.

I'm currently in the process of unlearning all the misguided dogma I picked up when I first started checking out the shavegeek forums in search of a better shave. And by far the biggest dogma pile has to do with shaving brushes. More specifically, big-ass shaving brushes. As in, you need a big-ass shaving brush, or else don't even bother.

Me, I've come full circle back to a small, inexpensive badger brush, not terribly different than what I started out with years ago when I had no idea safety razors were even around anymore, or that the best shaving creams in the world came from England and not from the men's cosmetics counter at Nordstom's.

The brush then was a small $50 Art Of Shaving "fine" badger brush. The brush now is a $60 Vulfix #2234 "super" badger brush. I think they even share the same bristle knot size (the width of the bundle of badger hair at the base of the handle) -- 22mm, which is way too small for serious shavegeeks to take seriously. They go for the 26mm knots, or even better, the 30mm "hogs" you almost have to hoist with two hands, they're so goddamned big and beautiful. "Chubby Chasers" takes on a whole new meaning.

I bought into this dogma and picked up some really big brushes -- a pair of Vulfix #377s, big-ass brushes with 26mm knots, and I also tried even bigger Vulfixes like the #40 and #41, which have 30mm knots. The thinking is that the bigger the knot, the more badger hair, and the more badger hair, the more water the brush will hold, and the more water the brush will hold, the more lather it can whip up, and the more lather it can whip up, the better. Even if you don't really need enough lather to fill a punch bowl. Bigger is better, and more expensive, which also = better.

I went down that road and got nowhere. Maybe some guys need a giant brush -- I really don't. I've tried a lot of different sized brushes from a lot of different brands, and I've settled on the Vulfix #2234 as the best overall brush I've tried. It's big enough to absorb lots of water and then build crazy amounts of lather from just a small dollup of the Taylor, Trumper, or Nancy Boy shaving creams I like to use. And it's only $60, which is chump change compared to what most of the geeks spend on their dream date brushes.

I've gone back and forth with brushes, and it's the #2234 in Super badger I keep coming back to as my main brush. I also like the size of the slightly larger #2235, but mine is the more expensive Silvertip version, and I prefer the Super badger bristle. So I find myself using the Super badger #2234s whenever I want to enjoy the best possible shaving experience, which is every time I shave.

I think it's the giant shaving brushes they use that hold so many shavegeeks back from improving their shaving. Because these big-ass brushes are actually harder to get consistently good lather with than a smaller brush like my #2234. I find the really big brushes an impediment to a great shave, actually, which is the opposite of what I was told so many times when I first stepped into all this. Now I've got a bunch of big-ass brushes sitting around unused, while this little, moderately priced Vulfix delivers the goods better than any of them.