Shave Brush Bristles

You might be wondering what is the big deal about shave brush bristles and why are some brushes more expensive than others.

There are many benefits of shave brushes:

Fibrous bristles hold water, the more water a brush holds the moister and more lather the brush will give.The more lather the less a razor will skip or drag on the skin.

The shave brush also acts as a mild exfoliation as you use the brush across your face. This replaces washing and applying lotion to your face pre-shave.

The shave brush also lifts and softens facial hair before a shave. applying shaving cream by hand flattens hair or raises it unevenly. A razor doesn't need to be pressed against the face to have a clean shave if a high quality straight razor or high quality safety razor is used. The use of multiple blades is not necessary.

Most of the time the brush price depends on the type of handle. They have been made from anything from wood to ivory, gold, nylon, plastic, urethane, tortoise shell, The handle has no to little effect of the brush's performance. Actually some very good brushes use plastic, nylon or urethane handle, so that the brush is very durable and not easily broken. 

The price of a brush can depend based on the what the handle is made from. Also how the bristles are knotted. Some of the best quality brushes have are hand knotted. 

The best quality brushes are hand knotted. Badger and boar brushes are the most commonly found animals used for shaving brush fibers. Badger species include the eurasian badger and the hog badger. Badger brushes and often referred to as two band, or three band. Perhaps all badger hair fibers have three bands, but those used in the brushes conceal the lighter bottom band. Nonetheless, both types of bristle make desirable shaving brushes. Lower-quality brushes are often machine made and the bristles may be trimmed, resulting in sharp, prickly tips.[Wikipedia]

Synthetic shave brush bristles are the usually made from nylon and can range in both quality and price.Synthetic bristles are usually less sensitive to everyday use and dry quicker than natural bristles.

Boar's hair shave brush bristles are relatively inexpensive and  will break in with time splitting hairs at the tips and making the brush softer. Unlike synthetic and badder hair bristles boar hair absorbs water. So, it should be soaked in water before use.

Badder hair shave brushes come in a variety of different quality bristles:

Pure badger are badger hair brushes that use the most common hair from the underbelly of a badger, the hair which covers around 60% of a badger's body. This hair varies greatly in softness, pliability and color. Pure badger hair is usually dark in color, but fluctuates from a light tan to a near-black or silvery sheen. The hair is coarser than 'best' or 'silvertip' hair due to its larger shaft. Brushes made exclusively with pure badger hair cost significantly less than finer badger hair. Most often, pure badger brush hairs are trimmed to shape, resulting in somewhat stiff, rough ends. [Wikipedia]

Best badger are brushes made with the finer and more pliable hairs from 20 - 25% of the badger's body. It is longer in length and lighter in color than 'pure' badger hair. A 'best' badger brush is more densely filled with hair than the 'pure' badger brush and will produce a correspondingly greater lather. However, some wet shavers argue that the variance between the quality of a 'pure' and a 'best' badger brush is negligible. Best badger and better quality brush hairs are often fit so that the ends do not have to be cut to shape.[Wikipedia]

A super badger brush is more expensive than either 'best' or 'pure'. 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 degree 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.[Wikipedia]

Silvertip badger is the most expensive and rare 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.[Wikipedia]

 The badger is mostly protected in North america and Europe, but not in China. Almost all commercial badger hair comes from mainland China. In China badgers are a big crop nuisance and are killed by licensed villages and they sell the hair to processors. 

Horse hair brushes are making a comeback after being non existent due to an anthrax scare during WWI.  They are still hard to find, but they are made from the mane and tail of the animal and the animal is not harmed.

Red Stripe Bottle Top Shaving Brush Holder

This listing is for a -- Red Stripe Shaving Brush Holder -- Its a beer bottle top that is cut away from the bottom and used as a holder for your shaving brush. It is set into an upcycled piece of engineered hardwood flooring from a home improvement project . If you would like the Red Stripe Shaving mug or any other mug with shaving soap and a shaving brush holder please let me know. I will sell them as a set for $20.

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Dry Bristles from a Shaving Brush Right Side Up or Upside Down?

Link to my Etsy Store

Ok so what is the correct way to dry a shaving brush? Bristles up or bristles down? Does it really matter?There is no scientific research  to prove either theory. What almost everyone agrees with is that you should rinse, shake out the excess water, and store in an open dry area. If you follow these steps you should not have any problems with your brush.

Some men question what if water is  resting on the knot or gets between the knot and the wooden handle. If this is true then why do you never see any water on the tip of the bristles or a puddle of water under the brush?  Some may argue that the water wicks upward and evaporates anyway.

