1. BADGER HAIR SHAVING BRUSHES ( ALSO CALLED " PURO TASSO " - " TEXUGO " - " REINES DASCHAAR " - " PUR BLAIREAU" - " BROCHA DE TEJON ")

are made from Badger Hair and are extremely soft and luxurious and generally are the most expensive type of Shave Brush.

Badger Hair used in Shave Brushes also come in different Grades or quality of hair. The list below is ordered from the highest to lowest grade : Silvertip Badger Hair Shave Brushes being the highest Grade / Quality & most expensive. Brushes that are most expensive are not always what will work best for you and some people actually prefer the firmer hairs on cheaper Badger Brushes.

• Badger Hair Brushes when new can have a slight smell to them when they are wet for the first few uses but the smell soon disappears - NOTE : Many are received without any odour too.
• Badger Hair Shave Brushes work perfectly from new but will get softer after about 10-20 Shaves so do not judge their quality until you have used them quite a bit.
• Badger Hair Shave Brushes 'might' lose a few hairs each use for the first month - if your brush continues to shed hairs after a month enquire about a replacement Brush.
• Badger Hair Brushes also require that you soak the hair tips in WARM ( not hot ) water for about 5 minutes before each use to soften the badger hairs - this is important and if you do not pre soak them the hairs will start breaking off.
• Badger Hair Brush Fibres absorb & hold a great deal of water ( high water retention ) in the fibres when pre-soaking them before a Shave, which makes the lather stay very warm as you apply it to your face = Great Face Feel !
• Make sure you properly dry your Brush after each use by first thoroughly rinsing out the Brush with cold or warm tap water ( not hot ), gently shaking out excess water, gently squeezing the Brush Knot with a dry towel ( without pulling on the Knot or hairs ) and then leaving out in the open to dry - some people hang the Brushes upside down to dry but we have found this is not necessary. Any Badger Hair Shave Brush can take between 1.5 and 2 days to ' completely ' dry out after each Shave. The smaller the Shave Brush Knot the quicker it can dry.
• You can clean them once a month by gently washing them with shampoo and repeating the steps to dry the Brush.

2. BOAR HAIR ( ALSO CALLED JUST " BRISTLE " OR JUST " SETOLA " OR " CERDA PURA " ) SHAVING BRUSHES - are made from Boar Hair and there are many types of Boar Hair Bristle Shaving Brushes to choose from, some with stronger and firmer Bristles some with longer or shorter lofts ( the length of the Boar hairs ) - they are the choice of most Master Barbers in Italy and Europe for their superb face feel and after the initial break in period of about 30 Shaves, just the tips of the boar hairs split and become as soft and luxurious as the highest grade badger brushes but the rest of the knot remains very firm giving a more pleasurable feel when lathering. Boar Shaving Brushes come in a great variety of different handles - wood, acrylic, resin, thermoplastic and metal being the most common. Boar Hair is naturally a very light straw colour but many manufacturers make Boar Hair Shave Brushes with Boar Hair Knots which are naturally dyed to look like Badger Hair but this does not affect the performance.

• a) They are generally cheaper Shave Brushes
• b) They have stronger hairs than Badger Hairs which gives them more " Backbone " or hair stiffness and a much greater feel on the face when lathering
• c) Having stronger hairs means they more effectively / quickly create lather from hard Shaving Soaps.
• d) After between 10-30 uses the tips of each of the hairs start splitting making the Brush tips as soft / luxurious as a Badger Brush while maintaining the stronger bristle strength creating to many a much more preferred feel when lathering.

• Boar Hair Brushes when new can have a slight smell to them when they are wet for the first few uses but the smell soon disappears - NOTE : Many are received without any odour too.
• Boar Hair Shave Brushes work perfectly from new but will get softer after about 20-40 Shaves so do not judge their quality until you have used them quite a bit.
• Boar Hair Shave Brushes 'might' lose a few hairs each use for the first month - if your brush continues to shed hairs after a month enquire about a replacement Brush.
• Boar Hair Brushes also require that you soak the hair tips in WARM ( not hot ) water for about 10 minutes before each use to soften the Boar hairs - this is important and if you do not pre soak them the hairs will start breaking off.
• Boar Hair Brush Bristles also absorb & hold a great deal of water ( high water retention ) in the fibres when pre-soaking them before a Shave, which makes the lather stay very warm as you apply it to your face = Great Face Feel !
• Make sure you properly dry your Brush after each use by first thoroughly rinsing out the Brush with cold or warm tap water ( not hot ), gently shaking out excess water, gently squeezing the Brush Knot with a dry towel ( without pulling on the Knot or hairs ) and then leaving out in the open to dry - some people hang the Brushes upside down to dry but we have found this is not necessary. Any Boar Hair Shave Brush can take between 1.5 and 2 days to ' completely ' dry out after each Shave. The smaller the Shave Brush Knot the quicker it can dry.
• You can clean them once a month by gently washing them with shampoo and repeating the steps to dry the Brush.

