Vie Long is normally known for their horse hair brushes. However, they also make excellent badger hair brushes. What is also interesting is that they utilize a unique method of knot making. According to my source and upon examination, the knot is tied, then glued directly to the handle and a metal cap.

This brush specs are as follows:

• 18mm knot (20mm at the handle)
• 52mm loft
• European White 2 band hair
• 63 grams

My initial thoughts was that this was a great looking brush. The size makes it a small-medium size brush. The 52mm loft makes the brush look larger than it’s specs suggest. The construction makes the knot diameter larger as well. Just like a Chubby 1. The construction of the brush also means there is no glue bump. The handle feels like glass but is most likely an acrylic resin. The metal base is a great added touch. It also adds some heft to the brush.

 

Softness

The problem with two band brushes is that they need to be wet to experience all the softness they have to offer. When dry an extremely soft two band brush can feel very scratchy. Well, with this brush, the hairs are super soft when dry and equally soft when wet. That is to say, very soft.

The brush does exhibit a bit of a scritch as is common with the Manchurian/Hog badger hair. The tips are not gel-like soft, but they come darn close. The hairs should also not be confused with silvertip hair as they are two completely different hairs. They come from different animals after all.

These hairs are much thicker than silvertip hairs. As such there is a lot more backbone. The great thing about this specific example is the tips are very soft. Very soft with a hint of a scritch. You won’t even notice the scritch if you use paint brush strokes.

Construction

This brush is well constructed. The logo is still there after many uses. The knot is firmly attached. The brush hasn’t shed any hairs while with me. The handle is great. The bulb is very nicely shaped, some irregularities that are present with a free-hand formed knot. No complaints.

Density/Flow

The density of the brush is normal. Average I suppose. The lower relative density and higher loft mean an excellent flow through. Unlike a silvertip brush, the hairs are thick and tend to stay together instead of blooming. You’ll only see a large bloom with really dense 2 band hair brushes. This bloom is small.

So, average density with excellent flow through. The brush is able to hold onto a good amount of lather, which is good. Some brushes with average/low density cannot hold onto 3 passes worth of lather.

Final Thoughts

A most excellent brush. I have no idea how much it costs, but the brush performs excellently. It has a great feel on my face, lathers very easily, and looks great too!

First of all, I have no idea who came up with this idea. It probably stems from the fact that high end brushes are advertised as “hand made” and “hand graded”. While this is very true, the same is true of even the cheapest boar or badger brush.

The simple fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as a hair grading machine. There are several mechanical devices that helps the worker make knots, such as a dome shaped tool that helps form the tips of the hairs into a bulb shape. The other machine commonly
used is a hair cutter which cuts the bottom of the knot.

The same is true with badger hair grading. If someone can even come up with a way that would eliminate hand grading by a human, please enlighten me. As it stands there is no such machine and the technology is years away. First, we would need to develop a method to measure softness of hair. Next, we would need to develop a method for a machine to determine which color is best. Then we would need to program a robotic arm or something to pluck and shear the hairs off according to grade.

 

Look, clearly we don’t have such machine. All hair is graded by workers in China. Even Simpsons hair. To my knowledge no European manufacturer purchases the pelts directly. As such they have only limited control over their hair grades. Shocking, right? But it’s true.

The corners that are cut when dealing with the lowest grades of boar or badger hair is trimming. Instead of painstakingly (although it really only takes a few minutes) forming the knot into a nice bulb shape, the hairs are roughly shaped and the stray hairs are trimmed into the final shape. These cut ends are not soft on your face. Not terribly pleasant.

There is no machine that grades hair, humans do it all. And while there are machines that forms and glues the knot, the hair and glue must be manually loaded, sorted and trimmed. So, this myth is partially busted. As to whether Chinese knot makers make their knots by machine while European knot makers make their knots by hand, that may be true. But considering that the only European knot makers known to this author are Simpson/Vulfix, Semogue, & Vie Long, there really isn’t much to say. Chinese workers can do everything any other worker in the world can do. They just get paid less. Which leads to the question: if labor costs are so low in China, why not make everything by hand?