These should both dry if you rinse thoroughly. The main things that lead to knot damage or failure are manufacturing of the knot, the quality of the knot, and abuse of the brush handle and bristles. There is also a lot of epoxy or glue between the knot and the handle which should act as a barrier so that water does not enter between the knot and the handle. If you rinse and comb the knot with your fingers for brushes that tend to tangle and wipe around the collar of the brush where soap residue hangs out then your brush will have a long life.

It's your brush dry it how you want to. Census is it doesn't matter as long as you care for it rinse it and let it dry in an open area.

What Is The Purpose Of Bentonite Clay in Soap?

Where you ever wondering or heard of bentonite clay, but never knew what is was or why it is in some shaving soaps?

Here are a few facts that might demystify what bentonite clay is and why it is used. The one that I use in my soap is  Atzec Secret Indian Healing Clay. 

 

Bentonite - a light green clay It gives a slippery silkiness which makes it good in shaving soaps.

Bentonite clay is used to thicken lotions, emulsify oils and help hydrate skin. It is commonly used in shaving soaps to make the razor slippery to avoid cuts to the skin.  Add to shaving soap also to provide slip. 

Bentonite clay is sedimentary clay composed of weathered and aged volcanic ash. The largest and most active deposits come from Wyoming and Montana. Bentonite is very unusual in the fact that once it becomes hydrated, the electrical and molecular components of the clay rapidly change and produce an "electrical charge". Its highest power lies in the ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants. Bentonite clay's structure assists it in attracting and soaking up poisons on its exterior wall and then slowly draws them into the interior center of the clay where it is held in a sort of repository. 

Hope this was educational. If you want more info on other uses such as natural hair treatment, full body detox or DIY face mask just search on you tube for some interesting videos about bentonite clay.

Coronado Brewing Co -- Islander IPA -- Shaving Mug with Cedar Lavender Shaving Soap Puck

This listing is for a hand cut beer bottle that serves as a shaving mug from Coronado Brewing Co -- Islander IPA -- with a 3+ oz. puck of cedar lavender shaving soap. The soap is handmade by cold process. The beer bottle is sanded where cut for a smooth finish. 

This soap contains calcium bentonite clay which helps the razor glide across the skin during shaving due to it's slippery nature.


The soap contains: coconut oil, caster oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, shortening, lavender cedar essential oil, calcium bentonite clay, lye, and deionized water.

Beer Tricks You Won't Believe Actually Work (But Do!)

These are pretty cool tricks just thought I would share!

The Best Way to Cut a Glass Beer Bottle

They say there are more ways to skin a cat... well, there is more than one way to cut and break a bottle also. I have been trying to cut beer bottle for some time now. I have seen all the "tricks" on Pinterest and YouTube and all the other websites and blogs. I will tell you that none of them are going to work all the time, especially with beer bottles. I have had a lot of trouble with certain kinds of beer bottles also. Mostly Stone Brewing beer bottles are the hardest they have very brittle glass that cracks uneven and seems to split vertically when you want it to split diagonally. I'm sure the more professional sellers have tricks of there own, or they use an expensive glass cutting saw. The string soaked in acetone or lighter fluid that is tied around the bottle and set on fire and then put into cold water never worked for me. I tried the hot and cold water method also.  This is where you run boiling or very hot water over the score line of the bottle you are trying to cut and then rinse it with ice or cold water. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it would give me horrible results. I had the most luck with the candle and ice method, but again for those tricky bottles that crack in weird places I still had some problems with it not cracking or cracking the wrong way. If you want to try the above methods watch the video. I think the best method is in the second video below though.


The best luck I have had has been with a soldering iron. It does take some practice and again its not perfect but I have had way better results than the above mentioned methods of cutting beer bottles. Watch the video below to see how to do it. I'm trying to do this for my Etsy business of Shaving Beer Bottle Mugs, sold with shaving soap.

Red Stripe Beer Bottle and Lavender Cedar Shaving Soap

This listing is for a a beer bottle shaving mug with handmade lavender and cedar soap.

This is and idea I have had for a long time that came about from a combination of my wife making soap and me drinking beer. Her soap is awesome!

This listing is for an upcycled cut 11.2 oz. Red Stripe beer bottle with a sizable 3 oz. round bar of lavender and cedar shaving soap. The soap is handmade by cold process. The beer bottle is sanded where cut for a smooth finish. 


The soap contains: coconut oil, caster oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, shortening, lavender cedar essential oil, calcium bentonite clay, lye, and deionized water.https://www.etsy.com/listing/230204647/red-stripe-beer-bottle-shaving-mug-with?ref=listings_manager_grid