Can someone please explain what scritch means?
Thank you.
Thank you.
What is scritch?
- Thread starter Redzone
- Start date
Thanks for asking!... And that, detective, is the right question!
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ub-Softness-Density-Backbone-and-Flow-through
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ub-Softness-Density-Backbone-and-Flow-through
For even more info, consult ChiefBroom's excellent analysis
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/323011-quot-Scritch-quot-revisited?p=4689935#post4689935
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/323011-quot-Scritch-quot-revisited?p=4689935#post4689935
I'd have to approach it in this fashion: new housepaint brush will have actual scratch, which is extreme scritch; makeup or camera lens brush will have none. All shaving brushes are rather soft when dry, more so when wet, but if you can feel a sensation of any "paintbrush' hairs in it you're getting "scritch".
- Thread starter
- #5
Thank you so much, I especially like the scratchy/itchy bit, cheers !
For me, scritchy means prickly.
I respectfully disagree with some of this. First, I have brushes (e.g., Old Rooney Finest) that are very soft when dry but quite scritchy when wet. The addition of water resulting in different surface adhesion characteristics can alter brush characteristics in counter-intuitive (at least to me) ways.
Second, I wouldn't define "scratch" as "exteme" scritch. As I use the terms, they refer to distinct sensations, albeit when combined, distinguishing them isn't always so easy, except that scritch is easy for me to distinguish from either itch by itself or scratch by itself.
It's been close to 40 years since I last hauled hay, but I'll never forget what it felt like when bits of alfalfa got down inside my shirt. Some bits as big as small twigs scratched and striped my skin with raised, red marks. Others, tiny flakes and particles as fine as dust, just itched like crazy. The sensory experience, taken altogether, was that of scritch. Rolling in alfalfa dust until I couldn't stand the itch would not have turned the itch into scratch.
I have a couple of Vie-Long horse hair brushes that I really like except for the fact they are scritchy to me. Part of the experience has to do with the nature of the hair. But not everyone who uses horsehair brushes shares my experience. So part of it also has to do with the nature of the signals nerve cells in my skin send to my brain and my brain's processing of those signals. In other words, part of it is subjective. IMO, a brush isn't scritchy in the same way that an apple is red. Some brushes tend to be scritchy. But scritch is a subjective experience, not an objective characteristic. Of course, seeing red is also a subjective experience. But an apple can fairly be described as red irrespective of the color blindness of someone observing it. I'm not sure that's entirely true with respect to brushes and scritch. It depends on the individual, the prep, the quality of the last shave, the weather, etc., to a greater extent.
I don't think of scritch of scratchy + itchy at all.
For me scritch is "A pleasant scratch". Like, I scritch my cat behind its ears and when it decides it's had enough it will scratch me. Get it?
Scritch is what your loved ones feel when you get up in the morning and rub your cheek against theirs before you go and shave.
Scritch is a brush that lets you know it's made up of individual hairs, not a swab of material, but isn't overly aggressive about it.
For me scritch is "A pleasant scratch". Like, I scritch my cat behind its ears and when it decides it's had enough it will scratch me. Get it?
Scritch is what your loved ones feel when you get up in the morning and rub your cheek against theirs before you go and shave.
Scritch is a brush that lets you know it's made up of individual hairs, not a swab of material, but isn't overly aggressive about it.
It's what a good brush with at least a little backbone will do. It engages the stubble, exfoliates a bit, creates lather quickly and give it up to the face.
The fact is, although several here (most notably my friend scritchnscrub) have attempted to define "scritch", common usage appears never to have been firmly established, or at least not maintained for very long. Without well-settled common usage, a definition doesn't do much good unless a community is willing to accept the definition and adopt it as common usage. That's what scritchnscrub tried to accomplish, and I subsequently (without any formal appointment) took up the cause as well.
As I see it, the main purpose of B&B is to provide fora for gentlemanly discussion with a central focus on traditional wet shaving and an objective to foster the formation and growth of an international community comprising B&B members. Both discussion and community depend on common usage of language. Of all the things we discuss within the B&B community, brushes are clearly the most interesting and important. And of all the subjective qualities and objective characteristics that come into discussion when we talk about brushes, the referent of "scritch", as I and many others employ the term, is a highly significant element of experience.
