Re. My shavemac 'Finest'. How does Bernd "repair" a shedding brush?

[Grarea]

Good words. better described.

No, I don't mash the brush either when loading actually.
I swirl vigorously in both directions.
It gets a soak whilst showering.

I have been quite surprised just how much they give actually from the beginning.
I got a pretty meaty one and it has settled into a similar thing that you say Nishy. When I first got it, I couldn't use it, it had so much backbone.
It has given (relaxed) a fair bit, (Bloomed?) softened (as in I don't feel like I am pushing my cheek into my mouth any more.)
Yet it still maintains its shape and a good amount of firmness which i like.

 

[Nishy]

Good words. better described.

No, I don't mash the brush either when loading actually.
I swirl vigorously in both directions.
It gets a soak whilst showering.

I have been quite surprised just how much they give actually from the beginning.
I got a pretty meaty one and it has settled into a similar thing that you say Nishy. When I first got it, I couldn't use it, it had so much backbone.
It has given (relaxed) a fair bit, (Bloomed?) softened (as in I don't feel like I am pushing my cheek into my mouth any more.)
Yet it still maintains its shape and a good amount of firmness which i like.

Thank you my friend. Yes I have the same experience with my early DO1 2 bands, they have now settled well. My later DO1 2 bands have been set slightly different with regards to loft and width so have been fine from the start and haven't splayed drastically since.

 

[Gareth1982]

Hi Stan, apologies for resurrecting an old thread. I too am having issues with a Shavemac, posted this on anther forum:

I've had a Shavemac Silvertip D-01 for about a year. It's lovely and soft and was really happy with it to begin with.

I don't use it every day, only for the odd weekend shave, so it's done maybe 30-40 shaves.

For about the last 15-20 uses, it sheds a lot of hair, about 10 per shave. I have left it in the hope that it would calm down again, but that doesn't look like happening.

I've never used anything to clean it, but it always gets rinsed out thoroughly and is always left to dry out as it's not used often. There's no build up of soap residue. I have a Semogue and Simpsons that have seen far more use and get treated the same that have only shed the odd one.

I've emailed and was told to clean it if I could see any residue and other things which also pointed towards misuse (which I don't).

Bernd did say to return it if I still have issues, but I'm not sure if I'll just be told it's due to neglect. Given the little use its had, I'd be pretty surprised and annoyed.

I know they are well regarded, but has anyone else had any issues? What would you do?

Cheers.

It's currently with Bernd being repaired, though having read your troubles, I'm not exactly filled with confidence! Full thread here.

p.s. Hope you enjoyed your bay rum.

 

[Nishy]

Hi Stan, apologies for resurrecting an old thread. I too am having issues with a Shavemac, posted this on anther forum:

I've had a Shavemac Silvertip D-01 for about a year. It's lovely and soft and was really happy with it to begin with.

I don't use it every day, only for the odd weekend shave, so it's done maybe 30-40 shaves.

For about the last 15-20 uses, it sheds a lot of hair, about 10 per shave. I have left it in the hope that it would calm down again, but that doesn't look like happening.

I've never used anything to clean it, but it always gets rinsed out thoroughly and is always left to dry out as it's not used often. There's no build up of soap residue. I have a Semogue and Simpsons that have seen far more use and get treated the same that have only shed the odd one.

I've emailed and was told to clean it if I could see any residue and other things which also pointed towards misuse (which I don't).

Bernd did say to return it if I still have issues, but I'm not sure if I'll just be told it's due to neglect. Given the little use its had, I'd be pretty surprised and annoyed.

I know they are well regarded, but has anyone else had any issues? What would you do?

Cheers.

It's currently with Bernd being repaired, though having read your troubles, I'm not exactly filled with confidence! Full thread here.

p.s. Hope you enjoyed your bay rum.

Hopefully Bernd will resolve the issue if not drop me a PM I may be able to help but ultimately it will be Bernd who repairs it.

 

[Gareth1982]

Hopefully Bernd will resolve the issue if not drop me a PM I may be able to help but ultimately it will be Bernd who repairs it.

