How much would you pay for a synthetic?

[Mr Bigmem]

@Nishy I think your post is a lil misleading. As others have pointed out the cost appears to be driven by the hand crafted handle and clearly not the knot. So IMO a better question would be how much would you pay for a handmade and hand-painted porcelain handle?

From a quick look at the Muhle site they stock The Muhle Sophist Porcelain Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush at £125 while the same handle fitted with a STF knot is £105. So Mule as stating their synthetic in the most cases is £20 cheaper and this is the same knot that is fitted to the £540 brush.

What price would I pay for the perfect synthetic knot? .....well for me the 3 kings of synthetics are the Synbad, the Cashmere and the Silksmoke. (Originals from AP shave). And they don't break the bank at under £9 plus shipping. So any other major or artisan manufacturer better work on their margins when importing synthetic knots or the fibers from china. I've seen so many pretenders be trying to sell the next greatest thing (emperors new clothes)

Me personally, i'd not pay that much for a brush, artisan or otherwise. The knot could be bound with unicorn hair and be rolled on the thighs of nubile amazonian ladies and it would mean nothing to me. Hand tied, machine tied either is fine as long as it is a good knot and doesn't break the bank

 

[Mr Bigmem]

Also I remembered i'd seen a brush more expensive somewhere. And it is a custom declaration brush for $1000 thats just a custom pour resin and hand tied knot. WTF

https://www.declarationgrooming.com/products/custom-declaration-brush-b3-b7

 

[Nisse]

and please all synthetic knots be proud of your synthetic heritage stay away from the badger wannabe look or I am not interested at any price

 

[Chris]

Also I remembered i'd seen a brush more expensive somewhere. And it is a custom declaration brush for $1000 thats just a custom pour resin and hand tied knot. WTF

https://www.declarationgrooming.com/products/custom-declaration-brush-b3-b7

In their defence they're basically saying that they don't want to make these but will if you're prepared to pay daft money for one. They're not claiming it's worth the money.

 

[Deleted member 1881]

Sorry to say this, but for a synthetic I wouldn't pay more than 20 euros. Including the shipping. I am more than satisfied with the tuxedos, Timberwolf knots from Yaqi.

If Apshave had less shipping, I would grab a Silksmoke.

 

[Nishy]

@Nishy I think your post is a lil misleading. As others have pointed out the cost appears to be driven by the hand crafted handle and clearly not the knot. So IMO a better question would be how much would you pay for a handmade and hand-painted porcelain handle?

From a quick look at the Muhle site they stock The Muhle Sophist Porcelain Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush at £125 while the same handle fitted with a STF knot is £105. So Mule as stating their synthetic in the most cases is £20 cheaper and this is the same knot that is fitted to the £540 brush.

What price would I pay for the perfect synthetic knot? .....well for me the 3 kings of synthetics are the Synbad, the Cashmere and the Silksmoke. (Originals from AP shave). And they don't break the bank at under £9 plus shipping. So any other major or artisan manufacturer better work on their margins when importing synthetic knots or the fibers from china. I've seen so many pretenders be trying to sell the next greatest thing (emperors new clothes)

Me personally, i'd not pay that much for a brush, artisan or otherwise. The knot could be bound with unicorn hair and be rolled on the thighs of nubile amazonian ladies and it would mean nothing to me. Hand tied, machine tied either is fine as long as it is a good knot and doesn't break the bank

Hi Mem, I understand your opinion, I wasn't really refering to the brush in the link (OP) being worth its cost price. It was mainly whether you would pay the extra for synthetic knots compared to other products with the same synthetic fibres but not labelled 'shaving'. Or in other words does the affiliation to 'shaving' carry a premium? Leading onto what is the price based on? Number of synthetic hairs? Labour?

This is from noticing make up brushes with Tuxedo, Synbad and other types of fibres (or at least the same appearance) at a much lower cost including the make up handle. I found these on AliExpress.

I'm English why not buy a make up brush with Tuxedo knot for less than £2 than opt for a Yaqi Tuxedo brush, when cost is the main POI.

 

[R181]

Hi Mem, I understand your opinion, I wasn't really refering to the brush in the link (OP) being worth its cost price. It was mainly whether you would pay the extra for synthetic knots compared to other products with the same synthetic fibres but not labelled 'shaving'. Or in other words does the affiliation to 'shaving' carry a premium? Leading onto what is the price based on? Number of synthetic hairs? Labour?

