Maybe you have heard of badger hair brushes before and asked yourself why they would give you a better shave.
Normally shaving brush bristles are made out of a nylon synthetic, boar’s hair, or badger hair. It’s your face, and your morning ritual takes a lot of time over the years, so the decision as to the one that is best for you is not to be taken lightly. Questions you should ask yourself if you are running a little comparison between the three are: How well does the brush hold water? How long will the brush last? How do the brush bristles feel on the skin of my face?
So let’s take these one at a time. First, water retention: as you might imagine a plastic brush is really terrible at holding water. The plastic actually seems to repel water and that’s pretty much the opposite of what you want when you’re trying to make a nice thick foam for your face. On the other hand, since it is real hair the boar’s hair brush does hold water better, being an organic material. The fact is though, that that there is very little debate among shaving aficionados as to the fact of the badger hair brush retaining water the most efficiently.
Well, at least the plastic shaving brush has durability as one of its strong points. Unless the plastic bristles are especially fine, most men would not think of giving way comfort for this increased durability though, and that is probably exactly what they would be doing. The boar’s hair shaving brush bristles unfortunately have a stiffness and coarseness that leads them, over time, to tend to break more quickly than nylon brushes, and most definitely more quickly than the softer bristles of the badger hair brush.
So what about the area of comfort, the final category that we should examine? Plastic bristles were never meant to be applied in a comfortable way to human skin-they may work well for cleaning but they are the last thing you want to be working into your skin at six o’clock in the morning. Are boar’s hair brushes any better? Yes, they are better than plastic bristle brushes, at least for the first few years. Unfortunately after not too many years usage you’ll notice this type brush becoming quite stiff and uncomfortable. There is no point in mincing words: the badger hair brush is by far the most comfortable shaving brush made, and has been for a long time.
So when it comes to making the lather, which the whole point of using a shaving brush in the first place, the badger hair shaving brush comes out on top. It also does in terms of durability, and as to comfort, it is simply unsurpassed.
Learn more about badger hair shaving brushes. Stop by Roger Stewart’s site where you can find out all about badger shaving brushes and what they can do for you and your morning shaving ritual.
February 1st, 2010 on 9:24 pm
I appreciate the article, however I can;t put much stock in your findings. All of the comments seem to be entirely subjective in nature, and not backed up (on the face of it) by any evidence. What tests were conducted to measure the water retention and durability of the various brushes? By whom? The fact that “very little debate among shaving aficionados as to the fact of the badger hair brush retaining water the most efficiently” is really moot. At one point there was little debate that the earth was flat. Also, the last I heard, the hairs weren’t collected humanely and primarily came from China. Considering some people get into this type of shaving to reduce the ecological footprint, this should factor into the equation also.
The only criteria I cannot dispute was your final (and arguably the most important) criteria of comfort. This is of course completely subjective and personal, and justly so. However, people do have a tendency to “follow the herd” and adopt the manners and beliefs of those who supposedly know better.
Can we get an article that looks at the various merits of the different brushes with a more scientific and holistic view?
Regards,
M.