being said, I bowl lather… and I paint it on my face. I do not splay any bulbs, only my fans and hybrids.

Maybe that is part of the challenge, that knot probably has a very solid backbone and is right where it should be. I don’t expect my bulbs to splay like my fans, but I also like dense knots. Manchurian, Brad Sears, etc.

So if you use it like it’s a fine paint brush, you should get used to it and hopefully love it like many do. If not, there is the dreaded resell… where a used brush fetches a lot less.
 
None of my shavemac knots 2 band knots have changed much with use. The hair is fairly coarse. They are great knots but if your mashing them into your face I think they're going to feel harsh on the face. Use the tips only- light pressure. None of my shavemacs are enjoyable with a decent amount of pressure.
 
I have 3 Shavemac 24mm brushes (along with others) I am rotating. One is a 2 band bulb (like you have) the second is a D01 fan (dense, tons of backbone), the third is a 2 band fan. I can say of my 3, the bulb is my favorite and it’s not even close. That being said, I bowl lather… and I paint it on my face. I do not splay any bulbs, only my fans and hybrids.

Maybe that is part of the challenge, that knot probably has a very solid backbone and is right where it should be. I don’t expect my bulbs to splay like my fans, but I also like dense knots. Manchurian, Brad Sears, etc.

So if you use it like it’s a fine paint brush, you should get used to it and hopefully love it like many do. If not, there is the dreaded resell… where a used brush fetches a lot less.
What is the loft setting of your 24mm fan 2 band? Are you able to get it to splay for circular motions on your face without discomfort? Thanks
 
What is the loft setting of your 24mm fan 2 band? Are you able to get it to splay for circular motions on your face without discomfort? Thanks
I let Rudy Vey set it where he thinks is best. That being said, when we discussed this brush, here is what he said…

“The Shavemac knot on hand is a 24 mm knot and will have probably a size at exit of approx. 25 mm and a loft of 50/52 mm.
Bulbs tend to show more backbone than a fan due to the fact that the outer much shorter hair is stiffer and supports the knot more than the hair in a fan.”

I measure it somewhere between 50 and 52mm. I actually love that knot, but I like dense knots with backbone. I don’t try to splay it, I rather paint with it with just enough pressure to exfoliate. But that is how i use all of my brushes.

In fact, I’m getting another 24mm Shavemac bulb from Rudy soon. He is testing a new handle finish first.

Here is the original in ocean blue before I used it.

4FC84F01-7E8A-4131-9646-EA88185AEF5A.jpeg

Now this is what it looks like 3 months later image.jpg

You can see how it did open up a lot.
 
I think it depends on the specie of badger, I have a Yaqi aqua 24mm High mountain silvertip(their high end badger $) and it has a ever so slight prickliness(scritch) to it and some folks really enjoy that feel. I also have Yaqi 24mm silvertip badger brushes that have no (scritch) at all to them and feels like a soft pillow on the face when face splay scrub lathering and they call them sometimes white mountain silvertip badger also and there is a difference in hair color from my different badger specie of silvertip brushes. I like using both these silvertip brushes a lot, The Yaqi Aqua high mountain silvertip badger has a much softer feel to the brush when dry compared to the Yaqi white mountain silvertips and it is just the species difference IMO.
Other folks have mentioned this also about the Yaqi aqua High mountain silvertip yet it still is a nice brush to use and it has very slight (scritch or prickliness) has softened over time with use also I discovered + very enjoyable face feel.
When lather painting there is no face feel difference but when scrubbing there is a slight difference of the two brushes IMO.
Over 95% of badger hair comes from China and folks who harvest them know the different species of badgers well over there.
(L)Yaqi Aqua 24mm High mountain silvertip badger..(R)Yaqi Mysterious space 24mm white mountain silvertip badger. There is even a difference in color of hair & the High mountain silvertip badger has a softer feel when touched dry.
View attachment 1517771
Have some great shaves!
Does your Yaqi Mysterious space white mountain silvertip have much backbone, or is it kind of floppy?
 
I just bought this 24 mm Shavemac 2-band Silvertip in fan. I’ve had the same experience as you with prickly tips, and during my last shave I think I even experienced brush burn because of it. The tips of Shavemac knots aren’t treated or bleached, and hence don’t have that gel-like property that eliminates scritch. Perhaps @Rudy Vey can weigh in?

I do like the gel-tipped property of my Paladin 2CLND9 knot very much. It’s too bad this Shavemac isn’t as pillowy soft.

E57E04E7-4D26-4C23-8998-337A8DCD7EEF.jpeg
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
I just bought this 24 mm Shavemac 2-band Silvertip in fan. I’ve had the same experience as you with prickly tips, and during my last shave I think I even experienced brush burn because of it. The tips of Shavemac knots aren’t treated or bleached, and hence don’t have that gel-like property that eliminates scritch. Perhaps @Rudy Vey can weigh in?

I do like the gel-tipped property of my Paladin 2CLND9 knot very much. It’s too bad this Shavemac isn’t as pillowy soft.

View attachment 1517845
As I have said before, feeling of badger hair on someone's skin is a very subjective experience. What one guy feels as soft, can be a bit prickly to someone else.
However, I have approx 10 brushes with the two-band silvertip, from the time they came out and probably the last from mid of last year (have way too many brushes anyway..). I would not any of these consider scratchy, scritchy or prickly.

