Brush Selection and Care
As our shaving brush collection grows bigger, the questions we receive from you are increasing at the same rate. For this reason, in order to simplify the subject and make your life easier, we wanted to summarize how to choose shaving brushes made of badger hair, which we accept as "the best shaving brushes" today, and how you should use, clean and dry them.
First of all, why badger hair???
Because badger hair, can hold lots of water just like a sponge without changing its form much. In other words, it doesn't bend when it gets wet with water; and keep standing upright. This allows for us shaving lovers to create a lather with the soap or cream we love combined with hot water and air, with additional properties like massaging the skin to stimulate the beard, cleaning the skin from dirt and oil to open the pores at the same time; we call this "shaving pleasure".
Let's take a closer look:
As shown in the picture on the right, the hairs taken from the badger are placed in a tight knot (base) by first giving a certain form, then placed to the base and glued. So, shaving brushes have three main parts:
- Hairs
- Knot
- Handle
The price of a shaving brush varies according to these three main components. Let’s start with the most important subject; the hair types:
There are three main badger hair types as “pure badger”, “best badger” and “silvertip badger” each having advantages and disadvantages compared to each other:
"Pure Badger Brushes”
Around the 60 % of the hairs coming from the badger's body are pure badger hairs, generally from the back section. You can recognize them from their blackish dark colors. These hairs are quite abundant and since they came from different parts of the badger, they happen to be uneven in length so after tied the tips of the bristles are trimmed to give an even shape. This trimming takes away the natural fine tips so pure badger bristles have the disadvantage of light scratchiness and roughness on the skin during the first few uses. But the coarseness of the trimmed hairs intensifies exfoliating process and strongly massages the skin effectively softening the whiskers. Also, with these cut tips, pure badger brushes are more durable to abuse and last longer than other types of brushes. They require less maintenance; and even if they are damaged it’s no big deal since they are inexpensive. For these reasons these are the brushes we recommend to beginners. It should also be noted that; as the pure badger bristle brushes used, they will "break-in", soften and their coarseness on the skin will decrease over time.
"Best Badger Brushes”
Around the 25 % of the hairs coming from the badger's body are best badger hairs, generally from the belly section. You can recognize them from their light brown colors. They are scarcer, softer more pliable and therefore more expensive than pure badger hairs. However, their shaving quality and comfort are significantly higher. This is because they have better water holding capabilities than pure badger bristles and generally made with denser knots giving a much richer lather. The tips of the best badger bristles are not trimmed and placed in a mold to give the brush shape in their natural forms. This allows for a softer feeling on the face, while maybe still being a bit scratchy. Their quality varies greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. In a sense, they provide a closer performance of the silvertip hairs, most valuable hair type, without breaking the bank. They offer ideal balance in terms of price and performance, neither more nor less. These are the brushes we recommend most often. They can also be a suitable choice for beginners, provided not abused, including not to press down to the skin strongly.
"Silvertip Badger Brushes"
Let's talk about the most luxurious hair type "Silvertip" hairs. As the name suggests, these bristles have very soft silvery tips. Only around the 5-10 % of the hairs coming from the badger's body are silvertip hairs, coming from the neck (jowl) area.
Their water holding capacity is best among badger hairs. Due to their fine and delicate structure, more bristles are required for the same size knot (for example, compared to a best badger brush). Since they are much scarcer, they are expensive. Silvertip brushes are made with hand selected bristles, never trimmed, has much more hairs at the same knot size and these make them the most expensive shaving brush type. Denser knots mean better water and lather absorption, these brushes create very rich lather in no time and provide a wonderful luxurious feel on face with their super soft tips. They don’t effectively massage the skin as other bristle types since they are very soft, which poses the risk of breakage of the bristles if used roughly to get a massaging feel in the wrong hands. In short, they require care and experience. For this reason, even though they are the most expensive brushes, they may not be the best choice for every user. We recommend silvertip shaving brushes to experienced users.
It Is possible to encounter several other types of badger hairs different from these three main types:
"Super Badger Brushes”
This is another type of brush we often encounter. These bristles resemble the best badger hairs, but their tips are noticeably softer, generally obtained from the back of the badger. They come in lighter brown color with a distinctive dark section in the middle. They feel more luxurious and smoother than both pure and best badger bristles. Many manufacturers bleach the tips to make them seem more like silvertip brushes. Although this type of hair is often mixed with silvertip, it is not that rare and less expensive than silvertip, but it still requires care and maintenance, as in silvertip hair. There is also a confusion in the market about super badger brushes. This is because some brush manufacturers like the Simpsons title their silvertips as “super”. That kind of super badger brushes are different monsters. They are basically super high quality silvertips, specially hand selected for only the best bristles, even softer than regular silvertip brushes with a whiter appearance. These are very expensive, ultimate quality brushes. But such classification is very rare among manufacturers, so when you see “super” title, you should take it’s a brush between best and silvertip.
