Summer Brush Sabbatical :: 2019

[gwsmallwood]

I think the variable that has about 80% of the impact to the feel of the majority of these newer synthetic knots is loft vs knot size ratio. The lower the number, the springier these get. I have plisson style, plisson fan, tuxedo, tuxedo fan, cashmere, the synbad, and one of the 'premium' knots. Sizes vary from 22 to 28mm, and I set most of them myself at the highest possible lofts, because I've found that's how I like them. The knot type, fan vs bulb, and the glue bump size are factors as well, but to a much lesser extent. It's the loft / knot ratio that makes or breaks these newer synthetics for me.

 

[naughtilus]

I think i have read that they used Yaqi as OEM.

The photo/video you posted of Yaqi factory previously, IIRC the workers were assembling RR Monster brushes.

I believe Yaqi also makes the brush handles for Muhle, Merkur, EJ and all their clones that are ubiquitous on ebay and Amazon. Probably also most of the knots, all the razors, stands, accessories.... At best Muhle may hand tie some knots and plate raw zamak razors. But I find that part also questionable.

Germans consistently present re-branded Chinese made goods as Made in Germany, because legally Chinese made razor plated in Germany is good enough to carry the mark made in Germany (example Timor, which is re-branded Weishi). They proudly display Solingen on everything Chinese. Sure giveaway sign of re-branded OEM goods is custom plating and laser etching (think Viking razors). That means you don't have the tooling/molds. But it will still fool many who would be suspicious at branding with plain stickers.

Their idea of build quality is simply replacing your re-branded dud Chinese made product with a new one, no questions asked. Good customer service and marketing keeps fires out. Muhle/Boker isn't giving away a premium brush because it was the last one. They profit at extremely low prices. The markup must be huge.

If you read the Amazon reviews of EJ, Merkur, Muhle and Viking, you'd think they are copy pasted. "My razor screw broke, the plating is chipping, this is ****!" - "No worries sir, free replacement coming your way!" - "OMG I love your customer service!". The customer paid for 10 replacements in advance. It's a business model.

Did you know that computer magazines can test shaving brushes too?
Rasierpinsel Test bzw. Vergleich 2019 - COMPUTER BILD
Does it look like paid advertisement by the same company who sells multiple branded brushes? Hmmm...

 

[Boar Fighter]

The photo/video you posted of Yaqi factory previously, IIRC the workers were assembling RR Monster brushes.

I believe Yaqi also makes the brush handles for Muhle, Merkur, EJ and all their clones that are ubiquitous on ebay and Amazon. Probably also most of the knots, all the razors, stands, accessories.... At best Muhle may hand tie some knots and plate raw zamak razors. But I find that part also questionable.

Germans consistently present re-branded Chinese made goods as Made in Germany, because legally Chinese made razor plated in Germany is good enough to carry the mark made in Germany (example Timor, which is re-branded Weishi). They proudly display Solingen on everything Chinese. Sure giveaway sign of re-branded OEM goods is custom plating and laser etching (think Viking razors). That means you don't have the tooling/molds. But it will still fool many who would be suspicious at branding with plain stickers.

Their idea of build quality is simply replacing your re-branded dud Chinese made product with a new one, no questions asked. Good customer service and marketing keeps fires out. Muhle/Boker isn't giving away a premium brush because it was the last one. They profit at extremely low prices. The markup must be huge.

If you read the Amazon reviews of EJ, Merkur, Muhle and Viking, you'd think they are copy pasted. "My razor screw broke, the plating is chipping, this is ****!" - "No worries sir, free replacement coming your way!" - "OMG I love your customer service!". The customer paid for 10 replacements in advance. It's a business model.

Did you know that computer magazines can test shaving brushes too?
Rasierpinsel Test bzw. Vergleich 2019 - COMPUTER BILD
Does it look like paid advertisement by the same company who sells multiple branded brushes? Hmmm...

I wouldn't be surprised about anything anymore. That brush makers have very big margins of profit, i 've written it 10 times in this forum. All you have to do is go to Alibaba and look at wholesale prices of both brushes and knots. Even Omega boars, that we consider cheap at EUR 10, were for a period sold in the italian Amazon for less than EUR 1 a piece, if you bought 15 pieces. And that's not wholesale quantity and includes Amazon fees too. Imagine now what happens to badgers, where the real money is...

Computer magazines test brushes?! Ahahaha! I would have never imagined it!

 

[naughtilus]

I wouldn't be surprised about anything anymore. That brush makers have very big margins of profit, i 've written it 10 times in this forum. All you have to do is go to Alibaba and look at wholesale prices of both brushes and knots. Even Omega boars, that we consider cheap at EUR 10, were for a period sold in the italian Amazon for less than EUR 1 a piece, if you bought 15 pieces. And that's not wholesale quantity and includes Amazon fees too. Imagine now what happens to badgers, where the real money is...