Thanks Nishy, very kind of you. Hopefully the knot will have been replaced and all will be well.

 

[DevonStan]

Just spotted the above ... apologies if late in replying.

As per all that has gone before, I experienced an initial period of reluctance to take the brush back and grab the issue by the horns and there were the suggestions that it might have been a problem of my causing ... the brush was returned to Bernd, at my cost, then sent back to me, at his cost, with nothing having been done to address the basic problem of it shedding. I then had to, politely but firmly, indicate to Bernd my level of displeasure and quote chapter and verse whereupon the knot was changed ... again my expense to send it to him and his expense to send it back. It's been OK since. To be sure there were no apologies and the dialogue was brief in the extreme, but ultimately he's fixed the brush after my persistence and I trust that's that.

I don't think I was treated particularly badly ... but, on the other hand, it could have been a tad better given he knows that I am a forum member and unlikely to take the mick... but I guess he's busy and also has to be sure people aren't taking him for a ride and getting replacements if the problem was of their own making.

As time has passed I have resolved not to buy any more badger brushes, at all. I have several and if they become unusable for any reason then they will get binned and not replaced. I have several synthetics which, for me, are entirely satisfactory and, in practice, are durable, pleasant to use, easy to clean & maintain and, I suspect, less likely to shed (although I have to say keeping the badgers clean and dry isn't exactly a hardship and I haven't had any more problems with any of them shedding).

With the benefit of hindsight I can see why I got caught up in the buying hype of all my stuff (badgers included) but, a few years on, I now wouldn't choose to buy badger hair when synthetic is available ... being spineless and lacking the guts I haven't looked closely at the way badger hair is harvested but suspect I wouldn't want to know, whereas the synthetic stuff most certainly isn't going to experience any unpleasantness along the way.

 

[Rufusdog]

How a firm handles complaints/objections is the acid test of its dedication to customer service. In the realm of shaving brushes I have just two incidence. The first is with a Simpson shaving brush I bought in 1997. About six months after my purchase it began to shed. I took it back to the vendor who replaced it on the spot, no questions asked and no fobbing off on Simpson. Second, in 2014 I bought a VP Leonhardy Silvertip from Superior Shaving in Florida. After several uses it started to shed so I contacted the vendor who asked me to return the brush, but before I got it back to him I’d received a replacement brush from him in the mail. But it didn’t end there: about two weeks later I received a replacement brush directly from VP Leonhardy in Germany along with a small gift and a note of apology; I forwarded the brush from Leonhardy to the vendor since I’d already used the replacement brush he’d sent me. On the other hand I had a real battle with Sears Canada, a major Canadian departmental store, over repairs, or lack thereof, to a house brand dishwasher I’d bought from them. After seven attempts to have them repair the dishwasher I’d finally had enough of their incompetence and decided to contact someone with authority in their head office for satisfaction. I tried email, regular mail and the telephone, but all I got was the runaround. I wrote to the CEO several occasions only to be told over the phone by his EA that he didn’t deal with such customer complaints and would not be responding to my letters. Nevertheless, I persevered and a year later I received satisfaction. It’s now five years later and there have been two new CEO’s since the one I tried to contact and Sears Canada is now in court supervised liquidation following unsuccessful attempts to restructure and refinance the company. I think I know what one of the root causes of Sear’s demise was.

 

[Wayne]

Correct me if I m wrong but shaving brushes are used for building and applying lather to the face prior to shaving. You should not have to pussy foot about with them, gently swirling and not getting enough soap in the knot to build a good lather. They should be capable to do the task they are made for, it is all they do. If the hairs fall out in quantity then the knot hasn't been built well enough and is faulty in my opinion. The maker should take it on the chin and replace the faulty knot.

 

[Northam Saint]

Correct me if I m wrong but shaving brushes are used for building and applying lather to the face prior to shaving. You should not have to pussy foot about with them, gently swirling and not getting enough soap in the knot to build a good lather. They should be capable to do the task they are made for, it is all they do. If the hairs fall out in quantity then the knot hasn't been built well enough and is faulty in my opinion. The maker should take it on the chin and replace the faulty knot.

