The Shaving Brush Guide (2023)

Recently, I introduced ourguide to shaving creamsand shaving soaps,but there is another tool that is at least as important: theshaving brush.A few decades ago almost every man who shaved used one. Due to modernization, quick and easy disposable products like shaving foams gained in popularity while the shaving brush became somewhat obsolete. It is only with hindsight that men are finally beginning to realize the importance of shaving, of taking care of their skin, and thus of the brush. Once you use a shaving brush, you will never go back. It is much more efficient, employing a smaller amount of shaving cream for a rich and warm lather, and there are less waste and fewer cans making it a greener alternative. For those who want to use a shaving soap or cream, a brush is indispensable.

Brief History of Shaving Brushes

Before brushes, there were sea sponges: men used them to lather up soap to their faces. The shaving brushes with bristles as we know them today were invented by the French in the eighteenth century. Since then, different kinds of bristles have been used – both natural and synthetic.

Advantages of a Shaving Brush

The purpose of the brush is fourfold:

1. Generates a rich and warm lather by whipping air into shaving cream or soap
2. Softens and lifts the facial hair off the face
3. Adds heat to the skin during the shaving process which helps open pores and lubricate the skin
4. Gently exfoliates the surface of the skin to rid it of dead cells

By virtue of its numerous bristles, a shaving brush is the best way to generate a warm and unctuous lather. Rich lather is important because it protects and lubricates the skin. Also, the gentle friction of the bristles on your face as you lather up arms the shaving cream and your skin, softening the beard and opening pores. The brush helps guide the direction of your whiskers as they loosen up in their pores, preparing them for the blade. The shaving brush is also ideal for ensuring adequate moisture to the face when shaving: it captures and transports the moisture from the sink, through the bristles to your skin and beard. This is a far more efficient method of wetting your skin than cupping water in your hands and bringing it to your face when shaving, which is what you have to do without a brush. Finally, the brush provides gentle exfoliation and removes dead surface cells, something that fingers alone cannot do. For a fullset of video tutorials, check out our comprehensive shaving guide.

Types of Shaving Brushes

Shaving brushes are mostly made from the hair of badgers, boars, horses or synthetic fibers.

Boar Brushes

The bristle taken from boars are harder than badger hair and are at first very coarse, which is not so comfortable on the skin. The courser texture of the bristles makes it very useful for lathering soaps well because of its ability to agitate the surface of the soap very easily. Over time, the tips of the bristles will soften and feel a bit more broken in, but will never be as soft on the face as badger hair. Colors range from yellow to white, often with a black imitation band as decoration. The price of a boar brush is hard to beat. You can get a decent boar shaving brush for less than $ 10. Interestingly, boar bristle brushes are particularly favored by Italian barbers. The Italian Omega brand makes a good variety of shaving brushes and, in particular, excellent boar shaving brushes. If you can’t find the Omega brand, you can also purchase the Proraso shaving brush which is produced by Omega.

See Also

5 Best Car Wash Brushes (2023 Guide)

Horsehair Brushes

Horsehair is finer and softer than boar, but slightly stiffer than badger hair. Horsehair brushes come in as many colors as do horses. They seem to be favored particularly in Spain and are compared to badger modestly priced (price range: $ 20 to $ 40). The Spanish company Vie-Long is a good source for horsehair brushes.

Synthetic Brushes

Synthetic bristles have been significantly improved in recent years. The cheapest brushes still use relatively thick nylon bristles and are not particularly comfortable. But you can also find amazing products made from high-quality synthetic fibers analogously to the best natural badger hair. In particular, the synthetic Silvertip Fibre v2.0 brushes made by the German brand Mühle are top notch. The first version of these brushes wasn’t as good but these new fibers are astonishingly soft and extremely long-lasting. In fact, the tips are softer than any animal hair brush, while also being less sensitive in everyday as they dry faster thannatural hair. This kind of synthetic bristle was designed and engineered specifically for shaving and some like them better than animal hair brushes. On top of that, these brushes are PETA-approved, vegan, and perfectly suited for men who are allergic to animal hair or badger hair. As if that wouldn’t be enough, you will also need about half of the amount of shaving cream or soap compared to an animal hair brush. The best synthetic bristle brushes retail between $ 40 and $ 140.

Badger Brushes

Badger hair has been used for more than two centuries to make the shaving brushes. There are essentially four different grades of badger hair: pure, best, super and silver tip though the meaning and the names of the categories may vary by manufacturer.

Pure badger hair is the least expensive of the four grades and ranges in color from brownish-grey to black. The hairs are more flexible than boar bristles and usually coarser in texture than higher grade badger hair. Their stable quality will perform well for wet shavers who like a massaging effect while preparing to shave. Pure graded brushes normally offer a good value in quality for the price (price range: $ 35 to $ 70). A pure badger lasts on average three years.

Best Badger offers a significant improvement in feel and quality over pure badger. The hair ranges in color from lighter brown to gray and has better water absorbing capabilities than pure badger. On the face, best grade hair has a softer feel and is not as scratchy as pure. Best graded brushes are priced between $ 50 to $100 and last on average six years.