Computer magazines test brushes?! Ahahaha! I would have never imagined it!

Of course I could be 100% wrong. I'm not an investigative journalist, just a guy shaving. If Muhle products interested me I'd buy them and think nothing of it. Difference between a Vulfix and a Simpson is just an extra pinch of hair, despite the price indicating there's more to it. I still bought them knowing this.

 

[Boar Fighter]

Of course I could be 100% wrong. I'm not an investigative journalist, just a guy shaving. If Muhle products interested me I'd buy them and think nothing of it. Difference between a Vulfix and a Simpson is just an extra pinch of hair, despite the price indicating there's more to it. I still bought them knowing this.

In deed, i 've read that Vulfix is something like the floppy brother of Simpson. I 've bought the Muhle pure for the handle...I had the knot already...

 

[Sotiris_A]

I think the variable that has about 80% of the impact to the feel of the majority of these newer synthetic knots is loft vs knot size ratio. The lower the number, the springier these get. I have plisson style, plisson fan, tuxedo, tuxedo fan, cashmere, the synbad, and one of the 'premium' knots. Sizes vary from 22 to 28mm, and I set most of them myself at the highest possible lofts, because I've found that's how I like them. The knot type, fan vs bulb, and the glue bump size are factors as well, but to a much lesser extent. It's the loft / knot ratio that makes or breaks these newer synthetics for me.

Thanks for the info! I have a handle that I could use, so perhaps ordering a few knots and finding out my preferences is the way to go.

 

[gwsmallwood]

Thanks for the info! I have a handle that I could use, so perhaps ordering a few knots and finding out my preferences is the way to go.

Personally, I've found the 24mm and 26mm knots to be the sweet spot, and I like them set about 2.3x to 2.5x the knot size for the loft. I have a 28mm SynBad that I enjoy, but it definitely has the most backbone. The lofts don't continue to grow along with the knot size once you get past 26mm.

 

[naughtilus]

Today's shave with ArtisanKo™ and Simpson Captain 2 blew my mind. 20 sec loading exploded with 6 passes worth of lather in the bowl + it took gallons of water to clean the knot completely.

A good natural hair brush paired with premium top tier soap will not fail to impress.

 

[Boar Fighter]

Today's shave with ArtisanKo™ and Simpson Captain 2 blew my mind. 20 sec loading exploded with 6 passes worth of lather in the bowl + it took gallons of water to clean the knot completely.

A good natural hair brush paired with premium top tier soap will not fail to impress.

Arko's tallow never disappoints! The ivory family is growing! Congratulations!

 

[naughtilus]

Arko's tallow never disappoints! The ivory family is growing! Congratulations!

Yesterday I applied some balm as pre-shave and got the best shave with Green Proraso soap to this date. Boosting works.

 

[Boar Fighter]

Yesterday I applied some balm as pre-shave and got the best shave with Green Proraso soap to this date. Boosting works.

Of course it does! There is a small army of Italian wetshavers that have tried it before me and the results was a crushing approval. Actually different creams give different characteristics to the lather. You can discover a whole new world of "game" by trying different creams as preshave.

 

[naughtilus]

Of course it does! There is a small army of Italian wetshavers that have tried it before me and the results was a crushing approval. Actually different creams give different characteristics to the lather. You can discover a whole new world of "game" by trying different creams as preshave.

It was this cheap balm. Shaving ATG x2 passes was a breeze.

 

[Boar Fighter]

It was this cheap balm. Shaving ATG x2 passes was a breeze.

I 've never seen it and i don't use balms, but the important is that if it works, it works. I hunt hand creams with Aqua in the first place of ingredients and glycerin within the first 4. As long as they aren't thick, this is 99% guaranteed success. I prefer creams in tube, as an extra guarantee that they are runny, if i haven't used them before.

Remember, your lather doesn't know if it's cheap and frankly doesn't care either. If it's high in distilled water and glycerine, it's going to help. Any extra emollients will only help too, conditioning the skin.

 

[naughtilus]

I 've never seen it and i don't use balms, but the important is that if it works, it works. I hunt hand creams with Aqua in the first place of ingredients and glycerin within the first 4. As long as they aren't thick, this is 99% guaranteed success. I prefer creams in tube, as an extra guarantee that they are runny, if i haven't used them before.

Remember, your lather doesn't know if it's cheap and frankly doesn't care either. If it's high in distilled water and glycerine, it's going to help. Any extra emollients will only help too, conditioning the skin.

