The loft of my badger hair brush has shortened

Hello. I have only one shaving brush from November 2014. A silvertip 22 mm knot from whippeddog.com with a 50 mm loft but I choose for the loft to be drilled an extra 5 or 10 mm(I don't remember exactly). Now the loft measures 35 mm. I don't know how this happened. Anyone else experience this? Maybe this is one of the reasons I can't make a decent lather.

Images with my shaving brush: http://imgur.com/gallery/gK8mhWp. The brush has been photographed right after a shave, that's why it's damp.

Do you use a special lathering bowl or bowl with roughened interiour? Do you shake your brush to rid wather? Do you mash and use circular strokes to apply lather?

I face lather, but tend to push the brush hard.

Did it happen over time or did it happen all at once?

Over time.

We have a saying in Greece: "τα έβγαλε τα λεφτά του". We say this when something is no longer useable, but you enjoyed it a lot all this time, it was money well spent.

I would use that saying here as well. It's time for a new brush.

Well at least you got your money's worth out of the brush. But I would say that you possibly were too hard on the brush. I could be wrong but I would say stick to using lighter pressure and use more back and forth strokes with building and applying the lather on your face.

This is my one gripe is so many people like texture on a "lathering" bowl. I'm only responding to this as someone asked if you lather in a bowl with a bottom texture. If that is the case, I only think people use these to puff the lather up faster but it isn't needed in my opinion. You wan't a controlled amount of air in your lather but the compact texture is where you get the protection on the skin and if you have a huge volume of lather, it may be quick to collapse if you squeeze it between your fingers.

None the less, if you want to be rough on a brush, buy a synthetic, Unfortunately for badger brushes, they may feel nice but they require care and babying to hold up over time.

Alex7, better to have a brush that got used to the point where you need to purchase a new one is better than having 100 brushes for no reason other than wanting choice. Tell us what you liked in the brush while it was working at it's best stage and then we can recommend what to consider next.

Maybe the result of soft, succulent, luxurious bleached tips and 'tend to push the brush hard'. Just a guess.

Nikos, there certainly is wisdom in that Greek saying but would also suggest a quality brush, properly used and maintained, should last much longer than 5 years. Even if it were the sole brush and used daily, this an unacceptable outcome.

May I suggest that getting to the etiology of the accelerated brushwear a worthwhile endeavour. While it won’t resolve the current brush wear, it can save money and waste on future brushes.

I’d reknot with a synthetic.