Now you can do what you want, but if affluence fell out of the sky and landed on me, I’d be all for asserting it. In the meantime I’m relying on personality, like a lot of guys, but at least mornings have a more pleasurable quality when I treat my face to warm lather via silky bristles, and I like to think that this shaving brush sets a positive tone for the entire day.
That in itself is an assertion that will do me just fine for now…

Wetshaving is totally different from a can of foam and a twin blade disposable experience. I spend a little more time on my morning ritual, but now shaving is not something to just be gotten through on the way to coffee: it’s a pleasure in itself. Those are too few and far between, don’t you think?

I put this site together as a short guide to an area of men’s grooming that, even with websites and net-articles on shaving, needed a concise repository of helpful answers to questions you might have regarding making the change to wetshaving using lather you make yourself. But one question should really take precedence over all the answers I’ll give you here: Have you felt a quality badger hair brush on your face?

Take a look here for more information on purchasing a Badger Hair Shaving Brush Kit for yourself or the man in your life.

I answered this for myself by seeing that maybe it was not the best thing to continue to subject my shaving ritual to the 20th/21st century. We have become so good at making almost everything more efficient (some would say mechanical) that it has changed our very approach to things that used to take longer out of necessity, but that imbued our lives with a reality that was somehow more… enriching, or even life-affirming.

OK, OK, am I pressing my badger hair shaving brush a little too hard on my carotid artery and reducing circulation to my brain when I say this? I really don’t think so! Here’s why: When you reduce a repetitive task to only the actions that it takes to get you to the finished result, you will probably reduce the time that it takes— to accomplish the task! That’s fine if you are putting widgets together, but this is your life we’re talking about! Is it really so important that you reduce something that took you great-grandfather 10-15 minutes into a task that takes you five minutes? I’m sure you’ll find some latte line to wait in with the extra 5-10 minutes, but all else being equal, this is a small activity that can in itself constitute relaxation time, quality time.

Take a look here for more information on purchasing a Badger Hair Shaving Brush Kit for yourself or the man in your life.

As to retaining water, or more to the point here not retaining water, the plastic brush performs very poorly. Water wicks away very efficiently from plastic strands– that’s the last thing you want when you’re trying to conjure up a nice thick foam and apply it to your face. Being real hair, the boar’s hair bush will retain water better because it is an organic substance. However, of the three options there’s little debate that the relative softness of the badger hair brush helps it retain water the best.

Regarding durability, the plastic brush might last a very long time, in the same way that your favorite doorstop does, but performance shortcomings would seriously outweigh durability considerations in this case, for most men. The bristles of the boar’s hair brush are coarse and fairly stiff, so that over years’ use they will break more quickly than the synthetic brush, and certainly faster than the softer badger hair brush.

Conveniently, there’s not much debate as to the last point, for anyone who’s actually compared all three. The feel of a synthetic brush against your skin might be more (luxuriant) than a large toothbrush; on the other hand it might not be. The boar’s hair brush, being a natural fiber, might feel a little less stiff and harsh than nylon when you run it across your face (though after a few years it will tend to stiffen and be just as bad). For a feeling of real comfort though, you can’t come close to the feel of real badger hair.

The badger hair shaving brush is the sweet spot: perfect for making and holding a generous lather; unsurpassed durability; just firm enough to do the job without feeling rough on the skin, leaving your face feeling gently massaged.

Take a look here for more information on purchasing a Badger Hair Shaving Brush Kit for yourself or the man in your life.

‘Best Badger’ Hair is less coarse generally than pure badger, but the main difference between the two would be the number of hairs contained in a given area of the brush handle: This brush will have a noticeably higher number of hairs, and they will be softer. The overall difference will be subtle, which is why graduating to this brush, or an even more expensive grade might not be appreciated by new wetshavers.

The ‘Super Badger’ brush differs from the lower grades of brushes mainly in softness and still greater hair density on the handle. The tips of the hair are a slightly grey-tinged white. While it will be softer than the lower grades, it may be noted that usually the hairs are actually pure badger that has been dyed to distinguish the better hair grade.

The next grade of brush after super badger, is the ‘Silvertip Badger’. With this brush, the light color at the tips extends further down the shaft of the hair. A true silvertip brush has tips that are an off-white, and they are this color without bleaching. Also, the hairs tend to be so fine that there is a noticeable flaring effect of the hair toward the end of the brush, a luxuriant fluffing that produces a sublime lather. There’s no denying the increased cost, but again, pro-rating it over a decade of use or even longer, many men find the cost acceptable.

For true aficionados, there is actually a grade of brush beyond silvertip, with the designation ‘Extra Silvertip’. The differences in this grade are again subtle, and the brush is certainly more expensive, but in addition to the sublime lathering experience, each morning the lucky user will be assured that he couldn’t be pampering his face any more than he is doing!

Take a look here for more information on purchasing a Badger Hair Shaving Brush Kit for yourself or the man in your life.

Take a look here for more information on purchasing a Badger Hair Shaving Brush Kit for yourself or the man in your life.