3. HORSE HAIR SHAVING BRUSHES - are made from Horse Hair and Brushes are made from different parts of the horse and different species of horse which changes the quality and performance while lathering. Horse Hair Shaving Brushes are greatly favoured because they have the comfort and luxurious feel of Badger Hair Shave Brushes with the firmness and backbone of the best Boar Hair Shave Brushes with many very nice handles to choose from - wood, acrylic, resin, thermoplastic and metal being the most common. Depending on which horse the hairs come from the hair color ranges naturally without dyes from a very light straw colour to light brown to dark brown and even black hairs and some of the most beautiful and best performing Shave Brushes are Horse Brushes from Spain.

• Horse Hair Brushes when new can have a slight smell to them when they are wet for the first few uses but the smell soon disappears - NOTE : Many are received without any odour too.
• Horse Hair Shave Brushes work perfectly from new but will get softer after about 10-20 Shaves so do not judge their quality until you have used them quite a bit.
• Horse Hair Shave Brushes 'might' lose a few hairs each use for the first month - if your brush continues to shed hairs after a month enquire about a replacement Brush.
• Horse Hair Brushes also require that you soak the hair tips in WARM ( not hot ) water for about 10 minutes before each use to soften the Horse hairs - this is important and if you do not pre soak them the hairs will start breaking off.
• Horse Hair Brush hair fibres absorb & hold a great deal of water ( high water retention ) in the fibres when pre-soaking them before a Shave, which makes the lather stay very warm as you apply it to your face = Great Face Feel !
• Make sure you properly dry your Brush after each use by first thoroughly rinsing out the Brush with cold or warm tap water ( not hot ), gently shaking out excess water, gently squeezing the Brush Knot with a dry towel ( without pulling on the Knot or hairs ) and then leaving out in the open to dry - some people hang the Brushes upside down to dry but we have found this is not necessary. Any Horse Hair Shave Brush can take between 1.5 and 2 days to ' completely ' dry out after each Shave. The smaller the Shave Brush Knot the quicker it can dry.
• You can clean them once a month by gently washing them with shampoo and repeating the steps to dry the Brush.

4. SYNTHETIC FIBRE SHAVING BRUSHES - are made from Synthetic man made fibres with hundreds of different varieties available and each type changes the quality and performance while lathering. Synthetic Shaving Brushes are greatly favoured because some are made to perfectly emulate the comfort and luxurious feel of the best quality Silvertip Badger Hair Shave Brushes some are made with the firmness and backbone of the best Boar Hair Shave Brushes and many are made with qualities that animal hairs do not possess. High Quality Synthetic Fibre Shave Brushes can last much longer than animal hair Shave Brushes, require no break in period ( perform perfectly from the first Shave ) and dry extremely quickly after each Shave ( within a couple of hours ). Synthetic Shaving Brushes are also made with many very nice handles to choose from - wood, acrylic, resin, thermoplastic and metal being the most common. Depending on the manufacturer the synthetic hair colour ranges from every colour on the rainbow and we have synthetic Shave brushes with synthetic hairs that are orange, black, purple, red, pink, blue, and green as well as perfectly emulating the more common animal brush colours and we have found them to be equally good performers for Shaving if not better in some regards than Badger, Horse and Boar Hair Shave Brushes.

• Synthetic Fibre Brushes are fully broken in and ready to use from the first use and perform perfectly for making lather from Shave Soaps and Creams.
• Synthetic Fibre Shave Brushes have absolutely NO odour or animal " Funk " smell and are a 100% animal friendly choice as no animals are used or harmed in their manufacture.
• Synthetic Fibre Shave Brushes completely dry in only a few hours after each use making them very practical and also great as Travel Shave Brushes.
• Synthetic Shaving Brush Knots retain their original shape even after 100s of uses - many animal hair Shave Brush Hair Knots can start flaying even after only 20-30 Shaves.
• Synthetic Fibre Shave Brushes 'might' lose a few hairs each use for the first month - if your brush continues to shed hairs after a month enquire about a replacement Brush.
• Synthetic Fibre Shave Brush Fibres do not require soaking them before each Shave and do not absorb & hold a great deal of water ( low water retention ) in the fibres which means when you apply the lather to your face it will not stay as warm as animal hair Shave Brushes unless you continuousley dip the Shave Brush Tips in warm water before each painting stroke = Still an extra ordinary Face Feel with High Quality Synthetic Shave Brushes but this one factor causes many to opt for an animal hair Shave Brush.
• Make sure you properly dry your Synthetic Brush after each use by first thoroughly rinsing out the Brush with cold or warm tap water ( not hot ), gently shaking out excess water, gently squeezing the Brush Knot with a dry towel ( without pulling on the Knot or hairs ) and then leaving out in the open to dry - some people hang the Brushes upside down to dry but we have found this is not necessary.
• You can clean them once a month by gently washing them with shampoo and repeating the steps to dry the Brush.

Some types of Shaving Brushes like Badger, Boar Hair and Horse Hair Brushes require you to soak the knot / fibres in warm water for 5-10 minutes before each use.