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Can an animal hair brush make that much of a difference?

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Thanks. No doubt it will get better over time. I soaked it for a couple days first even though people said these require little break-in. Last use, I tried squeezing all water out and loading for 90 seconds. After it still dissipated after only the first pass, I loaded more and palm lathered--I found that really whipping it and slapping around a lot in the hollow of the hand, getting more air into it, did wonders and there was plenty of lather for a couple more passes. Not sure I can replicate that whipping on my convex face (loft is 65mm), but will try it in a bowl. Probably shows what the future holds once it's fully broken in.


1-8-19.Mondial.Ivory.Boar.640.New.JPG 2-24-19.Mondilal.Alumunum.GD.RGHG.640.JPG

The Mondial boars (mine anyway) are great from the get go, but then they improve.

With every soap I've tried with the Mondial boars here's what I do. I soak the brush in a mug with cold tap water while I shower. When I'm ready to lather up, I shake the brush about twice (or once or three times depending on the soap). I get some of the water out, but certainly not anywhere near all of it. Then I swirl the bristles on the puck. Depending on the soap the puck may or may not have been bloomed; if it was I've poured the bloom water into a cup. Depending on the soap I may have to load for maybe 10 to 20 swirls.

Then I face lather. First, I load onto my face what soap I can from the relatively dry brush. Then I build lather by scrubbing my face. Then I begin adding water with the tips of the brush, dipping it into either the poured off bloom water or into that cup with cold tap water in it, scrubbing and painting and building lather. I like this process and take my time with it.

I have never had a failure with any of my good boars unless the soap was just one of the very few which need to be thrown out because the soap won't lather.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
@Chan Eil Whiskers
That's a sweet looking Mondial there. Can you tell a bit more about it? To my untrained eye it looks like a 26\57 knot? Is the handle turned resin or moulded plastic? How does the weight compare to jade green Omega Premium?
Did you buy it off the bay?
Thanks.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
@Chan Eil Whiskers
That's a sweet looking Mondial there. Can you tell a bit more about it? To my untrained eye it looks like a 26\57 knot? Is the handle turned resin or moulded plastic? How does the weight compare to jade green Omega Premium?
Did you buy it off the bay?
Thanks.

I did buy it from the Australian vendor on eBay. Link to vendor. I could find it nowhere else and I looked hard. It's not particularly expensive but it's a really nice boar brush according to how I view boars.

I had the aluminum Mondial boar first. I should have purchased the ivory handled brush at the same time. It became unavailable right after I received the aluminum handled boar. I had to wait a good while for it to become available again. I jumped on it when it reappeared and am glad I did.

I think maybe the ivory handled brush is a little bit smaller than the aluminum.

By my measurements with my calipers the aluminum Mondial boar measures like this.
  • Knot 26mm.
  • Loft 58mm.
That's a bit different from the vendor's measurements, but, in my experience vendors's measurements are very likely to be different from mine (mine are very careful).

The ivory handled boar is not substantially different in knot size but may be a tad smaller. In use they're much the same.

I'm not exactly sure what the plastic handle is about. It's the best plastic handle I've ever seen. I'm not sure if it's solid or hollow or what (I've tried to determine which but I can't). It's not an acrylic resin like the Connaught Jade, but it's a really substantial plastic. Not cheap like some of the handles I've come across, it surprised me with its quality. I've not weighed it or any brushes, but it doesn't seem light or heavy (just right).

I believe the Connaught Jade boar is the finest boar I've come across (and I have a thing for buying all the premium boar brushes, not that I have every one anyone considers great, but I have used most of them).

In some ways I like the Mondial boars more than the Jade, but it depends which day it is. Sometimes the Jade is my favorite (and it's always the best). Sometimes the Mondial boars are my favorites (but even then the Jade is the best), if that makes sense.

Enablers Buy them all for science.jpg


I face lather and have no idea how any brushes are for bowl lathering.