I was just messing around with my new light box. Decided to take some brush comparison photos. All are silvertip.

Starring: Shavemac 177 Silvertip, Shavemac D01, WSP Super Silvertip, Rooney 1/1 (Truefitt & Hill), Rooney 1/2 (DR Harris), Simpsons PJ2 Super, Kent BK8, M&F Silvertip.

Something different. Figured I’d share some brush porn with everyone.

Love the handle, hair could be softer (it’ll probably break in). Price was steep.

 

There is much interest in this topic from wet-shaving newcomers and veterans alike. In addition, there is just as much vehemont and vociferous opinions one way or the other. This article’s goal is to lay out the differences objectively and give a solid reason for the wildly varying price differences among seemingly similar brands. While this article will not go into specific details about why company A’s brushes cost $350, while company B’s brushes only cost $45, this article will explain to you the factors that go into the pricing of a brush. Factors both tangible and intangible, such as handle material, hair quality, and brand name recognition.

This article is split into the following sections: handles, hair knots, labor costs & quality control, research & design, and “good will.” The article will conclude with a section on where to find the true “hidden gems.”

The Handle

The handle is an often overlooked aspect of a shaving brush. In many cases, the handle design and materials represent the only difference between two brushes. The handle itself can cost more or as much as the knot. There are two ways in which handles are made out of the various materials used: lathe turned or molded. While construction by hand is possible, it is not practical for large scale operations.

Lathe v. Injection Molded

The simple truth is that lathe turned brushes require more labor and much more time. Even if a CNC lathe is used. The more labor used, the more a handle costs, and time is labor. It is simply much faster and easier to make molds and produce many handles in a given timeframe vs. a few if turned by lathe. Human operation of a lathe will also introduce inconsistencies from handle to handle, no matter the skill of the operator. Some of these inconsistencies are thrown out, adding to the cost.

Lathe turned handles are also extremely wasteful as much of the mateirla is discarded as waste. A brush handle starts off as a cylindrical rod. Material is then removed from the cylinder using tools until the desired shape is formed. Not only is this practice more costsly in terms of unused product, but the actual rods cost more per handle than a molded handle of the same exact type of material.

Some materials, and all natural materials known to this author, require a lathe to be used in handle construction because a cylinder or a block is the only form the material comes in. Some handle designs must be molded due to the squared sides. See Thater handles.

From a performance standpoint, there is no advantage to a lathe turned handle vs. a well made molded handle. While lathe turned handles are generally made from better materials, there is nothing preventing molded handles to be made from the same acrylic resin material. That said, there are some limits to the lips & edges a mold can produce reliably. See Simpsons Chubby.

Where lathe turned handles make the most sense is in micro manufacturing of a few dozen pieces. In order for a mold to be efficient, hundreds of handles must be produced. Of course, hundreds of handles means more efficiency and an economy of scale.

Material

Natural and rare material such as horn, exotic woods, and specialty resins impart added cost and rarity to the brush soley due to the rarity and cost of the material used. Common & inexpensive woods are actually cheaper to produce (even on a lathe) than quality molded resin handles. Added features such as a metal base, special acrylics, or special shapes & colors likewise add to the cost. See Baxter’s of California brushes.

While it is entirely possible to use plastic to make a handle, only the cheapest of brushes go this route. See Frank Shaving’s “plactic” version of the Richmond model. A wood handle is nearly the same price and looks and feels of higher quality. Most low cost brushes will go the wooden handle route to cut a few more dollars. However, many mid or low-mid range manufacturers opt instead for resin handles. They are simply better and feel more substantial.

