The collective wisdom on synthetic brushes?

Haven't found a synth that I like yet, and not without trying
May have to try 28/30 mm one day
 
Holiday said:
Haven't found a synth that I like yet, and not without trying
May have to try 28/30 mm one day
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My feeling is that the synthetics that work best for me are the biggest knots. My 26mm Pony will most likely be relegated to travel brush next year (towing a caravan to the beach counts as travel, right? :rolleyes:) and my Tux is a candidate to be removed and replaced with either a piggy-wig or a horsehair, I haven't made up my mind which. My 30mm Snow Leopard is much less dense than the SynBad in the same size, but the latter is floppier and doesn't hold as much lather. But bear in mind that I'm a lather hog. 3+ passes head & face, the remainder of the soap going over my body for the shower. Those big Snow Leopards aren't easy to get though. I guess I was lucky.
 
Gargravarr said:
my Tux is a candidate to be removed and replaced with either a piggy-wig
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I didn’t know you were planning to get a new pinky piggy-wig girlfriend as a replacement.

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Like many I have travelled thru many synthetic brushes to find a sweet spot that works for me. Face feel is the most difficult element of a brushes characteristic to describe and you will have your own preferences. If you like a cloudy, soft, smooth, pillowy face feel, the Yaqi brushes will probably suit if you can get one that does not have a large glue bump, but for a little bit more (at least in the UK) Simpson's "Trafalgar" synthetic brushes are better quality and perform better. However my experience with synthetics is that the hand tied knots from Muhle (STF) and Simpson (Platinum fibres) are something else and worth every penny. With Simpson's Chubby synthetic you want to aim for a loft of 54mm if you want the knot to splay readilly; a shorter loft will give you a ton of backbone - no other synthetic brush comes close to the unique feel a CH2S gives. Muhle's 19mm STF is for me the pick of the bunch in Muhle STF range, if you are a face latherer. It feels sparse, small and quite scrubby at first, but the more you use it the more you realise it is something special especially if you have tried other synthetics. it's size is not an issue in use. Their other knot sizes are nothing special except the discontinued 25mm which was good, but Muhle's 19mm STF is the dogs danglies. Both Muhle and Simpson are hand tied knots, set deep in the handle with no glue bump above the handle socket opening. This method of construction affords these brushes superb progressive splay and great flow thru. Both these brushes have prescence at the tips or a for want of a better description some scrub and not the cloudy, pillowy softness of many other synthetic brushes that effectifely use fibres developed for makeup brushes. Omega's EVO is also a superb synthetic, the construction of the fibres allows the knot to hold water and the water retntion and face feel is the closest any manaufacturer has come to how a badger feels. Large glue bumps have been a problem on some of their brushes though. Muhle, Omega and Simpson are the only brush manufactuers who had fibres developed / tailored for their synthetic shaving brushes - it shows
 
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I love synthetics. But they’re sensitive to getting the right combo of fibre, density, loft and size. As they are so economical there is nothing to lose by going bigger than usual and IME that’s around where they sing.

I usually prefer Omega 49/48 in boars or 26mm in badgers. 28-30mm in synthetics is my sweet spot. I need to try that big Omega…
 
I like the idea of the Mühle STF and Simpson knots, but they're just too damn small. 28mm is a minimum for me now.
 
Gargravarr said:
AP Shave Co SilkSmoke (28 hybrid fan/flat top) - In the bin. POS.
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Hmmm...now that SilkSmoke fibre funnily enough is what I originally asked APShave about.
AP (Andrew?) said 'No', get the SynBad instead. Maybe he 'knew' something?
Very pleased with the SynBad fibre.
I bought both the bulb and the fan in 28mm.
Nice brushes.
 
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