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Travel Brushes

Do you have a special brush that you use when you travel? What is it? Do you only use it for travel? What makes a brush a travel brush in your opinion?

So let me be the first to answer. I do have a travel brush; in fact, I've been working through several brushes to find just what I wanted. Mine is a PAA Roswell Gray Hybrid knot in a Yaqi Sagrada Familia handle. I had planned to only use it for travel, but I like so much that it gets used fairly often at home as well. For me the attributes I value in a travel brush, besides the ability to generate lather easily, splay naturally and feel comfortable on my face, are a compact handle and a fast drying knot.
 
Do you have a special brush that you use when you travel? What is it? Do you only use it for travel? What makes a brush a travel brush in your opinion?

So let me be the first to answer. I do have a travel brush; in fact, I've been working through several brushes to find just what I wanted. Mine is a PAA Roswell Gray Hybrid knot in a Yaqi Sagrada Familia handle. I had planned to only use it for travel, but I like so much that it gets used fairly often at home as well. For me the attributes I value in a travel brush, besides the ability to generate lather easily, splay naturally and feel comfortable on my face, are a compact handle and a fast drying knot.

Great minds think alike.

The brush I use for travel is a Yaqi Butterscotch handle with an AP Shave Co Silksmoke knot, same knot as the Roswell Gray.

I use it for travel as it’s my only synthetic, my others are badger, so it’s ideal with how quickly it dries. Also, it’s fairly cheap so I wouldn’t be devastated if something happened to it.

I use it at home as well, not as much though as I prefer the feel of my badger brushes. I mostly use it when I use my soaps with Vanillin as B&M says it may stain animal hair knots.
 
I travel a lot for work and for the longest time I used a synthetic. Then I got an Omega 615 and that is now my go to. Small badger but tons of lather in this little guy.
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I almost always take my Yaqi Sagrada Familia 24mm for travel. I like to use it regularly when not traveling too!

It’s about the smallest size brush I think I’d enjoy (24-28 mm seems to be my preference). It dries quickly. It lathers like a champ every time!
 

Lefonque

Even more clueless than you
Jack the Barber synthetic is my new goto traveller. Small, dries quickly and lathers well. This brush was not expensive and easy to replace at the supermarket.
 
I use either a Yaqi Sagrada Familia Tuxedo synth or a Razorock Bruce Plissoft synth brush. Both are compact, dry fast and lather very well. I store the brush in a rolled-up microfiber towel in the suitcase.

I saw a photo of your Sagrada Familia + Roswell conversion and thought it looked really great. Something like that might be in my future. How difficult was it to remove the old knot from the Yaqi Sagrada Familia?
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
Travel?? What travel....Before this all started last March, I used to travel extensively, some three days or so per week - now I am working from home since March 11, 2020. My travel brush of choice was a RV Shaving with a Muehle 19 mm STF knot.
I have used this brush for at least some 5 or 6 years, and it never gave me any issue. After use, rinse well, shake out and brush over a towel, put it back into the container (RV Shaving tube with small holes in the lid) and forget it. Before, I used a badger brush, and it had to be taken out every time after a trip to dry. A couple of times I forgot to pack it back in....or once or twice I forgot to take it out to dry, then it starts to stink moldy. So, synthetic all the way for me for travel!!!!
 
I use either a Yaqi Sagrada Familia Tuxedo synth or a Razorock Bruce Plissoft synth brush. Both are compact, dry fast and lather very well. I store the brush in a rolled-up microfiber towel in the suitcase.

I saw a photo of your Sagrada Familia + Roswell conversion and thought it looked really great. Something like that might be in my future. How difficult was it to remove the old knot from the Yaqi Sagrada Familia?
I steamed the knot out, but some of the base of the knot broke off and remained in the base. I used my Dremel to remove the remaining base material. If you have a vise or some way to clamp the brush it probably makes it easier, but holding the brush handle in one hand and the Dremel in the other, I was OK. I taped the top edge of the handle, since I have accidently hit it with the Dremel when I've done this in the past.

