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What Is The Most Popular Shave Brush?

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A while back I wrote an article about the most popular double edge razors.  As I was reviewing it for updates recently I thought I should look into the most popular shaving brushes right now as well.  I found a few surprises.

The Most Popular Shave Brushes?

[Note: Amazon, Grooming Lounge, and West Coast Shaving links are affiliate.]

Remember this list is not the best shave brushes (that’s a separate article) but the most popular by sales as of this writing.  My methodology is admittedly pretty basic: I looked at the most popular outlets that sell shave brushes and sorted the list based on the popularity on their site.

The Amazon X-Factor

Any consumer product review pretty much has to include Amazon, the proverbial 800 pound gorilla of consumer purchasing.  And they have an actual list of their most popular shave brushes.

I’m always skeptical of highly-rated, low-cost items on Amazon but checking Reviewmeta and Fakespot indicate the satisfaction ratings of these brushes are reasonably accurate.

Number one on Amazon’s Best Selling Shave Brushes list is the Perfecto Pure Badger Brush.  This low-cost (under US $15) brush has over 4500 ratings with an average score of 4.5 out of 5 (87% are four-or-five stars).  But looking at the most recent reviews show either very high or very low ratings.  To me this indicates either an inconsistent quality control process or buyers simply don’t have anything else to compare it against (I suspect it’s a combination of both).

I had one of these brushes a few years ago.  It performed as expected–adequately–but just fell apart after about a year of intermittent use.

Number two on Amazon is the Viking Revolution (not to be confused with Vikings Blade) Badger Hair Shaving Brush (under US $10).  There are well over 1000 ratings with an average score of 4.6 out of 5 but both Fakespot and ReviewMeta have some concerns about the ratings for this brush.

It looks very similar to the Perfecto brush.

Number three on Amazon is the Vikings Blade (not to be confused with Viking Revolution) “Dark Stallion” badger shave brush (US $33).  Better constructed and with a acrylic and metal (vs. wood of the Perfecto and Viking Revolution) handle the review average is 4.7 out of 5 with Fakespot and Reviewmeta having fewer concerns about the accuracy of the reviews.

Although the sales copy says it is a new brush it has actually been out for a while.  And I think it’s actually not a half-bad brush, though there are a number of excellent competitors for your money in this price range (or lower).

West Coast Shaving

While Amazon may be the 800 pound gorilla of mass-market consumer goods, there are a couple “big guns” in the wet shaving vendor niche.  One well-known vendor is West Coast Shaving.

omega 636 shave brush

Their most popular brush (in stock) is the Omega 636 Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush (US $60).  Height: 95 mm Loft: 51 mm Knot: 21 mm.

Maggard Razors

maggard synthetic brush

The other “big gun” in the wet shaving niche is undoubtedly Maggard Razors.  Their most popular brush is their self-branded 22mm synthetic brush (US $10).  This inexpensive but reasonably well-built and popular brush uses the common “Plisson style” synthetic fibers.  “Plisson style” fibers have been eclipsed by a new generation of synthetic fibers but still perform pretty well.

Other Sources

Of course you have more choices than these three.  A check of other well-known wet shaving vendors shows several popular brushes.

Fendrihan: Best Selling Shave Brushes

Grooming Lounge: Popular Shave Brushes

Italian Barber: Popular Brushes

Smallflower: Best Selling Brushes

Conclusion

There’s little doubt in my mind that some of these brushes (particularly on Amazon) are popular because of their price and the relative inexperience of the buyer.  There are other options at every price point.

Do you have any of these brushes?  What do you think of them?  Leave a comment below!

Author

Shave tutor and co-founder of sharpologist. I have been advocating old-school shaving for over 20 years and have been featured in major media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Lifehacker. Also check out my content on Youtube, X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!View Author posts

3 thoughts on “What Is The Most Popular Shave Brush?”

  1. My synthetic under-$10 brush performs very well for over a year and doesn’t shed.
    That’s good enough for me.

  2. I purchased the Omega 636 from West Coast Shaving in October of 2015 as my first wet shaving brush,probably one of the best purchases to date. It was my daily driver for over a year and still my go to brush for very soft soaps and creams.

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