A balm is basically very watery moisturizer, in this instance with light addition of menthol. I expected much subtler results, but this was noticeable improvement. I changed blades midst pass #2 from BIC Chrome Platinum to Super-Max Super Stainless to make sure it wasn't some fluke in the blades.

 

[Boar Fighter]

A balm is basically very watery moisturizer, in this instance with light addition of menthol. I expected much subtler results, but this was noticeable improvement. I changed blades midst pass #2 from BIC Chrome Platinum to Super-Max Super Stainless to make sure it wasn't some fluke in the blades.

Oh, i know what a balm is. I meant that i don't use them as preshaves. You should try hand creams... I couldn't put Arko on my face over the cream! It was so slippery that the tallow was ice skating on the cream. If your water is hard, the distilled water of your balm is what boosted it. A cream was both distilled water and glycerin, as long as emollients (the balm must have those too), so the effect is very noticeable. It's like the great equalizer of soaps. I 've used Nivea soft for quite some time now, because i also wanted the empty tubs (they make excellent containers for Haslinger). But before, i had tried several creams and some particularly good.

 

[naughtilus]

Oh, i know what a balm is. I meant that i don't use them as preshaves. You should try hand creams... I couldn't put Arko on my face over the cream! It was so slippery that the tallow was ice skating on the cream. If your water is hard, the distilled water of your balm is what boosted it. A cream was both distilled water and glycerin, as long as emollients (the balm must have those too), so the effect is very noticeable. It's like the great equalizer of soaps. I 've used Nivea soft for quite some time now, because i also wanted the empty tubs (they make excellent containers for Haslinger). But before, i had tried several creams and some particularly good.

I'll give light hand/face creams a try too. This was more spontaneous unplanned experiment. Proraso + balm shaved better than standalone Arko the next day.

 

[Boar Fighter]

I'll give light hand/face creams a try too. This was more spontaneous unplanned experiment. Proraso + balm shaved better than standalone Arko the next day.

I have yet to try a product (being it cream or soap), that didn't benefit from the use of hand cream as preshave. Simply, some soaps have more notable boost effect than others in some category. For instance, Proraso could use more slickness, so the effect is very noticeable. Haslinger is slicker, so it's less noticeable. But even with soaps that are very slick on their own, the cream still helps if you have hard water (it's like adding distilled water) and in skin conditioning. You are pouring emollients to your lather that weren't there before, without paying EUR 30 for a soap with less emollients...

 

[naughtilus]

I have yet to try a product (being it cream or soap), that didn't benefit from the use of hand cream as preshave. Simply, some soaps have more notable boost effect than others in some category. For instance, Proraso could use more slickness, so the effect is very noticeable. Haslinger is slicker, so it's less noticeable. But even with soaps that are very slick on their own, the cream still helps if you have hard water (it's like adding distilled water) and in skin conditioning. You are pouring emollients to your lather that weren't there before, without paying EUR 30 for a soap with less emollients...

I'll get a tub of Nivea Soft when I'm shopping for groceries in few days. I don't have to try a bunch of stuff since you already did the research for me.

 

[Boar Fighter]

I'll get a tub of Nivea Soft when I'm shopping for groceries in few days. I don't have to try a bunch of stuff since you already did the research for me.

There are so many hand creams out there, that the research isn't even half way through. The response will also probably vary according to skin. But basically even the worst of the creams, give specactular results. If you have dry or normal skin and you feel like Nivea soft isn't slippery enough, try a runny hand cream with oil of Argan in it.

But, beware! The excessive slickness might kill your will to buy MdC in the future!

 

[Sotiris_A]

I was away from home for the last few days, visiting the village where my father-in-law was born. We stayed in the cottage house he used to own (unfortunately he passed away a few years ago) and I figured that this was a perfect opportunity to use my synthetic brush. Indeed, I got great results using Arko, despite being in the region with the hardest water in Greece, as reported by our National Water Company. I needed to start with a drier brush and add a lot of water progressively, in order to get good slickness, but the lather quality and stability were excellent. Probably all that is nothing new to all of you, but it is nice that I am warming up with it.

A couple of days after we arrived, while going through her father's belongings, my wife found this cute little boar brush.

The label reads: "DuX, made in Greece". Never heard of the brand before. There seems to be no current production. A quick Google search only revealed some vintage pieces that were sold in a popular auction site. The brush seemed well broken in, it even had a crack along the wooden handle. I decided to clean it up and give it a spin. I had a great shave and once again I verified how much I love boar brushes for face lathering.

All in all, it was a really nice trip. Going on holidays with my beloved ones to enjoy springtime is priceless. It is also a chance to practice other hobbies...

Thanks for reading!

Have fun and happy shaves,

Sotiris