Brushes

A short brush comparision for beginners

There are many brush options on the market and they are available at many different price points. In this section we will go over some very basic information on brushes. Three basic brush bristles are made of Badger hairs, boar hairs or synthetic hairs. I have here 7 brushes and I'll try to point out why they are different. Unfortunately I don't have a wide range of different brushes (missing the synthetics e.g.) but I'll give my best to share information what I have this far.

Please, notice that everything mentioned in this text is not set in stone. We are human beings and our needs, habits, personal interests and many other things are so individual that you can thrust your learning abilities and see what forks best for you.

When I get a new brush and before the first use I wash the brush using a normal shampoo and hair conditioner same way like I do with my hair. It softens the bristles a little bit and brush starts to work better. This is not a mandatory action to any brush but I liked to do that for hunting a more luxurious feeling.

Photo sections and brush conditions explanation chart

• Dry = All brushes are dry and taken from the drip stands.
• 5 mins soak= All brushes have soaked in tap hot water 5 minutes and squeezed the extra water off the bristles. Not extra shaking at all to give an illustration for condition where you might start to whip the soap or cream. Like in here after step 4 in Illustrated quide to making basic soap lather.
• Lather soak= With all three brushes have made a lather
• Post bloom= All brushes have shaked strongly and are ready to go to drip stands to wait another day. Just like after shaving.
• Bloom upper= Upper pictures of post bloom

• Brushes and soaking effects
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  1. Dry 1. From left to right: Kent BK4, Edwin Jagger black horn handle silvertip and Edwin Jagger super badger. EJ silvertip is in bulb shape and EJ super badger is in fan shape and Kent BK4 is inbetween these two. EJ silvertip is the most dense and stiff of these three and still gives the most luxurious feeling. EJ super badger and Kent BK4 spreads the bristles much wider than silvertip partly due to fan shape. The bristle height is important factor what gives a stiff or floppy feeling of brushes. Bristle quality is too important but it is hard to measure from the on line pictures.

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  2. Dry 2. From left to right: Omega 6191 pure badger and tweezerman pure badger. Here is the good example how two brushes could give a totally different feelings. Notice these things : size, bristle height and color, handle shape and height. Despite of higher bristles of Omega and more close to fan shape it a gives much more scruppy feeling during lathering. Omega's bristles are really stiff and I was suprised when I first try this brush.

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  3. Dry 3 From left to right: Vintage boar brush and famous China Cheapie. I got that vintage boar brush from my old uncle and it is some sort of heirloom for me. I have used it couple of times succesfully but like I said earlier I prefer to hunt a luxurious feeling and boar brush doesn't give it to me. Anyway it works but do not hold enough water for my use. I can make a decent lather with this but it needs much harder work. China cheapie is a some sort of joke and included in here just to make you in postitive feeling. It costs 0,85€/$1 and it was a "must" try. It says in the handle that is made of pure bristles and I think it is boar's hair. Same like with vintage one this needs much more work to get a lather. One thing where this CC is good is travelling. If I fly to another country I don't want to take my most expensive brush with me if I lose or somebody steals it.

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  4. 5 mins soak 1. Brushes have absorbed enough water and are ready to take the soap or cream. They have spread the brisles a little bit during water absorbation.

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  5. 5 mins soak 2. Brushes have absorbed some water and are ready to take the soap or cream. Notice how much less the pure bristles absorb the water and thus not spead so much.

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  6. 5 mins soak 3. Brushes have absorbed slightly water and are ready to take the soap or cream. With boar brushes you must set a proper amount of water in the bowl instead of absorbation.

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  7. Lather soak 1. Kent BK4 after whipping. Soap is Kent luxury (MWF) in all pictures.

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  8. Lather soak 2. Tweezerman after whipping

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  9. Lather soak 3. Vintage boar after whipping

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  10. Lather soak 4. All three after whipping. These brushes are not equally comparable due to different sizes and do not take this too seriously. I hope it gives you decent exaple how different brushes act with lather.

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  11. Lather soak 5. All three after whipping in upper angle

• Blank
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  12. Post bloom 1. Nice and wide post bloom

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  13. Post bloom 2. Nice but much narrow post bloom than first one's

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  14. Post bloom 3. Nice and wide post bloom. Heh

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  15. Bloom upper 1.

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  16. Bloom upper 2.

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  17. Bloom upper 3.

TonyJ 13:17, 18 January 2009 (UTC)