I hope that helps some.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
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@Chan Eil Whiskers
Thank you for information. I just got off the bay and ordered the faux ivory boar. My primary interest in brush was due to their stated process of using bleached hair and I have not used a Mondial knot before.
If it doesn't work out the way I am thinking it will, I might feel little frustrated but at the price point I will not whine as much that it is difficult to move on to another better brush. If this turns out copy of a 620 Semogue read-kill hair bunched up for a floppy mop then I will consider it a total loss and PIF it to the first person who is willing to pay the postage.
 
@Chan Eil Whiskers
Thank you for information. I just got off the bay and ordered the faux ivory boar. My primary interest in brush was due to their stated process of using bleached hair and I have not used a Mondial knot before.
If it doesn't work out the way I am thinking it will, I might feel little frustrated but at the price point I will not whine as much that it is difficult to move on to another better brush. If this turns out copy of a 620 Semogue read-kill hair bunched up for a floppy mop then I will consider it a total loss and PIF it to the first person who is willing to pay the postage.

Let me be first in line but I wish you all the best first :)
 
Ha !
@mawashi I thught you dont like big knots !
Althought the brush is still not even posted from Australia, my only going concern is thatt I may not like the loft at 58mm.
If it was Zenith, I know 57 will be shorter in real life since Zeniths have high glue bump.
@Chan Eil Whiskers I have read most of you impressions about various boar testing binge you have been on, since infamous Thater. I find myself often on same page with you. Jade Omega is bees knees, no contest about it and rest of my boars will have to be nearly as good to stay in den. When I am able to keep 4 'premium' quality boars, it will bring end to my boar hoarding.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Ha !
@mawashi I thught you dont like big knots !
Althought the brush is still not even posted from Australia, my only going concern is thatt I may not like the loft at 58mm.
If it was Zenith, I know 57 will be shorter in real life since Zeniths have high glue bump.
@Chan Eil Whiskers I have read most of you impressions about various boar testing binge you have been on, since infamous Thater. I find myself often on same page with you. Jade Omega is bees knees, no contest about it and rest of my boars will have to be nearly as good to stay in den. When I am able to keep 4 'premium' quality boars, it will bring end to my boar hoarding.

I suspect you'll like the Mondial, but one never really knows.

Zeniths.2.Wood.640.4-18.JPG


The shorter lofted Zenith are brushes I like, too.

If I had to pick just four boars?

6-9-19.RedInjun.Boker.Kit.Jade.Valencia.640.JPG

Connaught Jade Omega for sure.

2-20-19.Mondial.Boars.Two.2.640.JPG

I'd flip a coin for one of these.

Zenith.Copper.Boar.New.7-7-18.640.JPG

The Zenith copper handled (shown here brand new).

Number four would be a real problem. There are so many I wouldn't want to be without.

Wet.Boars.Ship-Shaped.640..2-23-18.JPG


I'm not even sure how I'd approach picking the fourth boar. Good thing I don't have to.

Just for good measure, I'd have to throw in at least a few non-boars.

Two.Zenith.Manchurians.1-5-19.480..jpg Zenith Soft Horse. Vendor photo.480.jpg

At least a couple of Manchurians. My Zenith extra soft horse for sure. If I had to I could narrow all my brushes down to about five to seven brushes and be a very happy camper.

...mention that to my wife. I'd have to kill you.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Oh, darn, I had the same idea, but too late.

Great minds think alike rofl.

Ha !
@mawashi I thught you dont like big knots !
Althought the brush is still not even posted from Australia, my only going concern is thatt I may not like the loft at 58mm.
If it was Zenith, I know 57 will be shorter in real life since Zeniths have high glue bump.
@Chan Eil Whiskers I have read most of you impressions about various boar testing binge you have been on, since infamous Thater. I find myself often on same page with you. Jade Omega is bees knees, no contest about it and rest of my boars will have to be nearly as good to stay in den. When I am able to keep 4 'premium' quality boars, it will bring end to my boar hoarding.

