Well this is ironic, I just discovered that in fact the Bluebeards Revenge brush is synthetic boar hair. It used to be advertised as “bristle” and everyone guessed it was boar hair due to the price being a lot less than badger hair brushes. But be that as it may, this may just be an even fairer comparison then. So my next brush needs to be a real boar hair brush…
The no-name brand brush was selling for R29,95 at Dis-Chem versus the Bluebeard Revenge Doubloon brush which sells for R195 via Takelot.
What is immediately noticeable is the head is fuller on the more expensive brush and this probably makes a big difference. Even after breaking the cheaper brush in (soaking a few hours before use and vigorous drying with a cloth) it did bloom a bit but was still noticeably less head.
What was apparent to me when shaving was the cheaper brush did not retain moisture well and therefore struggled to create a good lather. In fact the lather had dissipated by the second pass. So the cheaper brush was really not worth it – it barely did the job. It may be because the head was a lot smaller (less water retention).
It seems to still boil down to “you get what you pay for” and although a brush does wear out after 18 to 24 months use, it is worth paying a bit more for if it is going to give luxury lathering. Going really cheap is just going to spoil the experience and traditional wet shaving is a lot about the pleasure and the experience.
#traditionalshaving #review #shavingbrush