Brush Ratings

Lessee…The razors have a ratings page. The blades have a ratings page. The pre-shaves and lathers have ratings pages. That leaves…

Aftershaves! Oh, and the brushes. The brush rating page should be shorter and easier.

For quite a while, I didn’t see the need for excessive brushes. I had 2 boar brushes and really liked them (and still do). I also had a badger brush which periodically lost excessive bristles. But that seems to have stopped and I’m liking it again.

Then I wanted to add a synthetic. Just to see what all the hubbub is about. So I grabbed the rainbow Yaqi. Then came others: the Parker blue, Omega red, the midget, and the Maggards’ purple swirl.

Let’s first talk about the types of bristles:

Boar Brushes

I have 2 boar bristle brushes (and a badger/boar combo, but we’ll get to that in a bit), shown above. Boar bristles are typically fairly stiff and wiry, requiring some soaking in water before trying to lather. I’ve never needed to do that, and I have no idea why. Unless it’s because I don’t really get all of the water out of the brush before lathering? Whatever.

I really like boar brushes. Unlike some people in the forums, I don’t mind their stiffness and don’t find them uncomfortable. They typically lather quickly and efficiently, and while I enjoy the lathering process, I usually don’t want to spend all day trying to get a lather out of a soap or cream.

Badger Brushes

Badger bristles are generally softer than boar bristles. They don’t require as much soaking, but since the bristles are softer, they typically need more time to lather a soap or cream.

Badger bristles aren’t my favorite, but I’m not entirely sure why. For a while, it was because the brush on the right above would lose dozens of bristles during a shave. But that stopped, and I’m still not thrilled, with it, but not disappointed either.

And the little guy to the left there? That’s the Midget, and it’s a tiny badger/boar combination brush. So it ends up here.

Synthetic Brushes

The synthetics–my new favorites. Yes, they scratch a recently appearing itch, where I’m trying to be conscious about what animal products I’m using in my shaves. Granted, beef tallow and other animal fats are kind of the gold standard for soaps, but I want to be more aware and careful in what I use, and a good place to start is with synthetic bristles.

Now, what they’re made of may be another topic for discussion, but we’ll leave it at “man-made fibers” as I haven’t really dug into that yet.

What you see above is the wide range of what synthetic brushes can be. The red handled guy is approximating a boar brush (and looks remarkably similar to the silver Omega boar further up). The Yaqi with the rainbow handle is not pretending to be anything, really. But it is quite possibly the softest thing I have ever felt in my life. The two on either end are presumably approximating badger bristles, but of differing types.

Other Brush Things To Know

Lots of true brush conisseurs pay attention to things like loft and knot size, and stuff like that. But I don’t. Frankly, this is one area where I can go with something that looks cool and get reasonably good results.

Brushes are also referred to sometimes as being thirsty or thirstier than others. This just means that they need more water to lather than other brushes.

So here are the ratings:

Photo	Brush Name	Bristle Type	Rating	Comments
	Proraso (Omega)	Boar	4.75	A great brush, solid lathering performance, comfortable grip, cool chrome-like plastic handle.
	Omega 10019	Boar	4.75	Stiffer and smaller than the Proraso boar, this does a great job if trying to lather directly from a smaller or sample tub.
	Omega S10049	Synthetic	4.75	A solid performer, fairly stiff for a synthetic, but great, quick lathering and a good handle.
	Yaqi Rainbow	Synthetic	4.75	First off, it’s just pretty, and the longer handle is nice to use. The bristles themselves are very soft and dense, making lathering soft, smooth, and exquisitely comfortable.
	Parker Blue Storm	Synthetic	4.50	Not quite as stiff as the Omega S10049, this is still a relatively stiff brush. But it lathers well and applies lather comfortably. It seems a little more thirsty than some of the others.