A shaving brush is a small brush with a handle that is used to apply shaving soap or shaving cream to the face. Shaving brush handles were often made from fine materials like ivory or gold. The bristles were often composed of natural or synthetic materials. A shave brush is most often used by wet shavers along with a double-edge razor or straight blade razor. However, a shave brush can find itself at home with the multi-blade razors that are popular today.
The modern shaving brush has its roots back in France circa 1750. The French call the shaving brush blaireau, which translates to badger. The French have no word for shaving brush, since to them, if it’s not made of badger hair, it’s not a shaving brush. Modern day shaving brushes use many different kind of materials for the bristles. If you look at the low end of the shaving brushes, they will use a synthetic material, like nylon, for the bristles. The next level above will see the use of a synthetic\natural blend, which combines boar’s hair\badger hair and a synthetic bristle. Next, you have a straight boar’s hair bristle. Boar’s hair bristles have a tendency to break much easier than synthetics, however, they have a higher water retention capability. This is important to ensure a good lather is created in your palm, mug, and face. Many wet shavers feel that the next level, the badger bristle, is the finest most luxurious material possible. The water retention capability, the feel on the face, and the durability of the bristles cannot be beat.
Badger hair is often classified to distinguish the quality of the bristles. These are pure, best, super, and silvertip.
Pure Badger is a brush that uses the most common hair from the belly of the badger. This hair cover around 60% of the badgers body. The hair varies in softness, pliability and in its’ color. Pure badger hair is typically dark, but can be anywhere from light tan to near-black or have a silvery sheen. This hair is the coursest due the larger shaft. These brushes cost much less to make. Pure badger brush hair is often trimmed into shape, which leaves you with stiff, rough ends.
Best badger brushes are made with the finer, more pliable hair that covers 20-25% of the badgers body. It is longer in length and lighter in color than the Pure Badger hair. A best badger brush typically has a denser bristle load, which creates a greater lather. Some wet shavers argue that the difference between a pure badger and a best badger brush is minimal. A best badger brush is not typically trimmed to shape like the pure badger brush is.
Super Badger brushes is more expensive than the best or pure brushes. While some call this hair silvertip, it is often highly graded ‘pure’ hair bleached on the ends to resemble silvertip. Though it is composed of ‘pure’ badger hairs, super is graded and sorted to such a extent that its performance is superior to that of best. The brush is not prickly. One way to determine if a brush bears a super or silvertip badger hair load is to look at the color of the bristle tips. A true silvertip brush has tips that are an off-white. A super brush on the other hand has bristle tips that are a more sterile, slightly greyed white; moreover, the light color of the tips does not extend as far down the shaft of the hair.
Silvertip badger brushes are the most expensive and made from the rarest type of badger hair. The tips on this hair appear white naturally, without bleaching. A flared bristle load gives results in the silvertip brush’s fluffy appearance and lends the brush its ability to hold a large amount of water. Due to its water retention capacity, a silvertip brush can create well-formed shaving lather quickly and easily.
A bristle load, such as those any shaving brushes, hold a large amount of water, which mix the soap lifted from a shaving mug or a scuttle. The more water a brush can hold, the moister and richer the later will be. This moister and richer lather translates to less razor skipping and dragging.
Since a shaving brush is used to apply a shaving soap lather to the face, this helps to eliminate the pre-shave step of washing and applying a lotion to the face. Some wet shavers still believe that a good shave oil applied to the face helps to build up the lather as well as condition the skin for a closer shave.
A shave brush does a mini-exfoliation when applying lather. When doing so, it softens and lifts the facial hair. When you apply a shaving cream by hand, the hair can get matted or raised unevenly. By using a shaving brush, a razor does not need to be pressed to the skin, but rather applied very gently and dragged to get the close shave you are looking for. This is the reason straight razors or high-quality double-edge safety razors are most often used with a shaving brush. It essentially replaces any benefit of the multiple-blade razors.
Suave Shaving 