So, whether we call it "scritch" or something else, I firmly believe we need to settle upon and reserve a clearly defined and universally accepted (dare I say enforced) term for exclusive use in relation to that particular element of experience. Otherwise, everything that has been build here is at risk of falling apart.
I propose we adopt the term "scritch". For one thing, a bunch of us already have adopted it in that sense. And for another, I'm pretty sure that's what God intended (just sayin', no intent to initiate religious discussion here).
I've used over 40 brushes. The ones that perform best in my estimation do not typically elicit scritch for me. In judging a brush's performance, I take into account efficient lather production, efficient flow-through and application, comfort, and quality of resulting shave including skin condition (as most importantly evidenced during the next day's shave).
I really don't mind scritch (as I use the term) so much as a sensation. In fact, I kinda like a bit of it, especially if I can dial it in and control it. The problem for me is I've come to believe with fairly high confidence that scritch, in my case, is a bad thing. I tend to have non-enjoyable shaves with unhappy outcomes on days after I've used brushes that I experienced as scritchy. It has happened too many times for me to ignore the correlation. I have an explanatory hypothesis for that, but I'll save it for another post. I'm presently being called upon to make a trip to Starbuck's.
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I'm beginning to believe that describing scritch is sorta like describing love or the color red to a blind person. We all have a nervous system and a brain that interprets those nervous signals differently, then putting those interpretations of our unique sensations into words that have been universally accepted with exact definitions is the big challenge here.
You've got it!
There has been some previous discussion of this. As sensitive as I am to scritch, I don't find boar brushes to be scritchy in the least, as they don't elicit any component of itch. What I do find to be consistently scritchy are Old Rooney Finest brushes. Whereas boar bristle is generally coarse, Old Rooney Finest knots typically have tips that are very fine. So this isn't so much a case of varying mileage as it is of using words to mean different brush characteristics and/or user experiences. I.e., even if you and I shared exactly the same subjective experience with a boar brush, I think we'd probably describe it in different terms: you'd say it was scritch; I'd say it was definitely not scritch. Using the term with such broad and often conflicting meaning invites misunderstanding and confusion, and threatens to make the word "scritch" useless or worse. I, for one, happen to think it's a great word. If we ruin it, we're going just going to have to come up with another one and start all over again.
Maybe we need a new B&B association: Society for the Defense and Preservation of the the True Meaning of Scritch.
Isn't there already a "Simpson Best Fan Club" somewhere
I find "scritchy" to mean prickly and unpleasant. Whereas "scrubby" is pleasant and almost a relieving feeling.
Isn't there already a "Simpson Best Fan Club" somewhere
You are incorrigible.
Me too.
I guess I probably didn't need to split up your quote to respond.
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Just having a bit of fun... Simpson Best has it's place and many feel it's the perfect blend of scritch and softness and more power to them. They have a wide variety of handles and price points to choose from and are easy to track down...plus they hold their value fairly well, so if one doesn't work out it can usually be sold with minimal loss.
I enjoyed them when I had a few, but have since moved on to a more Luxury feeling brush, with no hint of scritch and prefer them that way now.
Who knows, there may come a time I want a different feel and revisit Simpson Best.
No, not really...But I like doing it now too
I think you nailed it here, although, as you well know, there is fair extent of variance among Simpson Best brushes.
I have a Chubby 2 and a 58 in Best. I don't hold a broad frame of reference, but suspect both of my brushes have extraordinary knots. They're perfectly shaped and come very close to Super Silvertip in softness. Nonetheless, I can detect a hint or more of scritch with both. I think I've figured out how to control it, however, by soaking the tips a little longer than I usually do (which is hardly at all). As between the two, I prefer the 58. Apart from the uberness and excess they represent, I don't get the appeal of Chubbys. That's not a criticism. Just PoV.
Perfectly described
What if you and I have the same sensation, but I find scritch unpleasant?
Does that mean it's scritch to you but not to me?
One man's scritch is another man's scrub.
As you said Ken, some will find Scritch pleasant and some will try to avoid it.
To put these 2 buzz words in every day context: I enjoy Scratching an itch, but I don't enjoy a Scritchy sweater. So for me, Scratch is good and Scritch is bad....but even I'm getting confused now
It's the never ending cycle of YMMV.
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