All
of the shaving brushes provide a lathery shave, but there are several
styles to choose from. Shaving brushes comes in several different and
distinct grades that determine price and performance. A shaving brush is
made up of two major parts: the handle, and the bristle load. Handle
materials today tend to be wood, metal, or some synthetic. By far the
most popular handle today is synthetic. It can be any one of many
materials: nylon, plastic, micarta, or one of several modern composites.
Advantages of the synthetics are moisture resistance, colorfastness and
breakage resistance.
Bristle materials are much more varied today then in the past primarily
due to the variety of synthetic materials available now that didn't
formerly exist. Pure Synthetics, the materials typically described as "nylon,"
"Luma," "man-made," "hypo-allergenic," and
a variety of other un-natural sounding names are the latest additions to
the choices available. Generally, men's shaving brushes are made of boar
and badger bristles. Both kinds of bristles work up a lather and provide
a good shave.
Typically, boar is stiffer and may even be preferred by men with course
hair or when extra scrubbing action is desired. Badger is more expensive
and comes in different grades. Badger is generally softer and more
flexible. Generally there are three grades of badger bristle widely used
for mens shaving brushes. They are typically described as Pure Badger,
Best Badger, and Silvertip Badger.
Brushes
used for acrylics have long handles that allow the artist to work at a
distance from the canvas. Acrylic paints are more caustic than oils, so
acrylic brushes are designed with synthetics and bristle. Acrylic
brushes are usable in other mediums, particularly oils, while brushes
designed specifically for oil painting and watercolors are unsuitable
for acrylics. Artists can very effectively use glazing and layering
techniques when using acrylic brushes.
Both natural and synthetic bristles can be used with acrylics,
depending on the artist's preference. But, acrylics, being alkaline in
nature, can be hard on natural hair brushes. Those made with high
quality synthetics have excellent durability and offers excellent
stiffness, snap and hair shape retention for maximum control. The
brushes must be kept clean. If acrylic paint dries in a brush it is very
hard to get out without using strong solvents that might damage the
brush. Brushes are cleaned promptly by washing them with warm water and
mild soap when finished painting.
