Thought topic: Brush fibres

[fijiblue]

Out of curiosity, is there a "better" brush fibre than badger? I know that the traditions
of shaving revolve around badger, boar, and sometimes horse, but is there something better?
This somewhat morbid curiosity came about after touching various hairs at my local aquarium,
specifically sea otter. I don't advocate the killing of animals needlessly by any means. But,
is there a better brush material? Unobtain-eagle, human hair, Tasmanian tiger? I am quite interested
in what B&B has to say and why.

 

[xraygun]

It's YMMV as to whether Horse, Boar, Badger or Synthetic is best. And then the various grades and combos therof. Whether or not Fox, Beaver, Tasmanian Tiger were superior probably would have been sorted years ago.

Horse was the MAN for many years. Anthrax scares were responsible for the rise of Badger.

As a SB nut job, I must say that on a daily basis, it depends what I want from a brush as to choose from my MANY Badger, Boar, Horse, Badger/Horse, Badger Boar and Unicorn brushes.

There is no best brush or best brush hair. Ask a guy who REALLY knows his stuff like Marco about Simpsons Best Badger vs. Super.
Ask me if I'd prefer a Super Persian Jar over a 2 band Emperor 1. Or a Keyhole 3 in Best over a Shavemac D-01. Maybe an M&F 26mm Horn handled over a size 12 Horn Plisson. Who's to say that a WCS special edition Rover is better than a Bullgoose beehive Horse?

Welcome to the world of trying to find the best shaving brush.

Mine are all the best.

Here's my attempt so far:

 

[scottish steve]

Ok, I'm offically sad. I'm jealous of that collection, despite having two classic Omega boar brushes with me and several more at home. I can't get that Penhaligon's nickel best out of my mind that I saw in Edinburgh in March 2012.

http://www.penhaligons.com/shop/men...s-and-razors/nickel-shaving-brush-496866.html

 

[fijiblue]

Oh wow Ray, color me jealous of that collection!

The horse/anthrax issue was exactly the kind of response I was looking for. I'm very
interested in the historical aspect.

I know this is definitely a case of personal opinion, but I'm curious none the less. As far as
hair selection being sorted out in all the years of brush making I think I might disagree though.
I'm sure a lot of the choice to use badger was based on 3 factors. 1) Its water holding properties
and durability. 2) Its availability for commercial use. And 3) the "nobility" of the badger. Maybe skunk
muskrat is better, but from a marketing point of view they would be hard sells.

I'm sure rarity also played a part. Is natural ivory a "better" material than synthetic or alternatives?
Probably not, but look at the desirability and prices of the available pre-ban stock.

 

[mblakele]

Hmm... I have never thought of badgers as noble animals. They are known for ferocity, though, and what is more typical of nobility than starting a fight on any flimsy pretext?

For history, History_of_the_shaving_brush might interest you - unfortunately good sources are thin on the ground. It seems probable that the first French brushes introduced to London barbers around 1750 were badger. But England was full of itinerant brushmakers, socially just one step above tramps, who traditionally made brushes from cheap and readily-available materials. Early references to badger brushes suggest that they were already considered a bit more refined than boar bristle or horse hair - and I say that as a fan of both boar and horse, myself.

But horse hair and boar bristles were practically free, due to use of horse for transportation and slaughter of pigs for food. The anthrax scare pretty much did away with horse-hair and we do not see many pre-anthrax brushes. But for every vintage badger brush you find in the wild, you might find quite a few boars, or even synthetics or mixtures.

Are there other hairs or fibres that would potentially make good brushes? Probably, and you might look at artists brushes for inspiration: camel and sable, for example. Makeup brushes often use goat hair, and some of them are effective latherers. The modern synthetics are pretty good too - although as with boar and horse, I think the makers of these would be better off avoiding comparisons to badger hair, or dying their products to resemble badger.

But I do not believe that a different brush material would promote a general revolution in shaving. The available materials offer a good range, from functional economy to luxury. A brush material that lathers better is not compelling to me, because the gating factor for my own prep is prep time, not lathering time.

As a reward for reading all of that, here are a few of my favorite brushes:

 

[GDCarrington]

Oh wow Ray, color me jealous of that collection!

The horse/anthrax issue was exactly the kind of response I was looking for. I'm very
interested in the historical aspect.

Try this article for a little history.

http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/articles/images/uschs_dome-wallace.pdf

 

[Triad]

Very interested in the tiger brush!! Wouldnt that look cool lol!!

 

[GDCarrington]

Brushes marketed to women have similar but wider ranging fur types than brushes marketed to men it seems.
Men have four: Badger, Boar, Horse and Synthetic.
Women have seven fiber types. See below:

http://www.urbanapothecary.com/Tools/t_professionalmakeupbrushes2.htm

 

[T-Dog]

I actually prefer the stiffness of a boar when using a puck.

 

[Slash McCoy]

You forgot about finest alpaca muzzle bristles.

 

[fijiblue]

Thanks for the great write up, mblakele. And thanks to everyone who posted those great links.

Perhaps noble was a poor choice of words. I suppose badger is not considered all that noble when it comes to
some other animals. But I think at least a bit more so than boar, especially farm raised pigs for slaughter.

When I originally made this thread I was under the suspicion that boar, horse, and badger were traditionally
selected more out of availability than anything else. It seems likely after reading the responses that this is more or less correct.

I wonder if the regional origins of the shave brush had been different would we be would raving about
the superiority of camel or bear?

I do agree that even if a "better" material were discovered it would not make much change in the shaving industry
since the badger, horse, and boar brushes have such a long traditional heritage. Unless badger becomes critically endangered
in China I predict it will be the hair of choice for many years to come. Even when synthetics become undisputedly superior, I'm sure the demand for natural fibres will exist.

 

[Chiller]

I wouldn't mind getting hold of a fox hair brush myself. From feeling foxes hair I would imagine they would make good brushes particularly face/chest hair (soft) or the tail hair for something a bit more corse

 

[fijiblue]

I wouldn't mind getting hold of a fox hair brush myself. From feeling foxes hair I would imagine they would make good brushes particularly face/chest hair (soft) or the tail hair for something a bit more corse

I'm sure you could make a pretty good combo with fox with the right mix of hairs. It would also look pretty interesting
if you used the red.

From my old fly tying days I was always on the lookout for fresh roadkill to shave off a bit of hair. There were also quite
a few occasions I would "borrow" a snippet from my dog, or from my head.

 

[MACGI98z28]

My Go-to is a cheap *** boar brush. I find that the soaps and blades are a lot more important than the brush...But YMMV.

 

[rebos]

ah, the elusive *** boar.

 

[Triad]

ah, the elusive *** boar.