Black and White Knot is Heat Shapable Acrylic

I've been loosely following the introduction of Tuxedo et al. black-and-white synthetic knots, biding my time until prices come down to Earth. A makeup brush came to the Dollar General, largest retailer in my village, that matched the general description of the softer variety; indeed, it appears to be the same brush featured in one of my favorite lathering videos from YouTube.

Recently, a Virginia Sheng black-and-white brush dropped into my price range, and looked like a potential mate for my Armetale Williams cup -- fake pewter meets fake ivory. I knew it wasn't going to be authentic "Tuxedo," or as soft as the little kabuki I'd taken to represent that quality. I was surprised, though, to find it as stiff as my Pur-tech from the same vendor.

I now own classic and modern sizes of three distinct kinds of brushes, whose characteristics apparently have the power to reliably attract me: a soft synthetic type that holds water like a mop; a stiff synthetic type that acts more like a whisk, and a broomy boar type that gently scrubs. These form the cohesive heart of my collection, with just a couple (boar) outliers.

Until I noticed that my big, new black-and-white brush had a bad perm, flipped over to one side. It looked as though some chemical in my Williams enrichment scheme had permanently damaged the brush. But when I googled for other cases of brush damage, the hits returned a bunch of makeup and paint brushes being repaired by immersion in boiling water... and those brushes were acrylic. AH... yes, I had been using boiled water lately. And, as a lifelong eyeglass wearer, I've bent earpieces that way, intentionally, to make them fit better.

So I set out to "fix" my brush, on the assumption that it, too, was made of acrylic fibers. Nuked a mug of water in the microwave, and immersed my brush nearly up to the handle. Without thinking much, I did as the YouTubers did, and sort of shaped my brush manually, by running it between my thumb and index finger. Repeated a couple times, until I felt it was symmetrical enough.


As you can see in the photo, the brush now compares to my grandfather's StanHome mixed boar/badger knot, with a "flame" profile. That's his worn-out stub on the far right; I found a less used-up one at an antiques store. Not pictured: the little brush stand, not really a drying tool, so much as a shape retainer for the knot as it dries. Here, qualities of badger and boar are combined in one, stiff but non-absorbent, soft-tipped fiber type. Most notably, the extra tip density lets me dip for a precise aliquot of water to bring to my little Williams mug; where before, the brush took enough water for four shaves.

I unfortunately have to inform you that the glue bump on Vig Shaving synthetic brushes seems consistently sub-standard and very palpable. I never noticed it too much in my smaller Pur-tech, but with everything scaled up, it's right under my fingertips. I picked at this one with an acne tool to get it under control, and lost a few bristles in the process. Clearly, too, bristles that deform in very hot water could be perceived as a serious liability by many shavers. The heavy acrylic handle, while lending a quality hand feel, might tip balance the wrong way, in some setups.

But for me, this might be it -- The One Brush!

Williams -- just Williams

2 comments:

  1. NOT ALL SYNTHETICS WORK THIS WAY -- Of course, I had to try improving the Pur-tech in the same way. Its smaller, polyurethane knot collapsed into the shape of a flower pistil, with a horrible donut-hole at the tip.

    I was able to re-bloom that to the correct degree by emptying all but an inch from my mug, immersing only the tip in boiling-hot water, then filling the mug with cold water to set, without moving the brush. Still, it looks a bit roughed up, though, so I can't wholeheartedly recommend reshaping any material but the black and white acrylic.

    Anyhow, if things go wrong, you now know what to do about it.

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    1. HANDS-OFF! Third time's the charm... after I tried binding the knot with twine, and produced a shape even more odd, I went to "reset" with a mostly full mug of boiling hot water. But after softening the bristles, I dumped out 2/3, keeping the tips submerged. This collapsed the core in the desired fashion, and when refilled with cold tap water, set a uniform but narrower shape.

      You know how stiff synthetics can stab at you when you turn direction? Having all the bristles running more parallel prevents this, actually making it feel softer while increasing tip density.

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