Lately in a lot of badger hair brushes the hair is chemically and/or heat altered, so the tips of such a brush definitely feels very soft, I have one I would even call slimy - not everyone's preference. If someone comes a brush like this and now gets one that has not undergone a treatment, it surely can feel much different, maybe even unplesant in initially. The Shavemac badger hair is not altered in any way.

Do badger hair brushes change and become softer? Boars need a break in and eventually the bristle will split and create the soft feeling (I am by no means a boar specialist, I do not use them, so what I say here, is what I have learned over the years from being on shave fora like this one here). I do have, however, two brushes from other makers that I would consider initially as being prickly. The one was a Zenith Manchurian and the second a Tulip 3 in Super. But, both eventually became much softer, or my face got used to them, they both feel now much better.
 
I do like the gel-tipped property of my Paladin 2CLND9 knot very much. It’s too bad this Shavemac isn’t as pillowy soft.

As I have said before, feeling of badger hair on someone's skin is a very subjective experience. What one guy feels as soft, can be a bit prickly to someone else.
I have a 23mm Shavemac two-band. I don't have a Paladin, but I have two Declaration Grooming knots (B11 and B14) that have some gelled tipping. My Shavemac is not prickly, but I can feel the hairs and it definitely has more 'hair feedback' than the other two $$$ knots. The B14 is pillowy soft, and I cannot feel a single hair (some might call this slimy). Sometimes I want the pillow, sometimes I want the hairs. The B11 is in between (the one I enjoy the most of the three on my skin). I enjoy all three precisely because of the differences between them in the end. I mean, my AP Shave Synbad is the softest knot I have if soft is what I want (but it's not pillowy). And of course, I need to validate my purchases by noticing all the differences :)

What you might call prickly in the Shavemac, I might call scritch. It's hard to know. With Shavemac, you get natural hairs that have not been chemically treated/altered and YMMV. There's a reason gelled tips appear to be the rage right now (I love them too). I don't think you can expect untreated hairs to feel like treated hairs. Give the Shavemac some additional tries. You might like the difference later. If not, there's always the BST. Tons of Shavemac fans here. Enjoy the exploration!
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
My only Shavemac 2 bands are 22mm Beagles three of us designed with Bernd 18 months ago. I have one in a bulb, and the other is a fan. I used each of them 3 or 4 times and found them as prickly and scratchy as would be a good pure badger. They've now sat in their boxes unused for over a year.

I think we had the loft set too low. But I'm apparently the only one complaining, so take what I say with that fact in mind.
 
My only Shavemac 2 bands are 22mm Beagles three of us designed with Bernd 18 months ago. I have one in a bulb, and the other is a fan. I used each of them 3 or 4 times and found them as prickly and scratchy as would be a good pure badger. They've now sat in their boxes unused for over a year.

I think we had the loft set too low. But I'm apparently the only one complaining, so take what I say with that fact in mind.
Having used my Beagle Fan side by side with the Eagle G3 Pure I would say you got the loft right Owen. I like both but somehow grab the Beagle more often.
 
My only Shavemac 2 bands are 22mm Beagles three of us designed with Bernd 18 months ago. I have one in a bulb, and the other is a fan. I used each of them 3 or 4 times and found them as prickly and scratchy as would be a good pure badger. They've now sat in their boxes unused for over a year.

I think we had the loft set too low. But I'm apparently the only one complaining, so take what I say with that fact in mind.
I used mine this morning. I've thought the same as you- the loft was set just a hair too low on that brush. I would imagine treating the hair slightly would make them less scratchy but I'm not about to experiment on mine. The brush feels ok so long as you don't press too much.
 
I sold my Shavemac silvertip two band on the BST because I found it too prickly. What was unclear to me was whether that particular brush was typical or whether the prickliness was an anomaly present in only that particular knot. From some of the other comments here, I'm guessing that it was more common than not.

I have wondered from time to time whether the knot would have softened had I kept it and used it more. Some folks have said that badger brushes don't "break in", but that has not been my experience. My Zenith Manchurian badger was also initially more prickly than I would prefer, but after a few dozen uses it has softened up and become my favorite badger brush.
 
FWIW, my impression from reading a lot of messages about this issue is that it is more common these days to get a prickly Shavemac 2 band silvertip than it used to be (at least from Shavemac directly). I have an older Shavemac 2 band that feels great on my face and a newer one that is still prickly after considerable use. Further, the softer feeling 2 band has a lower loft and more backbone than the prickly one. Both are 24 mm bulbs. If there is a way to reduce the prickliness without using chemicals, I would love to know it.
 
My 24mm bulb is scrubby but not really "prickly". Last few times I used it the splay actually felt quite soft. Keep using it and see how it changes.
 
I have a Shavemac 24 mm 2-band silvertip that Rudy set. Great knot (and great brush). I would describe mine as very comfortable, not prickly.

As Rudy said, brush feel is very subjective. That said, I would gently swirl the hair in a cup of warm water with mild dishwashing liquid for a few minutes and then thoroughly rinse the brush. And just keep using it.
 
Top Bottom