This is from noticing make up brushes with Tuxedo, Synbad and other types of fibres (or at least the same appearance) at a much lower cost including the make up handle. I found these on AliExpress.

I'm English why not buy a make up brush with Tuxedo knot for less than £2 than opt for a Yaqi Tuxedo brush, when cost is the main POI.

Now I understand what you were getting at. Yes, make up brushes do seem to have knots that are similar to, if not the same as, synthetic knots in shaving brushes and are much cheaper. Have to say I have not seen a make up brush the size I would used for shaving. OTH the market for make up brushes is likely very much larger than for shaving brushes and so much more competitive in pricing. One thing for sure is that these days you do not have to pay a lot of money for a very good synthetic brush unless you want a limited edition or one from a brand name that has cache.

Bob

 

[Nisse]

How about badger make up brushes - cheap as chips or expensive as shaving brushes?

 

[Chris]

I'm assuming that a make up brush would be too soft to make a good shaving brush. It may be the same fibres but the knot could be unsuitable.

I imagine we're paying a premium for shaving brushes because it's a niche market, they'll sell a lot more for make up.

 

[Mr Bigmem]

Hi Mem, I understand your opinion, I wasn't really refering to the brush in the link (OP) being worth its cost price. It was mainly whether you would pay the extra for synthetic knots compared to other products with the same synthetic fibres but not labelled 'shaving'. Or in other words does the affiliation to 'shaving' carry a premium? Leading onto what is the price based on? Number of synthetic hairs? Labour?

This is from noticing make up brushes with Tuxedo, Synbad and other types of fibres (or at least the same appearance) at a much lower cost including the make up handle. I found these on AliExpress.

I'm English why not buy a make up brush with Tuxedo knot for less than £2 than opt for a Yaqi Tuxedo brush, when cost is the main POI.

Mate I am totally on the same page as you. Of late i've spent more time trying to find out who makes the knots I love to see if I can get a small stash to then pop into handles have custom made.

I'll pay more for a handle I like than just for a knot. But with badger I feel the knot would draw me in more so first.

 

[Mr Bigmem]

The only Make-up brush I am aware of that has ended up in the shaving brush world is the MotherLode. Softest most plush dense brush ever. But kinda weird if you even try to face lather lol

 

[Deleted member 1881]

Oh boy this thread is getting more and more interesting!

My wife told me yesterday: " Why do you like all of these Yaqi synthetics? They all look like a make up brush! Boring!"
Her favourite brush from my small collection is the Omega 20102 with the wooden handle.

I mean, maybe there is a connection of these type of knots with a make up brush, but I tend to use them even more! They are feather soft and lathering machines. They dry in no time.

Personally I won't buy anything else from Yaqi, because the value for money is gone a long time ago. I have everything I want from them. My last order was the Moka Badger & the Sagrada Familia Tuxedo.

But, as I said before, I wouldn't pay more than 20 euros for a synthetic.

For a 2band I would pay definitely more even though I'm not really into badgers, because they steal lather and some of them I tried didn't release the lather in the right time and were holding it closer to the knot, one thing I hate when happens. Synthetics work perfect for me, even the cheaper ones. I expect some time to get an APshave silksmoke because of @Wayne & @N_Architect, these great enablers, when I want to spend some money and that's it.

I really don't get why any synthetic would cost 500$; even for collectors is an expensive price. I couldn't even shave with it, in case it fell on the floor, because of a damn slick soap I would use. (But wait a minute, I could buy a 500$ brush and use it with really bad soaps,no slick at all in case of any accident!! Hehe)

Sorry for the blah blah

 

[Wayne]

You have to seperate knot price and handle price. With a synthetic you aren’t paying a lot for the knot, they are inexpensive. Similary you aren’t paying a lot for Badger knots either. You are paying for the exclusivity of Badger knots. I know people disagree with me but the mythical high mountain White hair doesn’t exist. It’s bleached tipped two band that is all.
You are paying for the package and the Artisan to turn the blank. So if I really like the handle I’d be looking at no more than £60.

 

[ShaunWistow]

I’d pay a max of £50 if it was in a handle that I really liked & the knot soaked in unicorn tears.

 

[Sid James]

I’m going to buy one of the ADP synthetics to see what it’s like. I owned the wenge wood original, it was the best made brush I’ve ever seen. The knot was lacking but adequate I suppose. I’m not paying that price though, no way.