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Brad Sears Advice

EMG06

EMG06

"TSC's Bingo Admiral"
I’ve had my eye on a Brad Sears brush for a while now, but don’t want to pull the trigger yet. My hesitation boils down to knot size. My largest brush in regular rotation is a 24mm synthetic. For badger hair brushes I seem to gravitate towards brushes in the 20-22mm range. Based on the info on his site and reviews of the different grades of hair he offers, I think I’d be most interested in getting a brush with a 26mm Estate Fan. I’m afraid of spending lots of money on something I just wind up looking at, not actually using.
Does anybody have any experience with his work who could give me some advice? Would the 26mm just be too much badger?
 
I'm a 26 mm man myself, I really don't think it's at all too much brush. To me, they feel on the small side if anything, but I find them to be just right.

You might be hard pressed to find a smaller premium badger.
 
Thanks, I appreciate your advice.
HMan said:
I'm a 26 mm man myself, I really don't think it's at all too much brush. To me, they feel on the small side if anything, but I find them to be just right.

You might be hard pressed to find a smaller premium badger.
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Thanks, I appreciate the advice. The two badgers I reach for most at the moment are a Simpson M7 Manchurian which has a 22mm diameter and a Simpson Emperor 3 2 band silvertip with a 20mm diameter. I was nervous about jumping up to a much larger size. I have a Chubby 2 in best, but don’t use it much, but I think that’s owing to handle ergonomics as much as any other factor.
 
I have a Brad Sears CHS with a 30mm knot. I got it in a PIF and don't remember which type of badger knot it has, but I think it is either a fan or hybrid.

It is a great brush. The knot is tight and the tips are soft, but it also has decent backbone. At that size the brush, IMO, is much better for face lathering than bowl lathering since it has a wide splay on my face. I find it very pleasant to use. It holds a ton of water and/or lather. The handle is very well made. Brad Sears makes an excellent, luxury product.

You might try going to Yaqi or a Chinese seller on AliExpress (VIG Shaving, DS Cosmetic, etc.). One of them might have a 26mm or 28mm badger that you could get inexpensively as a trial run. Your experience with that will perhaps help you decide if you should spend the money on the Brad Sears. Then you can PIF or sell the cheaper badger after acquiring the Sears brush.
 
You sound like a man who knows what he wants. I’d say mull it over a night or two.... you would probably be very happy with a 22-24mm knot from him - his brushes are works of art and look to be quite dense knots. 26 mm looks nice to you but you hesitate that it’s too big. 22-24mm might be a good, sweet spot for you based on what you have said .... I’m a 22-24 mm knot badger man myself (face lather only) and have one at 20 mm and two above 24 (26 and 30 I think?). The other seven are 22-24mm. There’s a reason most are that size for me .... they just work 👍 FYI not a Brad Sears owner, but has been on my radar for a few years.
 
BadgerFiend said:
You sound like a man who knows what he wants. I’d say mull it over a night or two.... you would probably be very happy with a 22-24mm knot from him - his brushes are works of art and look to be quite dense knots. 26 mm looks nice to you but you hesitate that it’s too big. 22-24mm might be a good, sweet spot for you based on what you have said .... I’m a 22-24 mm knot badger man myself (face lather only) and have one at 20 mm and two above 24 (26 and 30 I think?). The other seven are 22-24mm. There’s a reason most are that size for me .... they just work 👍 FYI not a Brad Sears owner, but has been on my radar for a few years.
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It appears, from Brad Sears' website content, that the smallest brush is 26mm right now. At least I couldn't find a smaller one on offer.
 
dkeester said:
It appears, from Brad Sears' website content, that the smallest brush is 26mm right now. At least I couldn't find a smaller one on offer.
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Ah I see, I wasn’t aware of that when writing my response. Thank you for the info 👍
 
Thanks for all the advice. I might reach out to Brad to see if he can do something smaller (it is supposed to be a custom brush after all). I will simultaneously pull out my Chubby 2 (which has a 27mm diameter I believe) and see if it feels like too much brush. I haven’t used it in a year or two, so who knows perhaps my tastes have changed?
 
I belatedly saw this thread. EMG06, what did you do? FWIW, I have a 26mm Brad Sears Estate and it is one fabulous knot. It was my first larger knot (i.e., larger than 20-22) and it has been just great and gotten better with use.
 
@SRLNY I wound up getting a Paladin 26mm off of a BST forum on another site. So far I’ve been really liking the feel and size of the knot. I think that a Brad Sears brush is in my future given how much I’ve enjoyed this other 26mm knot.
 
EMG06 said:
@SRLNY I wound up getting a Paladin 26mm off of a BST forum on another site. So far I’ve been really liking the feel and size of the knot. I think that a Brad Sears brush is in my future given how much I’ve enjoyed this other 26mm knot.
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Nice. As you can tell, I can recommend Brad's Estate knot in 26mm.
 
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