Shedding?

[Pat Puma]

I posted some brushes for sale and got the usual question, "does it shed?" I fully understand why one would want to know and I offered to take the brush back with a full refund if the buyer isn't satisfied, but I must ask if shedding is really all that common. I have been shaving for a long time, I currently have 33 brushes, and I have bought, and sold or traded, at least another fifty, and I've only had one that I would call a shedder. That brush was still usable, but did let a couple of hairs go everytime I used it. I bought an SV brush once that the seller sold cheap because he thought it was a shedder. I still wonder if he gave up on it too quickly and it was just some loose hairs coming out of a brush that was big and new. I still use it regularly and I will see a hair come loose once in a while, maybe once every five to ten shaves. Have I just been really lucky? Maybe I am easy on brushes. I tend to stick to the tips without pressing the brush into splaying.

 

[Tirvine]

It does not seem common to me, but when you get a shedder it is not a pleasant experience. I have used various brushes over the past half century plus, but I never had a shedder until I got a Simpson Chubby 1 in best badger. Every other day when I use it I get a few bristles on the puck, a half dozen or more on my face, and a few in the sink. The use of gentle techniques and painting is ineffective to slow it. The brush does not cost so much or have such a wonderful handle that a new knot makes sense, and having never gone down the re-knotting rabbit hole, I am unsure if a new knot comparable to the density of a Chubby is possible. It does not matter as I'll keep using it and cursing it until I snap and get another brush to replace it. I can now understand why a prudent buyer would ask about shedding. Heretofore it would never have occurred to me.

 

[Pat Puma]

It does not seem common to me, but when you get a shedder it is not a pleasant experience. I have used various brushes over the past half century plus, but I never had a shedder until I got a Simpson Chubby 1 in best badger. Every other day when I use it I get a few bristles on the puck, a half dozen or more on my face, and a few in the sink. The use of gentle techniques and painting is ineffective to slow it. The brush does not cost so much or have such a wonderful handle that a new knot makes sense, and having never gone down the re-knotting rabbit hole, I am unsure if a new knot comparable to the density of a Chubby is possible. It does not matter as I'll keep using it and cursing it until I snap and get another brush to replace it. I can now understand why a prudent buyer would ask about shedding. Heretofore it would never have occurred to me.

The one that I had that was a shedder was my first CH2. It was sold to me cheap with full disclosure and I unloaded it the same way. Since then, I have had several more CH2s, in Best, Super, and synthetic, and all have been good. I don't blame anyone for asking, but I have never really considered it an issue. I imagine some people have had worse luck than I, and some have gone through hundreds of brushes, too, so they have had more chances to see shedders in their den.

 

[BobbyB]

IMHO all brushes will shed hairs now and then. It is called wear and tear.

 

[Messygoon]

The one that I had that was a shedder was my first CH2. It was sold to me cheap with full disclosure and I unloaded it the same way. Since then, I have had several more CH2s, in Best, Super, and synthetic, and all have been good. I don't blame anyone for asking, but I have never really considered it an issue. I imagine some people have had worse luck than I, and some have gone through hundreds of brushes, too, so they have had more chances to see shedders in their den.

Great thread that I’m following. I average a brush a decade, so brush variety and volume are not my expertise. But I did have one shedder over the years: my pop’s 50-year-old Baton started shedding after 15 years of no use. Perhaps I didn’t dry it out well before it’s last use? Maybe the knot setting was brittle with age. Maybe it was low quality roadkill opossum hair. Regardless, we re-knotted it with a Maggard’s HD badger and the heirloom is now my son’s daily driver (bottom, right).

 

[Mr. Shavington]

If a brush sheds hairs regularly, how important is it for a seller to disclose the fact? Why does shedding matter? Have any of you ever had a brush shed so many hairs that it had a noticeable effect on the performance or even just the appearance of the brush, or that shedding correlated with poor manufactiring quality?

 

[Roy]

My chubby 3 badger shed and getting hairs everywhere not nice! I wonder if Simpson went through a rough patch? My SV badger has jot shed a hair.

 

[Roy]

My chubby 3 badger shed and getting hairs everywhere not nice! I wonder if Simpson went through a rough patch? My SV badger has jot shed a hair.
And please, Simpson, don't reply saying I didn't look after the brush, I did!

