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Shavemac 2-Band Silvertip Question

My Shavemac 2 band silvertip is indeed "scritchy". It is still quite new with less than a dozen uses, and I have noticed that it is getting softer. It still has more scritch than any other badger knot I've owned, including several Simpson's Best, a couple of two band Yaqi's, 2 TGN Finest knots, a Maggard 2 band and a WCS Silvertip.

I think it will develop into an excellent blend of backbone and softness, but mine is a 22 mm beehive and it's just too small (the handle) for my hands, so I've listed it on the BST. If I do sell it, I may well buy a 24 mm as the beehive handle is lovely and in a larger size would be ideal.
 
My Shavemac 2 band silvertip is indeed "scritchy". It is still quite new with less than a dozen uses, and I have noticed that it is getting softer. It still has more scritch than any other badger knot I've owned, including several Simpson's Best, a couple of two band Yaqi's, 2 TGN Finest knots, a Maggard 2 band and a WCS Silvertip.

I think it will develop into an excellent blend of backbone and softness, but mine is a 22 mm beehive and it's just too small (the handle) for my hands, so I've listed it on the BST. If I do sell it, I may well buy a 24 mm as the beehive handle is lovely and in a larger size would be ideal.

I am surprised at such variation as my shavemac is incredibly soft. The white bristles Are also more white than the off white colours of my other silvertip brushes including the Simpson, and the black bristles more black.
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
I am surprised at such variation as my shavemac is incredibly soft. The white bristles Are also more white than the off white colours of my other silvertip brushes including the Simpson, and the black bristles more black.
I have used in my brushes hundreds of these two-band silvertips and have myself about 10 or sobrushes with this hair - from the very beginning this grade was offered and my latest brush is maybe a year or so old now. It is the most consistent hair quality of any makers I have ever seen, felt and used. Scritchy is one word i have not heard when my customers describe their brush to me.
 
I have used in my brushes hundreds of these two-band silvertips and have myself about 10 or sobrushes with this hair - from the very beginning this grade was offered and my latest brush is maybe a year or so old now. It is the most consistent hair quality of any makers I have ever seen, felt and used. Scritchy is one word i have not heard when my customers describe their brush to me.
Maybe they have to be mounted in a Rudy Vey custom handle to achieve their maximum softness!
 
I have used in my brushes hundreds of these two-band silvertips and have myself about 10 or sobrushes with this hair - from the very beginning this grade was offered and my latest brush is maybe a year or so old now. It is the most consistent hair quality of any makers I have ever seen, felt and used. Scritchy is one word i have not heard when my customers describe their brush to me.
From everything I've heard I too was surprised to find myself calling it scritchy. It's going to a new owner tomorrow, and I'll be very interested to hear his reaction to the brush.
 
I have used in my brushes hundreds of these two-band silvertips and have myself about 10 or sobrushes with this hair - from the very beginning this grade was offered and my latest brush is maybe a year or so old now. It is the most consistent hair quality of any makers I have ever seen, felt and used. Scritchy is one word i have not heard when my customers describe their brush to me.

Based on my new sbavemac brush, I would absolutely agree. I was rather commenting on Steve's post that his brush was scritchy to him.
 
My both Shavemac 2 band silvertips are quite scritchy. Other badgers I have and Semoque boars are much softer. But I sometimes like a little harder approach so that is when my Shavemacs come in use.
 
I just received a 2 band Silvertip brush direct from Shavemac. It arrived less than 2 weeks ago. This batch has more scritch than the Shavemac 2 band Silvertip brush I received as part of the 2018 group buy (jade/horn handle). The density of the knots seems consistent however.

Nevertheless, it is an outstanding brush that performs well. When I first used it, it reminded me more of my D01 2 band than the previous 2018 Silvertip. It is somewhere between the two I'd say.
 
I just received a 2 band Silvertip brush direct from Shavemac. It arrived less than 2 weeks ago. This batch has more scritch than the Shavemac 2 band Silvertip brush I received as part of the 2018 group buy (jade/horn handle). The density of the knots seems consistent however.