The super badger grade is even softer on the face and has little to no scratchiness on the skin. The hair has a color pattern with a black banded midsection and whiter tips than the other quality hair types. The density and water holding capacity of super badger brushes offer a noticeable difference in performance. Super badger is significantly more expensive than best badger (price range: $ 75 to $ 150) and can last up to ten years.

Silver tip is the best and the most expensive grade of hair. Like super badger hair, the silver tip has a very distinct color banding, but usually a more defined contrast in color between the black and white-silver color bands. Silver tip hair is gentle and luxurious, like a soft sponge that massages the lather on to the face. The price range for the silver tip category usually starts at $150. An average silver tip badger brush will last ten years or more.

Knot & Loft Height

Now, all of these shaving qualities come in different knot sizes (the diameter of the knot base – usually measured in mm) and the loft height, which is the height from the base to the top. As you can imagine, longer hairs will feel softer, but it also depends on the thickness of the hair. Some people prefer a big loft while others prefer a small one. At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference, though the big diameter knot brushes with a high loft are generally softer and more expensive than the smaller brushes.

Shedding

A new brush will always shed in the beginning, but after 10 – 15 shaves, a good brush will stop to shed. To accelerate the shedding process, some people wash their brush with shampoo or comb it. In my experience, you’ll be fine if you just use it until it stops. Brushes of lower quality will never stop shedding, and you will have hair even 6 months down the line. So, if you have a brush that sheds even after many uses, return it.

Handles

The handles of shaving brushes are meant to be balanced, to fit comfortably in your hand, and have a solid grip. Brush manufacturers usually offer different sizes and weights, depending on the size of your hand.

A wide variety of materials is used for handles. The most common are metal, wood, horn and synthetic.

Metal handles are often made of brass and are subsequently plated with chrome or nickel to increase their durability. Chrome shines brightly while nickel appears somewhat darker and warmer. Aluminum, on the other hand, is anodized to harden the surface and to increase its resistance to water and scratching.

The wooden handles can be made of all kind of wood types such as pine, sycamore, ash, beech and olive wood. Sometimes you can even find more exotic wood types like the bog oak. This wood is taken from tree trunks that have lain embedded in bogs and can be millennia old. African Blackwood handles are highly water resistant by nature. The Thuja wood handle surface is sealed in a unique process and therefore thoroughly water resistant. The briar burl also used frequently for pipe manufacturing, which is distinguished by its beautiful reddish-brown color and a vivid grain.

A good option for a horn handle is buffalo horn, which is distinguished by its beautiful structure and excellent durability.

Handles made from synthetic materials are highly durable, but not always possess a compelling haptic experience.

Manufacturers

The best brushes are those that are handcrafted, as they tend to keep their bristles, and thus last longer than machine-made ones. My favorite manufacturers of shaving brushes are Edwin Jagger, Omega, and Mühle.

Edwin Jagger is an English Company established 1988 in the Sheffield region, famous for its traditional crafts and legendary metal. The art of processing metals and materials to an excellent level can be seen in particular throughout the Edwin Jagger brush collection. For nearly 20 years, the brand has been pursuing a policy of meeting the highest quality standards and to produce outstanding badger hair brushes in all different grade qualities.

The aforementioned Omega brand is Italy‘s leading brush maker since 1946. The brand marks a complete range of quality shaving brushes, in boar bristle, pure badger or synthetic fibers. Omega brushes are produced in Bologna and diffused all over the World, even in those countries in which a well-established and qualified domestic production still exists. Particularly their boar brushes can be recommended.

Mühle (often spelled Muhle or Muehle) is a German company and probably one of the leaders in high-quality shaving brushes during the last decades. The traditional craftsmanship is often combined by pioneering design, for example by using carbon ($680) or Asian lacquer($612) for the handles. Although, they offer great synthetic brushers, the silver tip badger hair brush crafted by hand is regarded as their classic product(between $100-$200).

Video Portrait of the Mühle company:

What Shaving Brush Should You Buy?

Now you might wonder which one to buy and sadly there is not a single best brush out there because it depends on what you like. Some men prefer coarser bristles over harder ones or vice versa. Others will never use synthetic while a vegan may swear by them. For example, Sven Raphael Schneider currently uses a more exotic brush from Sam & Son, which is made in Australia, I use Mühle, Edwin Jagger, and Omega…

In order to break down the selection of several hundred brushes, we thought it might be helpful to show you some brushes we like. This is by no means a rating or the best brushes but a good starting point for your research. For an even more comprehensive list of shaving brushes and recommendations, check out our Shaving Guide.

Our Best Shaving Content

Shaving is a ritual that involves products, tools, technique and knowledge to create a smooth, closely shaven face. Each man has different needs, and even though we love a deep dive into one part of shaving, we know that the Big Picture is just as important. To answer the many shaving questions and concerns that we receive from men every day, we put together the most comprehensive Shaving Guide out there. Take look at the video below!