There are two types of basic resins. Regular resin and acrylic-resin. Acrylic resin is harder and slightly denser compared to regular synthetic resin (you would be very hard pressed to make out the difference unless you were specifically told this handle is resin and this handle is acrylic). As such it takes a slightly better polish and scuffs less easily. See the wikipedia page for other benefits. The downside to acrylic resin is that it costs more.

 

 

A manufacturer may use any combination of the above manufacturing methods and material options, as long as the medium allows it.

The Knot

We now come to the topic which generates the most debate and confusion. The actual knot of hair that makes the shaving brush, a shaving brush. You may be surprised to know that there are actual real and tangible differences between the hair knots used by the top tier v. the low tier brands.

Density

Let’s start with density. When comparing the knot quality amongst the different brands, the hair density is the easiest perceptible difference to measure. Simpson’s Chubby and Shavemac’s D01 are exemplars of the industry’s densest knots. On the other hand, low end silvertip badger hair is usually sparsely populated.

For obvious reasons, adding mroe hair to the knot adds to the cost. Not only does it require more hair, but more labor as well. Hair density is the first area cheap brushes skimp on.

Hair Grade

Here is where the vociferous debate begins and ends. Hair quality. There is no industry standard of hair grades. The closest standardization across the industry is to group the hairs by type of hair and species of badger. There are only four types of hairs that come from the two species of badger used to make brushes. Each species has a band of white/light colored hair and the rest is black or grey. What follows is a brief description of the major types of hair.

Silvertip hair comes from the Eurasian Badger and consists of the light band of hair seen on the badger around the neck and shoulders. It has a distinct narrow black band towards the tip. The tips are light in color. Within the broad category of silvertip lies different grades of silvertip hair. These grades are based on length of individual hairs and softness. Each brand can invest more time and labor into the process to improve the sorting process and ensure a higher grade of hair or a specific trait they are looking for.

Two band hair actually consists of three bands, the middle band is just really long. The overall hair is also really long. It comes from the same area of the badger, but instead of the Eurasian Badger, it comes from the Hog Badger. The two band appearance comes from adjusting the loft height to hide the bottom white band. Just as with silvertip hair, each brand can cherry pick the longest and softest hairs to make their own grade of hair. See Simpsons Manchurian, M&F Blonde Badger, or Rooney Finest.

All other badger hair is from the darker hair of the animal or is a blend of hairs. Lower hair grades such as “best” may even consist of rejected silvertip or 2 band hair. As you can see, without additional grading and sorting, soft hair can be mixed with rougher hair. Thus, creating a lot of variance within a brand. Some manufacturers artifically enhance badger hair by making the tips whiter and using conditioner in an effort to make the tips softer. They aren’t really softer in this author’s opinion. See The Golden Nib Super Badger knots.

As you may have already concluded, the hair used in high end brusehs may well be of a higher quality due to the additional hand sorting and grading involved. For example, TGN’s silvertip grade A may well be the equivalent of EJ’s silvertip, but it is not as soft as Simpson’s super badger grade.

Whether this small difference justifies some of the extreme price differences is up to you the consumer.

Labor Costs, Country of Manufacture, & Quality Control

It is an inescapable fact that some countries have lower labor costs than others. The people living in these countries are no less capable or intelligent. Circumstances and lack of development have simply made things that way.

As such, the more labor performed in higher cost countries, the higehr the price of the finished product. The more English labor involved in the manufacture of a brush, the higher the price to the consumer. It should be noted that foreign countries’ “made in” laws are not as strict as the United States’ laws are. The U.S. requires that all of the significant manufacturing must be done in the US, otherwise it needs to be labelled as assembled in the US. See Bureau of Consumer Protection Guidelines. Not so with other countries. Some countries only require the “final step” to be performed in the country.

Along with labor costs in general is the principal of quality control and quality of labor. The best brush brands generally invest more into quality control and quality of the labor. Such companies will have excellent warranties and little to no issues with their product.