"Finest Badger Brushes"
Another variety is finest badger or “two band” badger. These hairs are actually three banded hairs in appearance just like silvertip hairs, but since they are longer that grey colored third band remains in the handle section. These hairs are obtained from the back of a long-haired rare badger specie that is only native to the most remote, colder areas of North China, such as the Guangxi province. These hairs are not only long but also thicker. And that's what makes this kind of hair special. They have soft tips similar of a silvertip, but much springier with a good backbone which allows for a nice massaging effect. They are the kind of brushes preferred by shaving lovers who like to use hard soaps but do not want to give up the luxury feeling on their faces. These brushes, don’t spread over the face, eat hard soaps as breakfast, softly but effectively massage the skin with their delicate tips without any prickly feel. In short, they offer the best of both worlds. Shaving brushes made from finest badger hairs are not very common and only a few manufacturers offer them. These brushes are perfectly suitable for both beginners and experienced users and they are being increasing popular.
"Mixed Badger Brushes"
Finally, let's explain the type of mixed hair brushes. These brushes look very similar to pure badger brushes in appearance. Mixed hair is basically what's left after the grading has been done for silvertip, best and pure. They are generally made from best and pure badger hairs. However, due to the presence of better quality bristles in the mix, they offer good performance despite their low prices and are very popular brushes in the world.
Unfortunately, there are no fixed norms for hair types in the shaving brush industry. One manufacturer can call the brush “best”, other “fine” and another one “super”. Therefore, when choosing a brush, it’s best to pay attention to the entire product range of the manufacturer, and in any doubt get support from the seller.
We’re done with hair types, but what about the knot?
Since we’ve finished the most challenging part with explaining the hair types, now let's talk a little bit about the knots. As you can see in the picture, after the hairs are brought to a certain order, they are tied to a knot fixing them and then glued into the brush handle. The larger the knot, the greater the amount of hair used in the brush. As a result, the value of the shaving brush increases as the knot gets bigger. For example, the picture shows a 20mm knot. Thanks to the latest advanced knot technologies, companies can now add more amount of bristles without widening the knot much. This means a denser shaving brush with a stronger body and tighter hair structure. We’ve stated that in traditional wet shaving world these are called brushes with a good “backbone”.
Now; think about two same model brushes of the manufacturer's differencing only with their knot sizes, the bigger knot is like a car with a larger engine. It will consume more gas on the same route but on the contrary, it will offer more luxury, power and driving pleasure to its user.The shaving brushes with bigger knots will behave same. They will require more cream or soap to create a rich lather; on the other hand, they’ll offer much more shaving pleasure to the user, with an exploding lather that never seems to run out even in the fourth pass. If you ask us if it’s necessary, then we need to ask you, "Do you need 4- or 5-liter engine cars when you have perfectly enough 2 liter engine cars? In the end, they all do the same job and luxury is not a requirement; but a matter of enjoyment.
When it comes to the handles, each brand has their own styles and shapes as their signs. Some prefers wood, some acrylic or resin, others choose to use different kinds of materials like metal. Unless there is an extraordinary work on the handle, the build quality and workmanship, the handle material and the brand value of the manufacturer are what effects the value of the shaving brushes.
Finally, we want to touch on the forms of the brushes. Shaving brushes are divided into two as Bulb-Shaped and Fan-Shaped. There is also a hybrid form which is basically a mix of bulb and fan types, and a fourth “flat” form, which has a very flat top part with all the bristles are at same height, but these are very rare.
The top of the bristles in the bulb-shaped brushes is formed roundly just like bulbs. This means the bristles on the outer side of the knot remain shorter than the bristles in the center thus a reduction of the surface that is directly in contact with the face.
Now you might be thinking, "Why do I get the shorter hairs when paying so much money?" These types of shaving brushes provide better control and detail work. However, they are not the first choice of face latherers, but rather preferred by the people who make their lather in bowl.
Fan-shaped brushes are shaving brushes that have all their bristles about same length in the knot as in the Vulfix brush on the right. This means that the amount of hair touching the face is greater and the contact area is larger. These are the shaving brushes usually preferred by face latherers. Their disadvantages are that they tend to feel floppier and “bloom” on the face just like a fan due to their loft height.
