Completed Bristle Brushwerks Style 1
- Thread starter Mikey J
- Start date
Mikey J
Forum HOG!
What a clever way to outsource breaking in of a brush!!
Shhhh!!!
Holyzeus
Forum GOD!
Now on its way
This is a great knot, very soft tips, dense without being a lather hog. Don’t know the retail as he has none available at the moment and won’t post to the UK but the quality way surpasses any comparable knot.
Only thing that lets it down is the backbone but the fairly high loft is probably the cause of that
This is a great knot, very soft tips, dense without being a lather hog. Don’t know the retail as he has none available at the moment and won’t post to the UK but the quality way surpasses any comparable knot.
Only thing that lets it down is the backbone but the fairly high loft is probably the cause of that
sɐǝɹpu∀
riverrun
I haven't forgotten about the brush.
I've had a bunch of shaves with it and I have formed an opinion that I need to write down.
I've sent a PM to @Wayne and will post the brush once the scientific experiment I'm doing with it is done.
No worries, no harm will come to the brush and at the end of the experiment, it will be dry.
I've had a bunch of shaves with it and I have formed an opinion that I need to write down.
I've sent a PM to @Wayne and will post the brush once the scientific experiment I'm doing with it is done.
No worries, no harm will come to the brush and at the end of the experiment, it will be dry.
sɐǝɹpu∀
riverrun
I was looking forward to the Bristle Brushwerks brush. I have never used a badger brush before. Really. I started with synthetic brushes, which I liked, then bought some boars which I detest. One spends ages trying to "break them in" only to find that after 50 shaves without joy they are still no better. So I decided to stick with synthetics. I didn't want to spend big money on a top notch badger just to find that I don't like them. So, this pass around seems a good opportunity to check out what I might think of badger brushes.
I'm not a brush aficionado. I don't collect them (I still managed to amass about 10 of them), I have no idea what people mean by flow-through, splay, backbone , two band vs three band, fan vs bulb, scritch vs scratch, this vs that and whatnot. I know what the words mean, but I can't translate them to what it would feel like on my face.
Here's what I want from a brush: it should be gentle on my face (I face lather), be able to hold enough lather for four passes and have comfortable handle. If it looks good, that's a bonus.
The brush I use by far the most is my Mühle 25mm synthetic (Model 35K256). Last year I used it in 253 out of 277 shaves. I like it.
So, now you know where I'm coming from. Let's have a look at the brush:
I looks good (see photos above). The knot just looks classier than the Mühle's. When you touch it, it feels quite firm. That must be the backbone thing I guess. The handle is a slight disappointment. My brain tells me that it looks like marble and hence should feel like marble. Well, it doesn't. I feels like plastic/resin just like any other brush.
I've had four shaves with the Bristle Brushwerks brush. First things first: the face feel is amazingly good. It's firm (backbone I guess), yet very soft and gentle on the face. I could easily get used to that. It's easily as soft as my Plisson, but not as floppy. And it's bigger than the Plisson. The Plisson doesn't hold enough lather for me. Does the Brushwerks? I'll get back to that in a moment.
The biggest disappointment I had with the Brushwerks is the handle. It's not comfortable. The ridge in the middle of the handle makes me hold it near the bottom. It doesn't work for me.
The Bristle Brushwerks does generate an excellent lather - unlike the boar brushes I have tried. And it does it fairly quickly. But... It's too small I think. Either that or I would need to learn how to use it properly.
On shave #1 I had to reload soap after the third pass.
On the second shave, I used a LOT of shaving cream and that generated enough lather for four passes.
The remaining shaves were done with soap again and I tried to load a lot more soap than I usually do. Things improved slightly, but I still had to load some more soap towards the end of the shaves.
Conclusions:
My first badger brush experience. It looks classy and I loved the face feel.
There it ends.
I didn't like the handle and the brush doesn't hold enough lather for my extreme four pass shaving style. I'm also amazed how slowly this brush dries. I was hoping to add a comparison of the drying times of the Bristle Brushwerks brush and my 25mm Mühle synthetic, which is about the same size as the Brushwerks. This will have to wait a little while. The Brushwerks is still struggling to dry. My estimate now is that it will take a bit more than three days to dry completely.
I might stick with synthetics. I just need to find one that is at least as big as my Mühle (I wouldn't mind bigger) and has the face feel of the Bristle Brushwerks. Any suggestions?
I'm not a brush aficionado. I don't collect them (I still managed to amass about 10 of them), I have no idea what people mean by flow-through, splay, backbone , two band vs three band, fan vs bulb, scritch vs scratch, this vs that and whatnot. I know what the words mean, but I can't translate them to what it would feel like on my face.
Here's what I want from a brush: it should be gentle on my face (I face lather), be able to hold enough lather for four passes and have comfortable handle. If it looks good, that's a bonus.
The brush I use by far the most is my Mühle 25mm synthetic (Model 35K256). Last year I used it in 253 out of 277 shaves. I like it.
So, now you know where I'm coming from. Let's have a look at the brush:
I looks good (see photos above). The knot just looks classier than the Mühle's. When you touch it, it feels quite firm. That must be the backbone thing I guess. The handle is a slight disappointment. My brain tells me that it looks like marble and hence should feel like marble. Well, it doesn't. I feels like plastic/resin just like any other brush.
I've had four shaves with the Bristle Brushwerks brush. First things first: the face feel is amazingly good. It's firm (backbone I guess), yet very soft and gentle on the face. I could easily get used to that. It's easily as soft as my Plisson, but not as floppy. And it's bigger than the Plisson. The Plisson doesn't hold enough lather for me. Does the Brushwerks? I'll get back to that in a moment.
The biggest disappointment I had with the Brushwerks is the handle. It's not comfortable. The ridge in the middle of the handle makes me hold it near the bottom. It doesn't work for me.
The Bristle Brushwerks does generate an excellent lather - unlike the boar brushes I have tried. And it does it fairly quickly. But... It's too small I think. Either that or I would need to learn how to use it properly.
On shave #1 I had to reload soap after the third pass.
On the second shave, I used a LOT of shaving cream and that generated enough lather for four passes.
The remaining shaves were done with soap again and I tried to load a lot more soap than I usually do. Things improved slightly, but I still had to load some more soap towards the end of the shaves.
Conclusions:
My first badger brush experience. It looks classy and I loved the face feel.
There it ends.
I didn't like the handle and the brush doesn't hold enough lather for my extreme four pass shaving style. I'm also amazed how slowly this brush dries. I was hoping to add a comparison of the drying times of the Bristle Brushwerks brush and my 25mm Mühle synthetic, which is about the same size as the Brushwerks. This will have to wait a little while. The Brushwerks is still struggling to dry. My estimate now is that it will take a bit more than three days to dry completely.
I might stick with synthetics. I just need to find one that is at least as big as my Mühle (I wouldn't mind bigger) and has the face feel of the Bristle Brushwerks. Any suggestions?
Last edited:
Mikey J
Forum HOG!
Great review. Thanks Andreas. The knot is 28mm so should be enough to hold enough lather. I don’t use synthetics so I’m not sure of the differences. Perhaps someone else could chime in?