I'm not sure if my Sagrada Familia Tuxedo knot was substandard for some reason, as many folks rate it very highly. I found it to be too lacking in density and just didn't enjoy using it. Since I recently retired and my wife and I have both received our Covid vaccines, we have been traveling quite a bit, mostly visiting family we haven't seen in quite a while. We're in North Carolina this week visiting my wife's sister, heading home soon and then on to Kentucky to visit one of our daughters and three of our grandchildren.
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
Any smaller synth.

🤔 I fell for that travel-kit thinking once, bought an Omega Mixed Midget (badger-boar). But on a trip, it just wouldn't dry! I've got a large 28mm Simpson T3 synth that dries in a couple hours.

Similarly, no one needs these classic travel razors. A tiny, stubby handle is not saving you room or weight in your travel kit. ✈ It was a marketing scam to sell you another razor, since the great Gillettes of the time never wore out - and that was the problem.


AA
 

EclipseRedRing

I smell like a Christmas pudding
I just pick whichever one of my regular brushes that I fancy for that trip, from a Wee Scot, Classic 1 or Duke 3 badger, or a Chubby 2 synthetic. I take a Bic Metal razor if flying with carry on, otherwise an English Gillette Red Tip. I have a lovely cased Hoffritz travel razor, which as said above is totally unnecessary, but I really enjoy using it often at home and it is far too nice to risk being left in a hotel room!

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I always used the VDH brush that came with my Old Spice mug and Williams soap set I bought in a drug store 25 years ago.
My main concern is I don't want to travel w/anything I'd be upset about losing.
I say "used" as my wife bought me an AOS travel brush as a gift.
My review of the AOS brush is it's a real ***. It's a MAJOR shedder since day one and continues to be. I don't know how long until there's nothing left.
To throw AOS a bone, this thing sucked so bad I called them. They said keep it and gave me a site credit in full to buy something else.
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
I haven't travelled in a year, though prior to March 2020 I was on the road a couple days each month for work and often for a couple months in the summer. I've had a Simpsons Classic 1 synthetic for about 5 years and while it isn't my fave brush by any means it is more than adequate for travel. Makes enough good lather for 2-3 passes, dries quickly, and has its own travel tube. That said, I got it in a trade for 2 pucks of vintage Williams Mug Soap. No way I'd have bought it at retail price, nor would I recommend you to do so (and I'm known as a shill for Simpsons around here, so that should tell you all you need to know about the CL1 synth).

In past summers when I'd be travelling abroad and staying in one place for several weeks or months I'd replace the Classic 1 synth with a Classic 1 in Best. A terrific small badger brush that I would keep and use even if I were never to travel again.
 
Any smaller synth.

🤔 I fell for that travel-kit thinking once, bought an Omega Mixed Midget (badger-boar). But on a trip, it just wouldn't dry! I've got a large 28mm Simpson T3 synth that dries in a couple hours.

Similarly, no one needs these classic travel razors. A tiny, stubby handle is not saving you room or weight in your travel kit. ✈ It was a marketing scam to sell you another razor, since the great Gillettes of the time never wore out - and that was the problem.


AA

I'm still falling for travel-kit thinking! I like to travel as small and light as possible, so either my Merkur 4 piece or a Gillette travel tech comes with me. The former comes with a tiny leather pouch that I can put 2 -3 blades in; the latter goes in a mini-altoids tin with plenty of blade room, and both are well protected even if my bag somehow gets smashed. (If flying, I don't bing the blades.) The smallest Maggard synth brush, plus a sample cream and a sample A/S; a bath soap sliver; and a folding toothbrush with a travel tube of paste and my toiletries are packed. A full size razor wouldn't make much difference, but some. (Though a disposable Bic would be lighter than what I use.)

For me there's the added benefit that short handled razors and small brushes are fun to use. You have to adapt your technique a little bit, and they force me to rethink my angles and shaving patterns, which I like to do. I wouldn't want to use one every day, but they're in my rotation even when home.
 
To me, it depends on the type and duration of the travel.

If I'm flying on a short duration business matter (gosh I miss flying... damn pandemic) I always travel light, only with my carry-on and no checked baggage. So, DE/SE/SR are not an option unfortunately. Minimizing everything is an objective, so I only carry a Gillette cartridge razor and a small 75ml TOBS cream in a tube, travel size a/s balm, EDP... the very basics. No brush.

If I'm driving I take my usual gear. As I only use synthetic brushes, it's a no-brainer.
 
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