Fan shaped shaving brushes work great with creams or soft soaps. If you have a big collection of hard triple milled shaving soaps or want a dense brush with a good backbone then we don’t recommend fan shaped shaving brushes as the first choice.
As a simple physics rule, it should be remembered that; the longer the hairs aka “loft", the lower the backbone of the brush will be. As the loft gets shorter, the flexibleness of the bristles decreases and the brush becomes stiffer.
Caring for your brush:
Since we observe a number of mistakes are done frequently, we want to touch on what needs to be done (and not done) while using your shaving brushes.
DO NOT BOIL YOUR BRUSH!
Almost all of the badger brushes on the market have already undergone a sterilization process and are free of all dirt and bacteria. Therefore, there is absolutely no need to boil your brush with the idea of "let the germs die." Since the badger brushes are made of natural hair, and glue is used in the knot to keep them in order, boiling hot water may damage the hair, crack the handle, weaken the glue resulting brush to shed hairs or even the knot separating from the handle. So, do not use hotter water than your hand can withstand.
DO NOT TRY TO CLEAN YOUR BRUSH IN SOLVENTS SUCH AS VINEGAR, BLEACH OR BORAX AS SOON AS YOU GET IT
As mentioned above, your brushes are sterilized. After the production and packaging process, only a small amount of dust may be left in it, and lathering and rinsing it once is sufficient to remove this dust. Using strong cleaners without knowledge can damage your brush's knot and cause hair loss.
DO NOT PUSH DOWN HARD
Pushing the shaving brush down to your face doesn’t means your beard will get softer. The purpose of the shaving brush is to clean the pores and soften the whiskers. Excessive pressure, causes the bristles to break and reduce your brushes life. Gently rub your brush in circular motions and massage your face with the tip of the hairs; let your brush do its job and finish coating with a painting motion. If you need a stronger massage action prefer “best badger” or “finest badger” brushes.
DO NOT SQUEEZE YOUR SHAVING BRUSH
After completing your shave, rinse your brush and hold the hairs from the bottom and shake the water well; but without exaggeration. If you want, you may rub it on a dry towel. But don't squeeze it. This may damage your valuable brush.
DO NOT STORE THE WET BRUSH IN CLOSED CONTAINERS
The best thing you can do after you clean your brush is to hang it upside down in a well aired dry area. Brush stands are made for this. Use them. If you store the wet brush in a closed cabinet after the shave it may cause bacterial and mildew growth and can also soften the glue on the knot resulting it to lose hairs. If you don’t have the time to let your brush dry (for example, if you are traveling and need to prepare your bag), you must take it out and ventilate it at the first opportunity.
SHEDDING!
Oh no! After covering your face with a creamy lather smells like heaven, cleaning all those shed bristles left by the brush is never suits with the pleasure of shaving. Don’t worry though, shedding is very normal for the new brushes. Almost every new brush will shed a little amount of their hairs in the first 10-15 shaves. This may be 1-2 hairs or 5-10 hairs per shave. These are mostly the hairs that couldn’t be fully tied to the knot during production process. After some use the shedding should stop, the better the brush is made the less the shedding will be. But if your brush keeps shedding its hairs even after many uses then it may be a faulty one, contact with your seller in that case for a replacement.
How should you maintain and care for our shaving brush?
Over time, and with usage, the accumulation of soap or cream residues in each brush is normal and needs to be cleaned. There is no specific time period for this. You’ll be the one to decide that. If your brush loses its flexibility and becomes inefficient; If you observe soap debris at the bristle ends and feel that your shaving pleasure is not the same as before, then it's time to take care of your shaving brush:
First, gently lather your brush with liquid dishwashing detergent with a hot water your hand can withstand. You can even leave the brush for 10 minutes like that. If you are still observing soap residues at the bottom, you can clean it up with an old toothbrush without forcing the hairs. Then put some hot water in a glass, add borax, glycerin or white vinegar, place the brush in it and left soak for 10 minutes and rinse well. This way you will completely get rid of soap residue. Finally, create a lather in your palm with some hair cream and rinse your brush thoroughly. Shake it and let it dry on a brush stand. Your brush will return to its first day’s performance and your shaving pleasure will be considerably increased.
In this article, we tried to cover almost every subject related to badger shaving brushes. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or issues. We love to chat.
May your shaving pleasure ever lasts!