Agree.

I’ve had one shed too many, that was a Simpsons Milk Churn, Simpsons replaced it with no trouble. I always rinse out well flick and towel try with no hair loss. In fact it’s very rare I ever loose a single hair, that’s across Synthetic, Boar and Badger.

I don’t also see how a knot can be repaired. It’s a lump of hair stuck together with glue. Adding more glue wouldn’t work, so removal and a new knot would be the only way to go. Unless it’s a bad batch of knots in which case the maker would have a load of similar complaints. These things do happen though and you get the odd shredder.

Each to their own and I mean no disrespect, but all this shampooing brushes and combing them isn’t for me. A brush to me is to be used and once it’s worn away it’s time to reknot or replace. I’ve 30 brushes now, thin’ I have enough to see me out.

 

[Holyzeus]

Each to their own and I mean no disrespect, but all this shampooing brushes and combing them isn’t for me.

Exactly, I know it’s not cleaning soap we use but it is soap

 

[Gordy]

The cleaning I do on my brushes is purely to remove hard water scum. It'll kill brushes quicker than most things so getting rid of it is a priority for me. SLS laden shampoo happens to work wonders on it.
Combing isn't required on any badger brush but it makes quite a difference to a boar brush.

 

[Shaverrific666]

If your knot's a heavy shedder...it's defective. By all means look after them and clean soap out of them, but if it shedding loads of hairs all the time..no amount of Vidal Sassoon treatment will help. Bernd at Shavemac makes very good knots IMHO... I have seven of his brushes and never had a shedder from him. I also swirl my brush and vigorously face lather hard soaps.
But now and again all brushes can shed..put it this way I have been wet shaving (traditionally) for just over ten years with a variety of brushes..only had one real shedder. Get Bernd to replace the knot..and enjoy your brushes and your shaves!

 

[Gareth1982]

So, my email asking what they found wrong with the brush and what work they are carrying out has gone unanswered.

Got an email this morning with a despatch confirmation, the email itself says replacement brush and the attached invoice says brush repair under guarantee.

Not really sure what I will get back! Will find out in a due course I guess.

Not overly impressed with Shavemac overall up til now.

 

[DevonStan]

^^ I did say the responses to my enquiries were brief

Almost certainly it'll be a new knot in (almost certainly) a new handle ... that's what he did for me and you're in the same boat I was in. The only complication thatmight have arisen is if it had been a specially engraved handle ... presumably yours isn't......mine was but I simply said scrap the old handle and I'll have a replacement with no engraving. It's been fine since. In fact he upgraded from a "Finest" to a "Silvertip".

I just think he's not the best at communicating the minutiae that you or I would find reassuring. And presumably he doesn't feel to need to say "oh, sorry about that".

 

[Gareth1982]

^^ I did say the responses to my enquiries were brief

Almost certainly it'll be a new knot in (almost certainly) a new handle ... that's what he did for me and you're in the same boat I was in. The only complication thatmight have arisen is if it had been a specially engraved handle ... presumably yours isn't......mine was but I simply said scrap the old handle and I'll have a replacement with no engraving. It's been fine since. In fact he upgraded from a "Finest" to a "Silvertip".

I just think he's not the best at communicating the minutiae that you or I would find reassuring. And presumably he doesn't feel to need to say "oh, sorry about that".

No, mines a bog standard handle, so no issues there.

Don't get me wrong, I will be grateful if the brush is replaced or repaired to a standard where there's no more issues. I'm just a bit annoyed that there's not been much in the way of communication (and just because it seems to be a common theme, doesn't make it ok) or even an apology that what I'd class as an expensive brush has started to fall apart within comparatively few uses. A bit of customer service wouldn't go amiss.

Having said that, it was a great brush to begin with, so I can understand why they have a good reputation. Just not great when things go wrong, but fortunately I seem to be in the minority.

At least it seems to have been sorted though (hopefully), so no harm done.