Lower cost brands will typically rush their workers and require them to produce a lot of knots or handles per hour. They operate on an economy of scale, lowest cost mindset. They are more likely to let errors slip by, such as glue in the knot. This does not mean that low wage countries are unable to produce high QC goods. To the contrary, Apple is produced in China, as are many high end luxury goods these days. What matters is what the buyer tells the factory they want and whether they are willing to pay a higher price for more quality control, or do it on their end.

Research & Design

A little talked about, but very important, aspect of brush manufacture is the design of the brushes. Speaking from firsthand experience, there are a lot of different factors that go into a brush. Aside from the obvious choices of handle and hair loft, there are many details most people never realize. Details such as: how to grade the hair, what type of hair to use, how fan or bulb shaped the knot should be. Even loft choice has several aspects to it. It’s not simply just about how deep of a hole you want to drill. A truly custom brush can customize both the knot length and the hole depth, allowing many combinations.

There is a reason all the Chinese brushes are virtually identical copies of each other. Have you ever wondered why the knots remind you a lot like a Kent BK4? Well, the answer is how Chinese factories are set up and run. They aren’t designed to design products, they are designed to make what the buyer tells them to make. They have all come up with this 55-57 mm lofted brush, which is simply the industry standard there. No one has asked them to produce anything different, and if they did, the entrenched producers will tell you to go away unless you put in a 10,000 brush order. Brands such as Frank Shaving and Lijun & 1980 are primarily produced for the domestic & low end market. The domestic market hasn’t even heard of Simpsons, Shavemac, Thater, Muhle, or even Edwin Jagger.

Unlike the European companies, Chinese people cannot afford a Simpsons brush. It is simply out of their price range. It is unreasonable to expect the Chinese to copy a Simpsons brush if there is no demand for it. Most people in China can’t even afford the silvertip brushes offered by the Chinese companies. While I’m told they do use brushes & soap, I surmise that they predominantly use boar brushes.

Without a passion for wet shaving and brushes and a large stable of brushes to help form an opinion, it is impossible to expect someone to design a truly good brush. That is how all the top tier European brands are run. Truly enthusiastic people are behind the most lauded companies. I can assure you, that is not the case in China and probably in many mid level brush makers. They make what they make because it sells and it works. There’s no impetus to innovate. Without the passion and knowledge driving the design element, the status quo of “just enough” is sure to prevail.

Brand Name/Goodwill

Economists call the extra money people are willing to pay for a name brand “goodwill.” A company’s heritage, image, and branding add intangible costs to the product as consumers are willing to pay more for certain name brands. There is no way around this. With large marketing costs, come higher prices. In addition, people are simply willing to pay more for limited quantities of brand X. In many cases, a significant portion of the brush’s price is simply the markup from a certain brand name. Take Plisson for example.

Where are the Real Deals?

This is the part where I tell you the secret Chinese manufacturers who make extremely good products at rock bottom prices. Well, the old adage, “you get what you pay for” is extremely on point. There are no secret Chinese manufacturers at rock bottom prices. They still need to pay their workers a decent wage and material costs are the same across countries.

The established brands with large marketing expenses will never give you the best value to price ratio because they have a large overhead to meet. However, luxury products are not about compromising.

Given what we have already discussed, the only true “hidden gems” are going to the brushes made in lower cost countries, sold by a startup company taking a loss or less profit to establish a foothold in the market. The other alternative for good savings is to find a company with a very large economy of scale who passes on the savings to the consumer. This author doesn’t know of any such company as brushes are a niche market and involve a lot of manual labor. Only the handles can be truly mass produced by machine.

Today I am reviewing the Frank Shaving Richmond Model Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush. Weighing in at only 40 grams, this brush feels cheap. Considering the retail price, I’m not surprised. Instead of the normal resin, this handle is advertised to be made from acrylic. Feels cheap too. The “FS” logo rubbed mostly off after two uses. Thankfully, this seems to be where the majority of the corners are cut.