 

[thegeneral]

Could be people are buying the lower quality brushes from amazon and running into problems. A past bad experience is causing them to reach out and ask for details about any new acquisitions. I had some bad experiences with Tweezerman brushes. On the other hand I've had good experiences with Yaqi synthetic brushes.

 

[Ron R]

I think natural hair shave brushes will shed a few hairs at first because the glue set did not capture all the hairs from the process and the employees only have so much time to comb stray hair in a brush. After about 4-6 uses you should see very little hair loss if a person soaks his brush for 2-3 minutes prior to use IMO and my experiences.
Synthetic brushes it is rare to lose whiskers, I have a synthetic Yaqi brush Cashmere 24mm knot with over 720 days of daily scrubbing use cleaning my face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser and I don't recall a whisker being in my soap or on my face.
If a person is worried about losing a hair or 2, I would not worry a lot because most brushes 24mm> have over 18,000 hairs in a knot. I did a calculation and it is amazing there are that many, maybe that is why brushes work so well at generating lather. Natural hair diameter 4/1000 or .004 inches Using 3.1416*(.002*.002)=.0000126 cubic inches
Hole diameter 24mm bore of brush or .945 inches. Using 3.1416*(.472*.472)=.6999 cubic inches.
.6999 /.0000126=55,475 hairs, but we have to allow for glue 55,475 *.333= 18,500 hairs allowing 2/3 of bore hole area for glue bonding.
I would not worry about losing 20-60 hairs at all because the brush performance would not be noticeable but it would be annoying to some, it was not that long ago(6-8 years) that is all folks used was natural hair shave brushes.

 

[hairless wonder]

If you're concerned with brushes that shed, stay away from Van der Hagen brushes. I have some boars and badger brushes of theirs, including a couple silvertip brushes. One of the silvertips lost over 100 hairs (I stopped counting after that even as it still shed about 2-3 hairs per shave on every shave after that).

All that shedding was initially worrying, then it just got to be annoying. Picking stray badger hairs out of the lather, sink, and off my face got old after a while. Still, it made me pay extra attention to my shave. I was concerned that a stray badger hair could cause my razor to nick me somehow. I've come to think that's probably an irrational fear.

Incidentally, I recently got a SOC two-band finest brush. I've had seven shaves with it and it's lost about five hairs. I'm happy it's not as much of a shedder as my VDH brushes and I'm hopeful that it'll stop shedding soon. Wish me luck!

 

[Pat Puma]

If a brush sheds hairs regularly, how important is it for a seller to disclose the fact? Why does shedding matter? Have any of you ever had a brush shed so many hairs that it had a noticeable effect on the performance or even just the appearance of the brush, or that shedding correlated with poor manufactiring quality?

The only time I sold a brush that I considered a shedder, I made sure to describe it as such. I doubt you would ever lose enough hairs for the knot to be affected noticeably. However, having badger hairs in your lather when you are ready to shave would be pretty annoying.

 

[Tirvine]

My chubby 3 badger shed and getting hairs everywhere not nice! I wonder if Simpson went through a rough patch? My SV badger has jot shed a hair.
And please, Simpson, don't reply saying I didn't look after the brush, I did!

I, too, looked after my Simpson, and the shedding was relentless. I finally gave up and started using it as I have all my other brushes in the course of over half a century, slight splaying rather than painting. It did not make it worse.

 

[Spellflower]

This is very timely- I just joined B&B because my Semogue Owners Club (Boar) is shedding a LOT of bristles every time I use it. It was fine for a few years, but then I stated to notice a few bristles on the puck a few months ago. Now it’s so bad that I can’t use it- it’s just not worth taking the time to pick all the hairs off my face before shaving.

I’ve always been careful to dry it bristles-end-up. My only hypothesis for the sudden shedding is that I switched to from Mitchell’s Wool Fat to Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Jermyn St puck, and I may have used too much force as I learned the differences.

I know Semogue has a good reputation here, but now I’m wary of buying another one.

 

[JWCowboy]

Next time you want to sell a Varlet @Pat Puma I don't care if it's a shedder or not, just shoot me a PM!

Your BST listing last Friday lasted all of what, 2 minutes? I was about 58 minutes slow.....