Nevertheless, it is an outstanding brush that performs well. When I first used it, it reminded me more of my D01 2 band than the previous 2018 Silvertip. It is somewhere between the two I'd say.
I too participated in the 2018 group buy and selected the Shavemac 2 band which became my favorite brush. I can’t say for sure but believe it softened as it became more broken in.

Most recently I participated in the Beagle group buy and am finding that this knot is softening as it breaks in. Since it is only used about once a week, I expect it to be right there with the 2018 group buy brush before the end of the year and hopefully by the end of October.
 
I have 5 brushes all bought in the last 8 months, knots range from 24 to 28 mm, and scritchy is not I would use for any of them the 24mm took a little longer to break in, I agree with Rudy every single knot is consistent unlike a lot of other knot manufacturers. I would not hesitate to buy another Shavemac knot, in fact I just may replace my new Paladin knot with a Shavemac.
 
Can you share what you like more in the Shavemac than the Paladin? Is the Paladin too soft for your preference?
 
I have both the Shavemac 2-band and 3-band Silvertip. The 3-band is much softer than the 2-band. I definitely wouldn’t call the 2-band scritchy but it’s not the softest brush on the planet. I think it’s a nice balance of soft and springy.
 
I’ve had four of these knots. Three Shavemac and one Rudy Vey. Two were very soft, two were slightly scritchy. This is over ~2017-2020.
 
I just bought a two-band Shavemac a few weeks ago and can say with confidence that it is easily the spikiest, harshest brush I’ve ever used of any hair type. No contest. I face lather and if I catch the brush at the wrong angle, you definitely know it. There’s lots of feedback! Mine is not 9/10 for softness. Maybe closer to 4/10 compared to all the badger and boar brushes I’ve used.

The knot has a lot of backbone. Actually, mine has almost no give at all. That, plus the lack of density, accentuates the feeling of spines prickling the skin. Soaking time makes no difference to mine - the hairs remain pretty stiff. Shavemac recommend a short soak anyway.

All of my boar brushes started out like that but eventually you develop split ends and you end up with fluffy tops and some spine towards the root. I haven’t heard of badger hair brushes developing split ends or breaking in much from where they started, so I’m guessing this this brush will feel much the same in a few months.

I also recently purchased a Simpsons Chubby #2 and that brush is on a different planet in terms of softness. Performance wise, the Shavemac comes up a bit better - all that spine and lack of hair density allow the lather to build up and “breath” within the knot. It’s easy to get great lather with the Shavemac.

No question that the Shavemac 2-band performs extremely well. It’s just one weird brush. Mine ain’t “soft” and I can’t say it is pleasant to use, unlike the Simpson which feels amazing and was pure bliss from day 1. I’ll persevere out of curiosity. If it doesn’t improve in 2 more weeks, it’s probably going back.
 
I’ll preface this post by saying that my Badger brush experience is limited to a Stirling Finest Fan (24mm).

I just received a Shavemac 2 Band Silvertip (26mm/52 loft Fan) - not D01. However, it feels noticeably “Scritchy” or sharp/harsh/rough, much more than the aforementioned Stirling brush in Finest. It definitely aggravated my neck. Apparently this is supposed to be Shavemac’s softest knot. With that said, it only has 2 shaves on it.

Should I expect it to soften over time? I know this is a somewhat debatable topic. Or, is it feasible that I didn’t receive a Silvertip? My only other experience with a Silvertip brush was at an AOS store where the tips felt almost as soft as my Plissoft Synthetic.

