A shaving brush is a brush that allows you to lather up beard soap before applying it to the areas of the face to be shaved. It is one of the essential male accessories for a traditional shave.
It has a handle, usually made of metal, wood or horn, and natural or synthetic hair. Shaving brushes come in a wide range of shapes, sizes and materials and are an essential part of a men's toiletry kit.
It is combined with the soap bowl or shaving bowl (porcelain container for the best quality), intended to hold beard soap or shaving cream. Whether it is one or the other, you must rub your shaving brush on the chosen substance to make it foam.
The barber advises circular motions to be repeated for about 60 seconds. Using the shaving brush, you apply the lather thus obtained to the cheeks and chin, spreading it in an even layer.
The history of the shaving brush begins in France in the middle of the 17th century, when barbers used their hands or brushes often made of horsehair. From the very beginning of Plisson, its craftsmen designed shaving brushes more similar to what we know today, although thinner and longer. At that time, the Emperor Napoleon bought his shaving articles from Plisson, and the factory invented the travel brush for him.
It is the first company dedicated to the manufacture of shaving brushes. The oldest manufacturer in the world, Plisson was officially founded in 1808 in Paris. It is still the world reference in terms of high-end shaving brushes.
From then on, shaving with a French shaving brush became common and was even encouraged by the Emperor, particularly among his troops, to limit the spread of diseases during military campaigns.
Shaving brushes are distinguished either by the nature of their hair or by the design of their handle. Different qualities of badger hair or synthetic hair, each type of fibre has different properties (flexibility, hydrophilicity).
To optimize shaving, the nature of the brush must harmonize with the texture of the skin (sensitivity, dryness...) of the user and what he expects (softness, exfoliation, durability, ease of maintenance).
The handle of the shaving brush can be made of horn, lacquer, metal, precious wood and its aesthetics can be affirmed by the choice of a shape or a color.
The modern man wants a perfect shave without making it an unpleasant constraint. The top-of-the-line shaving brush is the assurance of greater softness for an easy, quick result and a regenerated and fresh skin.
The use of shaving soap or shaving cream is more eco-responsible because it produces less waste. Buying a shaving brush is a must to make shaving more pleasant and more fun, because it perpetuates in our world an immutable and sexy masculine gesture.
