How does a good shaving brush feels if you’ve never used one?
When you try a shaving brush for the first time, it’s important to consider the following factors. Does it have a suitable backbone? Backbone refers to the stiffness attributed to the knot of the shaving brush. How soft are the bristles? Will it work better with shaving soap or foam? What about a badger shaving brush? How does badger hair help? Do I need a shaving bowl?
Relax! I have compiled this article so that you too can be a veritable expert when it comes to how to buy the very best shaving brush, how to use a shaving brush, what it can do for your facial hair, what types of shaving brushes there are, and their history and construction.
In traditional shaving, in addition to shaving creams and soaps, there is another equally important tool: the shaving brush. A few decades ago, almost all men who shaved used one. With modernization, quick and easy disposable products such as shaving foams gained popularity, while the shaving brush became somewhat obsolete.
In recent years, however, there has been a renewed emphasis on the ritual of shaving and grooming. Once you use a shaving brush, there’s no going back. It prepares your skin and beard for shaving and is much more efficient because it allows you to use less shaving cream and create a very rich, firm lather.
The choice of shaving brushes varies according to different types of bristles, different handles, different knot sizes. Certainly the finest and most expensive knots on the market are the natural ones made of badger hair but also boar bristles have an excellent feedback from wet shaving enthusiasts.
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SHAVING BRUSHES
BOAR BRISTLE SHAVING BRUSHES
Boar shaving brushes do not quite make the most luxurious brushes like badger hair does, but they have their own advantages. Boar brushes hold less water and lather than badger hair, but they also filter out water that can sometimes oversaturate a lather when using badger hair, which is very absorbent. A boar brush is also coarser than badger hair, meaning it can help exfoliate dry skin before shaving.
| + Will soften over time Deals well with dense shaving creams Effective at lifting hair from the skin | – More brittle compared to badger hair Retains less water than badger hair Less popular than other natural hair brushes |
BADGER HAIR BRUSHES
Wet shavers all over the world agree that badger hairs are the best nature has to offer for a great shave. There’s simply nothing else that comes close. Brushes with boar bristles and horse hairs do work, but they’re stiffer, coarser, and not as pleasant to the touch—and face—as badger hairs.
| Pros The gold-standard of shaving brushes for centuries Fantastic water retention and fine bristles allow a rich lather Very soft on the skin for minimal damage | Cons Softer than other brushes so less exfoliation Reputation for being expensive Imitation silvertip badger brushes are flooding the market |
SILVERTIP BADGER HAIR SHAVING BRUSHES
Silvertip hairs are found in the neck area of the badger. These badger brushes are the highest quality—most luxurious, plushest, softest, and finest silvertip hairs. Silvertips are by far the rarest and most desirable of badger hair and have been the gold standard of badger hair brushes since they were first made. With unfinished natural silver tips, they are the highest quality available in shaving brushes. The shape of the brushes, filled with the so-called silvertip, is created by hand and the hair is ultra-soft, very flexible and extremely durable. Silvertip shaving brushes are excellent for mounting both soft and hard soaps and are soft and gentle on the skin, making them ideal even for sensitive skin.
Each hair is sorted and classified according to very specific characteristics of softness and colouring. They have a very distinct dark-coloured band between two lighter-coloured bands, yet have the softest natural tips. The hair is very thin and has the highest water absorption capacity of any badger hair grade.
| Pros Best quality of shaving brush Incredibly soft badger hair Excellent water retention for a rich lather | Cons Most expensive type of badger brush Becoming increasingly rare Softness doesn’t offer exfoliation/massage when using |
2 Band BADGER HAIR SHAVING BRUSHES
These types of knots generally have a very firm tensile strength which results in a very dense brush with a good backbone and a great massage effect, the favorite for many traditional shaving enthusiasts. They can be identified by their long white tips that contrast sharply with the dark colored section that extends to the base of the knot. As the white and black parts are the only ones visible, the hairs are referred to as two-banded.
In contrast to the usually 3-band hair, consisting of light-dark-light sections, the 2-band shaving brush has only silver shimmering tips and a long dark section down to the handle. To achieve this effect, you need specially long badger hair as only these do have the appropriate long sections. These long hair are in addition very dense and firm creating a uniquely sturdy shaving brush. As most of the badger hair parts are lost – the end of the badger hair and not the tip is trimmed to its final length – more weight in hair is needed. Therefore this brush is more expensive. Furthermore, these long hair are very rare and are not always available.
| Pros Best quality of shaving brush Incredibly soft tips but with a stiff body offering exfoliation/massage when using Excellent water retention for a rich lather | Cons Most expensive type of badger brush Becoming increasingly rare |
Synthetic Knots
In terms of performance the badger hair shave brush is still hard to beat, particularly the higher grades. However the last few years have seen a dramatic acceleration of the “technology” behind synthetic hair shaving brushes, with several new materials developed and many new knot styles appearing. The performance of these brushes can easily meet-or-beat the low- and mid-range badger brushes, and some users think they can hold their own against the higher grades!
If badger hairs are the best nature has to offer to the wet shaver, then synthetic brushes are the best man has to offer. The properties that make badger hairs so soft and effective for whipping up luxurious lather have been carefully studied and reproduced by man-made synthetic bristle fibers. But it is only recently that synthetic brushes have been regarded seriously — it took time for technology to catch up with nature.
The advantages of a synthetic shaving brush are that it’s absolutely vegan and cruelty-free and that because the fibers don’t soak up water, less lather is needed to shave. In terms of care, because synthetic fibers don’t soak up water like natural hairs of fine brushes, they’ll dry much faster than natural hair and will not develop mildew. They should still be allowed to dry fully between shaves, though, just like badger shaving brushes.
Pennelli Talarico 