Here are some pics. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

All I can tell you is the Stirling fan knot is an excellent brush....my favorite badger to date (and I have several). It's super soft, has good backbone and lathers easily. A really nice brush for the money (I have 3 with different handles). I'm sure your new Shavemac will break in a bit and get better for you. Though in my opinion you started out with a great brush that you may find hard to beat.
 

never-stop-learning

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I just bought a two-band Shavemac a few weeks ago and can say with confidence that it is easily the spikiest, harshest brush I’ve ever used of any hair type. No contest. I face lather and if I catch the brush at the wrong angle, you definitely know it. There’s lots of feedback! Mine is not 9/10 for softness. Maybe closer to 4/10 compared to all the badger and boar brushes I’ve used.

The knot has a lot of backbone. Actually, mine has almost no give at all. That, plus the lack of density, accentuates the feeling of spines prickling the skin. Soaking time makes no difference to mine - the hairs remain pretty stiff. Shavemac recommend a short soak anyway.

All of my boar brushes started out like that but eventually you develop split ends and you end up with fluffy tops and some spine towards the root. I haven’t heard of badger hair brushes developing split ends or breaking in much from where they started, so I’m guessing this this brush will feel much the same in a few months.

I also recently purchased a Simpsons Chubby #2 and that brush is on a different planet in terms of softness. Performance wise, the Shavemac comes up a bit better - all that spine and lack of hair density allow the lather to build up and “breath” within the knot. It’s easy to get great lather with the Shavemac.

No question that the Shavemac 2-band performs extremely well. It’s just one weird brush. Mine ain’t “soft” and I can’t say it is pleasant to use, unlike the Simpson which feels amazing and was pure bliss from day 1. I’ll persevere out of curiosity. If it doesn’t improve in 2 more weeks, it’s probably going back.

I'm not sure what happened with your knot, how low the loft is set or if something else is wrong.

I have close to 10 brushes with the Shavemac 2-band Silvertip knot and your description is about 180° different from my experience. This is my favorite Badger knot. None of mine, nor the other folks on this thread with Shavemac 2-band Silvertip experience, report anything like the "spikiest, harshest brush" you experienced.

So, could it be that you got a bad knot or that the brush was somehow damaged?

Did you purchase directly from Shavemac?

Any way to exchange the brush?

Just throwing out some ideas. :)
 
So, could it be that you got a bad knot or that the brush was somehow damaged?

Did you purchase directly from Shavemac?

Any way to exchange the brush?


Purchased mine direct from Shavemac. Visually, it looks perfectly normal. I asked for an exchange and was told that the brush becomes much softer after 12-15 shaves. It’s changed a tiny bit but still a long way off the description on the website: “soft, flexible and gives a very comfortable feel on the skin.”

Given the OP described the same thing, I wanted to chime in and add an update from a very recent purchase.

Maybe some guys like that in a brush. In my case, I’ve worked through enough harsh, idiosyncratic brushes in the past that I’m done trying to negotiate with them. The brush either feels nice on the face and a pleasure to use each day or doesn’t. My Shavemac doesn’t. YMMV.
 

never-stop-learning

Demoted To Moderator
Staff member
Purchased mine direct from Shavemac. Visually, it looks perfectly normal. I asked for an exchange and was told that the brush becomes much softer after 12-15 shaves. It’s changed a tiny bit but still a long way off the description on the website: “soft, flexible and gives a very comfortable feel on the skin.”

Given the OP described the same thing, I wanted to chime in and add an update from a very recent purchase.

Maybe some guys like that in a brush. In my case, I’ve worked through enough harsh, idiosyncratic brushes in the past that I’m done trying to negotiate with them. The brush either feels nice on the face and a pleasure to use each day or doesn’t. My Shavemac doesn’t. YMMV.

All I can tell you is that the performance you describe is completely opposite from mine. I am not questioning that you are feeling what you are feeling, simply stating that it sounds like there is an issue with the knot - or maybe the loft is set way too low?

I like softer brushes - minimal scrub, zero scritch. What you are describing sounds more like a Shavemac D01 with a low loft. Those knots have a lot of backbone and need to be broken in. None of my 2-band Silvertip knots have required much in the way of break-in at all.

Hope this helps. :)
 
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