L'Occitane Plisson vs. Mühle Silvertip Fibre

I've had both of these brushes for a month or so and have been using them exclusively since they showed up at my house. Here are some thoughts about them so far.

• Round 1: Aesthetics
• The Plisson's handle is made from Beech wood with a stain that is dark enough that you have to look to see the wood grain in the handle.
• The STF has a basic resin handle that can be found in either Black or Ivory, clean and simple but nothing to write home about. There are other handles that may be available, as well but these were my options when I made my purchase.
• The knot on the Plisson is an unnatural orange color that darkens to a brown at the tips, while the STF's knot looks very similar to real badger hair, but if you look at a badger knot and the STF side by side, the STF will appear a bit washed out.

I really like wood handles on my brushes, but the color on the Plisson throws me every time I look at it. Round 1 goes to STF.

• Round 2: Water Retention:

When you look at the knots closely you will notice that the STF has hairs that wave a bit similar to a real knot, whereas the Plisson's are so wavy that it looks like someone got to them with the worlds tiniest crimping iron. I thought that the ripples in the Plisson would give the edge over the STF for water retention.

Both brushes were fully submerged in water then removed and immediately squeezed into a shot glass. Here are the results:

• First up was the Plisson, a good amount of water came out of it and it took more than a little bit of "milking" of the knot to get the last drops out.
• Then came the STF. This knot let it's water go with less of a fuss. If you look closely you can see the line that was drawn at the "high water mark" from the Plisson. Here is a marginally better shot at where the two lines are.

Not a huge disparity between the two, but the edge goes to the STF.

• Round 3: Softness

If the Plisson is as soft as Angel Pubes, the STF comes in feeling like Unicorn dander. They are both incredibly soft, but I haven't felt any shaving brush as soft as the Plisson.

Edge goes to Plisson

• Round 4: Backbone:

• The Plisson has virtually none. What it does have is an unusual springiness to it. When the brush is loaded it is fairly floppy, unless all the bristles are clumped together, then you have to force the brush down to get them to splay. Once the bristles begin to separate from one another, it's back to being floppy. When face lathering, once the bristles begin to splay it is fairly easy to get the entire handle almost all the way to your face. A note about this is that I find that when I'm face lathering with this brush, every once in a while a stray hair will poke me which feels bizarre considering how soft this brush normally is.

• The STF has considerably more backbone than the Plisson. When face lathering it feels denser than the Plisson does and gives good splay without completely lying flat on your face. The STF is better at loading hard soaps than its competition. It feels somewhere between a dense badger knot and a well broken in boar.

STF takes Round 4 decisively.

• Round 5: Lathering

Both Brushes were dry(ish) and loaded with a dampened puck of B&M Fougere Aromatique for about 20 seconds.

• The volume of lather that both brushes can hold is plenty for 5 or more passes if need be. There is a bit more learning involved with the Plisson because of the way that the bristles want to stick together; when they do, it doesn't feel like much friction is created inside the knot and it can be harder to get the lather worked up, but once you splay it just a bit (and try to keep it from springing back into shape) it lathers like a champ. I have noticed that the Plisson likes to hide quite a bit of lather way up the knot towards the handle, more of an observation than an issue.

Plisson's Lather

• The STF works up a great lather with just about any soap, it tends to keep the lather inside the knot while it is getting worked up and "blooms" outward as the lather grows inside it. As stated above, this little brush can hold more lather than I ever need to shave with, and it tends to keep in all in a usable location rather than buried deep into the knot.

STF's Lather

My personal preference here is the STF, but this one is incredibly subjective and YMMV. I have to pick a winner though and the edge goes to the STF.

• Round 6: Price:
• Plisson - $30
• STF - $30-80

I managed to get mine while it was on clearance so I paid almost exactly the same amount for both brushes, but the STF often retails for more than double the cost of the Plisson.

Round 6 goes to Plisson.

• FINAL RESULTS: With a final score of 4-2, the Silvertip Fibre is the victor. The score is misleading though because the difference in quality between these two brushes is minimal and both are fantastic for the price. I was a bit nitpicky in deciding between the two of these, but the bottom line is that I reach for the STF more often than I do the Plisson. When it comes to the pure feel of painting lather on your face, nothing that I have used compares the the Plisson, but the overall experience I get from the STF is slightly better.

TL;DR: If you can't read the fucking review, at least look at the pictures and figure it out for yourself.