Sorry, not trying to derail the thread, in regards to the OP I've owned a bunch and have seen a few stray hairs now and then but none of the the M&Fs, Paladins, Shavemac, or Maggards SHD badger knots that I've had have ever had a problem.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

This is very timely- I just joined B&B because my Semogue Owners Club (Boar) is shedding a LOT of bristles every time I use it. It was fine for a few years, but then I stated to notice a few bristles on the puck a few months ago. Now it’s so bad that I can’t use it- it’s just not worth taking the time to pick all the hairs off my face before shaving.

I’ve always been careful to dry it bristles-end-up. My only hypothesis for the sudden shedding is that I switched to from Mitchell’s Wool Fat to Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Jermyn St puck, and I may have used too much force as I learned the differences.

I know Semogue has a good reputation here, but now I’m wary of buying another one.

In my opinion drying bristles up or down makes no difference at all, and neither does using rotational brush strokes and splaying the brush, as long as excessive force is not used. I believe the biggest cause of shedding is soap build up in the base of the knot due to insufficient rinsing.

 

[Ron R]

I was reading some interesting information on good brush care for natural hair brushes that might help some newbies & seasoned shavers and keep their nice brushes in tip top shape for many years. These simple routines will keep your brush healthier and lose less hair or natural bristles.

- Pre soak any natural hair shaving brush in warm water for 2> minutes prior to shaving helps make the whiskers more pliable.

-don't mash the hair bristles into the soap, face or bowl because it will over time put a donut hole in your brush and break bristles.

-don't leave any damp brush regardless natural or synthetic in a enclosed area until fully dry, leave it in the open air to dry.

-when cleaning a brush rinse and gently squeeze until you see no soap and then for good measure one more quick rinse. Some soaps have detergents that might harm whiskers over time.

-when drying off a brush just a few light flicks in sink and when toweling try not to use circular motions with brush with no violent slaps at the end. I'm Guilty of that because of using synthetics for many years.
Every once in a while a brush should be shampooed to remove soap scum that accumulates on any brush, if a brush is not performing it might need a cleaning, hair moisturizers can be applied to a brush after a shampooing also with natural hair.

-try not to store brushes to tightly together or up against or a object because I have seen some that have been damaged that way (natural of synthetic)
- when drying it really does not matter if the brush is standing upright or hanging downward for drying as long as most water is drawn out. I will show a old chart and I added another my chart for more information on drying that surprized my self.

Drying question

Okay, just getting into brush shaving, and I don't have a stand. What is the best way to let the brush dry? Hanging bristles down, Setting with the bristles up or laying on it's side? Thanks, Kevin

www.badgerandblade.com

Have some great shaves!

 

[AZBronco]

I’ve only owned one shedder. Every shave that brush lost a dozen hairs. But even brushes that started shedding seem to stop after whatever little clump that came loose is gone.

 

[Pat Puma]

This is very timely- I just joined B&B because my Semogue Owners Club (Boar) is shedding a LOT of bristles every time I use it. It was fine for a few years, but then I stated to notice a few bristles on the puck a few months ago. Now it’s so bad that I can’t use it- it’s just not worth taking the time to pick all the hairs off my face before shaving.

I’ve always been careful to dry it bristles-end-up. My only hypothesis for the sudden shedding is that I switched to from Mitchell’s Wool Fat to Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Jermyn St puck, and I may have used too much force as I learned the differences.our

I know Semogue has a good reputation here, but now I’m wary of buying another one.

The only boar brush I've owned was an SOC. I liked it. It seemed to lose a hair once in a while, but nothing to write about. I just felt it was part of the process with boars, the way they break in with the hairs splitting. I figured once in a while they split enough for some of the hair to just break off, but it sounds like yours was much more than that.

 

[Pat Puma]

,
Next time you want to sell a Varlet @Pat Puma I don't care if it's a shedder or not, just shoot me a PM!

Your BST listing last Friday lasted all of what, 2 minutes? I was about 58 minutes slow.....

Sorry, not trying to derail the thread, in regards to the OP I've owned a bunch and have seen a few stray hairs now and then but none of the the M&Fs, Paladins, Shavemac, or Maggards SHD badger knots that I've had have ever had a problem.

Those Varlets are so hard to get, I've only gotten them second hand. I now have one Everset K2 (same knot as the Varlet Mega), and a Varlet Gaslamp 29mm. I wouldn't advise holding your breath waiting for one of those to appear on the BST, but if I ever consider it I'll reach out to you first.