A Badger Hair Shaving Brush–The Finest Shave Possible
Roger Stewart | January 9, 2010With all the ways of shaving out there, why is shaving with a badger hair shaving brush almost always referred to as the best shave you can get?
The three main bristle materials that you have to choose from when you are trying to arrive at a decision as to what shaving brush will be most appropriate for you are: synthetic (usually made of nylon), boar’s hair and badger hair. Now as much cumulative time as you will take over the years shaving, this decision is worth pondering a little bit. Questions that will come to mind are the durability of the shaving brush, how well it holds water, and how it actually feels on your skin.
So what about retaining water, a vital ingredient if your aim is to work up a nice healthy lather? Well it’s almost embarrassing to have to say this but the plastic brush bristles are very poorly suited to the purpose of water retention. The last thing the plastic is is absorbent and you need to have a good amount of water on your brush in order to make the sort of blather that you need for a comfortable shave. Now the boar’s hair brush is much much better at retaining water, and so is light-years ahead of any sort of plastic brush. Having said that you will find that most shaving experts prefer the badger hair shaving brush as being far and away your best choice when it comes to water retention.
As far as durability goes, naturally anything plastic will tend to last a long time, and that would have to be one advantage of choosing a plastic bristle shaving brush. The downside though is that your plastic brush is going to be a lot less comfortable, all things considered, even if it has a very fine set of bristles. So what of the boar’s hair shaving brush bristles? Unfortunately they have a lot of stiffness to them which leads them to break fairly quickly, certainly faster than plastic bristles, and as it turns out faster than the softer badger hair brush bristles.
As to the feel of each of the three kinds of bristles on your face, there really is very little debate on the subject. Will a plastic shaving brush feel better on your skin than a big toothbrush? Probably, but that’s not saying a whole lot. Certainly the boar’s hair brush will feel better than a plastic brush, as it is at least an organic substance, but these brushes are also known to become stiff after just a few years worth of use. The clear winner in the category of comfort is the badger hair brush and this shouldn’t really come as such a surprise as it is such a famous brush.
So when it comes to making the lather, which the whole point of using a shaving brush in the first place, the badger hair shaving brush comes out on top. It also does in terms of durability, and as to comfort, it is simply unsurpassed.
Learn more about badger hair shaving brushes. Stop by Roger Stewart’s site where you can find out all about badger shaving brushes and what they can do for you and your morning shaving ritual.













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