Major Beard Reviews Rooney Shaving Brushes
If you want to buy a Rooney Shaving Brush you need to be prepared for a scavenger hunt.
They have no website for the Rooney Shaving Brush from what we have managed to work out is that the company dissolved in 2023.
So finding a Rooney Shaving Brush may be difficult.
The difficulty with finding a Rooney Shaving Brush and combined with the quality and tradition of the brushes themselves create an incredible mystique.
It would seem that having a Rooney Shaving Brush is almost akin to having a rare baseball card.
Before you go hunting for one make yourself aware of some of the other top-tier shaving brushes out there, for example Simpson’s Shaving Brushes which are the same quality and can be picked up for a fraction of the hassle, we recently wrote a review about them.
A Bit About Rooney Shaving Brushes
Rooney has a reputation as an old school shaving supplies manufacture and is indeed one of the oldest shaving companies around.
They have been in business for at least 200 year’s.
Though no one knows the exact date of there inception, since the majority of their records were destroyed in a fire in 1886.
It is rumoured that the company founded as early as the 1600’s.
In 1796, Rooney opened a store in Bishopsgate, which would become their main manufacturing headquarters until 1927, when it was sold and moved to Walthamstow.
They have distributors in the UK and throughout the world, but they have been reluctant to embrace the bigger online marketplaces, unlike many of their contemporaries – while this makes it a bit frustrating for the buyer, it does add a bit of prestige to their brand.
How Are The Rooney Shaving Brushes Made?
Rooney makes both badger hair brushes and synthetic brushes.
However, like most traditional shaving companies, they are most well-known for their badger hair brushes.
All of their badger hair is sourced from China.
However, the finest badger hair has become increasingly scarce over the last several years, and no one really knows why.
Some suspect it is due to climate change altering the biology of the badger, but that’s mostly hearsay.
All badger hair is cured at over 100 degrees Celsius before it’s knotted and inserted into the handle.
Rooney’s shaving brushes come in a several different models, but the most popular Rooney Shaving Brushes are the Style 1, Style 2, Style 3 and Heritage brushes.
Again, these Rooney Shaving Brushes are hard to come by, so we were only able to review one.
Rooney Heritage Line
The handles are made of imitation bone turned on a lathe, giving it that old-fashioned look characteristic of most Rooney Shaving Brushes.
The bristles are made of a special grade of badger hair called silvertip which is comparable to Super Badger.
It’s very soft (although not quite as soft as Finest Badger), and the tips are extremely light.
It’s clear the hair’s been sorted and the shorter hairs removed, as the bristles loose none of their lightness as they bloom.
This isn’t the most densely packed brush we’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly very dense.
Super dense brushes sometimes bloom too much, making them more cumbersome as they age – this is not the case with Rooney’s Heritage line.
The brush handle has a two-band, fan-shaped loft, which we haven’t seen in new brushes for a long time.
It’s so traditional, it’s novel, which definitely adds to the experience.
The performance is simply amazing.
It retains nearly as much water as a Finest Badger brush, so one or two good shakes after soaking may be in order to remove excess water.
It easily produces lots of lather whether you’re using a shaving soap or shaving cream.
The first lather was excellent, so if you’re lucky enough to come by a Rooney shaving brush, you can expect excellent shaves even before you break it in.
All in all, this is a fantastic brush.
Anyone lucky enough to own one will likely use it for many years.
You’ll also enjoy a bit of prestige and exclusivity.
If you can’t find a Rooney shaving brush, we suggest one of these:
Thee following brushes are some of our favorite middle- to high-end brushes. They are all excellent choices if you can’t get your hands on a Rooney:
Conclusion
- Pros
There’s no denying this is a world-class brush.
Rooney shaving brushes have a very long tradition of quality, and it’s immediately apparent as soon as you pick one up.
The brush we review here (the Heritage line) comes in its own special grade of badger hair and produces an excellent shave.
- Cons
These brushes are hard to come by, and it’s difficult even to find good information, since they don’t have a website available.
They’re also expensive.
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