The knot itself is not bad. I would call the knot medium density with a high loft. The softness of the bristles is okay, but the loft is quite high for the density of the hair. Feels very much like a floppy BK4 in lathering performance. Great for creams, not so good with hard soaps or face lathering.

The closest brush in loft and density I have on hand is the Semogue 2015. The knots of the two brushes are very similar. I would give the FS brush the edge in density, but the Semogue’s handle is much better, even after several years of use.

Shown here next to a Shavemac 117, the FS doesn’t do too badly, but the Shavemac has the edge. The Shavemac is certainly a firmer brush and better all around performer.

Compared to Wet Shaving Products “Stubby”, the FS brush is sparsely packed with hair.

 

As you can see, the Frank Shaving is a medium density brush and should be compared with other medium density brushes. It certainly is not going to compete with Simpsons Super, Rooney 3 band, Plisson High Mountain White, Shavemac D01, or any other true high quality brush by any stretch of the imagination.

Update: This is apparently a new model by FS. The handle is made from Plactic, whatever that is. Poor English aside, I guess you get a little less than you pay for with FS. See his ebay sales.

This is Teiste’s take on it.

 

Badgers are wild animals. They are extremely vicious as well. They have not been domesticated, nor have any serious attempts been made. Badgers are a vermin and a pest in China. They are protected in the UK and many parts of Europe.

Nearly all badger hair is sourced from trappers in China. The prevailing method of hunting is to gas the badger sett. The entire animal is used. The pelts are sold to fur traders and the meat is sold for food in poor areas. Both the Eurasian Badger (Meles Meles)* and the Hog (Manchurian) Badger (Arctonyx Collaris) are harvested. The top three grades of badger hair are harvested from the Eurasian Badger. Two-band Finest and black badger hair come from the Hog Badger.

A pictorial on available badger brush hair grades.

The pelts are then graded by the distributor and sold to knot manufacturers. Side note: These manufacturers either sell only knots or make whole brushes (either outsourcing the handle or also making them in-house like Edwin Jagger). The knot maker then removes the hair from the pelt and sorts the hair into the different grades of hair they sell.

Once the hair has been sorted by grade, the maker gathers the right amount of hair (by weight) and combs the hairs to remove any stray hairs and align the hairs properly. The hairs are then placed into a mold which gives the bulb the distinctive shape. The bottoms of the hairs are then tapped until all the tips are at the top. The knot is then bound with thread and the bottoms of the hairs cut off according to the desired loft. Finally, the plug is glued to the bottom to keep the knot in shape and the thread removed. Pictures of the process can be found here.

At this point, you may still be wondering where each grade of badger hair comes from. Silvertip is harvested from the white areas around the neck of the Eurasian Badger. A lower quality (slightly greyer) hair often called best or super is harvested from the lighter bands down the sides of the animal. Grey badger hair comes from the center of the back. Two-band finest badger hair is from the light areas of the Hog Badger. Black Badger hair comes from the large black areas of the Hog Badger. The lowest grade of badger hair consists of the castoffs.

China has regulated badger seasons and protected reserves where hunters may not harvest badgers. However, in the north, the Meles badger is considered a pest and more or less runs rampant. Also, in the rura areas, the government influence does not extend to all areas of life and so poaching may be common.

Badgers change their hair during the seasons. They grow a thick winter coat and shedding it come spring time. The Hog Badger lives in the tropical south and so may not shed its hair like its northern brethren. Since the point of trapping badgers is to harvest the hair for money, it is unlikely that the eurasian badger is trapped at all during the summer or early fall months.

Picture of Eurasian Badger Pelt.

Information courtesy of Wet Shaving Products – Makers of Fine Brushes for the Discerning Gentleman.

*There is a debate as to whether the Meles species consists of three distinct sub species. M. meles, M. Leucurs, & M. anakuma. China & some scholars believe they are all Meles meles. Some people disagree. The meles family has a large range that extends from Europe to Asia.