West Coast Shaving recently launched their own line of shaving brushes. Are they a good value? I bought a representative sample to check out.
West Coast Shaving Brushes
There are a number of handle and hair variations in the new line of shaving brushes from West Coast Shaving.* Handles include a “Beacon” style, a “Lantern” style, and a “Tortoise” style. Hair type includes “pure” badger, “silvertip” badger, and synthetic. While all possible combinations are not available, the ten that are seem to be a good mix. I got myself a “silvertip” with a “Beacon” handle, a synthetic with a “Lantern” handle, a “pure” badger with a “Lantern” handle, and a “pure” badger with a “Tortoise” handle. The “Tortoise” brushes have a 26mm knot, while the other handles sport 24mm knots.
Synthetic/Lantern
I find the synthetic fiber quite similar to the “Plisson-esque” heritage of several other brands and artisans. The brush’s performance for me was about the same as other synthetic fiber brushes of the same generation.
Along the same lines I think the “Lantern” style of handle is fairly typical of resin handles from other sources.
I think let price be your guide with this kind of brush. West Coast’s pricing is competitive from what I have seen but it always pays to shop around.
LINK*
Pure/Lantern
I think the “pure” badger hair in this brush is actually a pretty decent quality–the upper range of “pure.” Em from Shaveplace calls this variety “greys” to distinguish this hair from the typical all-black hair of many lower-end badger brushes. Oh how I wish badger hair was consistently graded….
Anyway, I found the performance of this version also quite solid and typical of the range and a good value for the price.
LINK*
Pure/Tortoise
For me this easily represents the best price/performance segment of the line. The slightly larger knot boosted the performance for me noticeably! The Tortoise brush’s shape fit in my hand very well–comfortable and “grippy” at the same time. At under US $20 I think this brush represents an exceptional value.
LINK*
Silvertip/Beacon
The “Silvertip” hair in my brush is very soft. However it is packed densely enough so that it is not floppy at all. The feeling is actually quite luxurious but those who prefer some “scritch” to their brush may not be happy with this one. There is backbone but not as much resistance as other “silvertip” brushes I have. Still, I quite like it, especially for creams (and yes, it works fine for soaps too. 😉 ).
The “Beacon” handle, at about 60mm, is about as long as I would want to get in a handle. It would be a good choice for those with larger hands.
But the price is certainly right! It’s price competitive with many other brushes in the “fine” or “super” category so this brush also represents another excellent value in my mind.
LINK*
Final Thoughts
On the heels of West Coast Shaving’s self-branded line of razors, this line of shave brushes offer a variety of types at a price point that is at least competitive, with some being quite a good value for the money!
*affiliate link
Do you have one of the West Coast Shaving shave brushes? What do you think of it? Leave a comment below!
Mantic, can you give more detail when you say the larger pure badger knot increased the performance?
The larger knot made lather a little more quickly for me.
Tortoise handle with silvertip. I received my brush a few months ago, I liked the way it looked and the color was really neat. The brush is soft and makes good lather. WCS shipped the brush very fast. For the price a really good brush.
I don’t have as much time as I used to keep up with all the new shave gear. I am glad I signed up for the email updates. I’m going to get one of these to add to my rotation.
Every one is attractive.
Not really a comment, more of a review of my own.
I recently purchased the Merkur Futur razor, A razor I have been scoping out for quite a while, anyway, after seeing many reviews and videos I decided to go ahead and purchase.
First of all, I didn’t realize just how big this razor is, but still manageable in terms of me being able to manipulate it around my face.
Second was the weight. It makes for an absolutely effortless shave, the razor literally does all the work, well gravity helps too in this case, but this is the first razor second to my Merkur “Barber Pole” that the weight does the work.
Now when I buy a new razor and add that variable to my shave, I will always load a very mild blade, in this case, a Derby Extra, I fear Feather blades when I’m unfamiliar with how a new razor will preform. After the very first pass my face was almost baby butt smooth on setting 1, but finished my 3 pass shave technique.
Needless to say I was able to go a full 2 days without such as a touch up shave.
This will be a permanent addition to my rotation, unfortunately I only keep 3 in rotation at any given time which means I had do do some soul searching and had to decide which razor went back into storage for the time being….sad to say my Fine Accoutrements Slant didn’t make the cut…..no pun intended.
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