Shave brushes

The shave brush is the brush used to generate lather from a shaving soap or shaving cream.

Shaving brushes come in a few different materials, there are three main groups: badger, boar and synthetic. Boar brushes are generally firmer and pricklier than badger brushes, although the tips can soften with use, and are also usually quite cheap, costing around $5-15. Badger brushes are the type of brush most talked about on the traditional wet shaving forums, they come in various grades that look and feel different, in addition to being priced differently. Badger brushes start at about $10 and go all the way up to the Art of Shaving's $1200 silver handled shaving brush. Finally there are synthetic brushes which come in two groups, the cheaper one with nylon-like fibres which sell for about $10 and the more expensive ones which are often better built and sometimes have a blend of different fibres for about $40-50.

Shave brush handles are most often made of synthetic materials, the two most common colours are black (often called ebony) and off-white (called faux ivory or similar). Less common materials include different types of wood and sometimes horn. Vintage shaving brushes may have handles made of genuine ivory or even porcelain.

• Interactive Guide to the Shaving Brushes
  

The Shaving Brushes Compendium regroups all the shaving brushes currently documented on B&B.


Below is a breakdown of the list by manufacturer:

• B&B Brushes
  
• Culmak Brushes
  
• Erskine Brushes
  
• Ever Ready Brushes
  
• Gillette Brushes
  
• Kent Brushes
  
• Omega Brushes
  
• Pall Mall Brushes
  
• Plymouth Brushes
  
• Rooney Brushes
  
• Rubberset Brushes
  
• Rudy Vey Brushes
  
• Semogue Brushes
  
• Shavemac Brushes
  
• Shumate Brushes
  
• Simpson Brushes
  
• Van Der Hagen Brushes
  

Cleaning and drying a shaving brush after the shave is very important. This will reduce the risk of bacteria and possible shredding problems. When you complete your shave, it is recommended that you remove any remaining lather by using clean water. When done, squeeze any excess water out and try to shake the water out of the brush. You can do it over a sink or in the shower(this will avoid a messy mirror if you are shaking the excess water over the sink).

• How to Break in a new Shaving Brush
  
• The instructions and techniques on how to clean and care for your brush can be found here.
  

• Brands of Shave Brushes
  
• Shave Brush Hair Grades
  
• Restored Ever Ready
  
• Tutorials and more information on Lather
  
• Restoring shaving brushes
  

Shave brush basics video