I usually don't but since, I don't own a zenith I'm very interested to find out more about their knots and hairs.

If you really don't like it but I'm hoping you do I'll gladly take it from you.

Cheers and happy shaves,

Mawashi
 
I suspect you'll like the Mondial, but one never really knows.

View attachment 989995

The shorter lofted Zenith are brushes I like, too.

If I had to pick just four boars?

View attachment 989996

Connaught Jade Omega for sure.

View attachment 989997

I'd flip a coin for one of these.

View attachment 989998

The Zenith copper handled (shown here brand new).

Number four would be a real problem. There are so many I wouldn't want to be without.

View attachment 989999

I'm not even sure how I'd approach picking the fourth boar. Good thing I don't have to.

Just for good measure, I'd have to throw in at least a few non-boars.

View attachment 990000 View attachment 990001

At least a couple of Manchurians. My Zenith extra soft horse for sure. If I had to I could narrow all my brushes down to about five to seven brushes and be a very happy camper.

...mention that to my wife. I'd have to kill you.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Jim your pictures are awesome. Makes me wanna grab more brushes and I'm trying not to lol.

Let me research them and their prices as I love to get a bargain. Perhaps black Friday lol?

May thanks for the help,

Mawashi
 
View attachment 989109 View attachment 989110

The Mondial boars (mine anyway) are great from the get go, but then they improve.

With every soap I've tried with the Mondial boars here's what I do. I soak the brush in a mug with cold tap water while I shower. When I'm ready to lather up, I shake the brush about twice (or once or three times depending on the soap). I get some of the water out, but certainly not anywhere near all of it. Then I swirl the bristles on the puck. Depending on the soap the puck may or may not have been bloomed; if it was I've poured the bloom water into a cup. Depending on the soap I may have to load for maybe 10 to 20 swirls.

Then I face lather. First, I load onto my face what soap I can from the relatively dry brush. Then I build lather by scrubbing my face. Then I begin adding water with the tips of the brush, dipping it into either the poured off bloom water or into that cup with cold tap water in it, scrubbing and painting and building lather. I like this process and take my time with it.

I have never had a failure with any of my good boars unless the soap was just one of the very few which need to be thrown out because the soap won't lather.

Happy shaves,

Jim

It's been a while, but I thought I should follow-up as I'd been having difficulties and multiple people made great suggestions. Seemed wrong to just never respond, but in these weeks I've been traveling a lot and so using only a synthetic. This morning I finally used the Mondial brush again and ended up with a wonderful lather.

Jim, your suggestions were especially helpful--and if you hadn't guessed it was your reviews that led me to buy this brush in the first place. I realized that the issue was not face vs. palm/bowl at all, but rather that when I would run out of lather and return to the puck, it had become quite wet and soft and loaded easier. What I needed to do was bloom the soap (Stirling) with more water, and start with more water in the brush. Such a simple thing, but as I hadn't bothered about blooming with synthetics, I did it wrong.

Going back to the small Plisson-style synthetic for a while, it was noticeably springy compared to the boar. It gets the job done, no muss no fuss, but the big boar feels significantly more comfortable on the face, I dare say luxurious. Returning to the original topic of the thread, it's nice we don't have to pick between these various materials but can rotate.

Best wishes to everyone,

Carm
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
It's been a while, but I thought I should follow-up as I'd been having difficulties and multiple people made great suggestions. Seemed wrong to just never respond, but in these weeks I've been traveling a lot and so using only a synthetic. This morning I finally used the Mondial brush again and ended up with a wonderful lather.

Jim, your suggestions were especially helpful--and if you hadn't guessed it was your reviews that led me to buy this brush in the first place. I realized that the issue was not face vs. palm/bowl at all, but rather that when I would run out of lather and return to the puck, it had become quite wet and soft and loaded easier. What I needed to do was bloom the soap (Stirling) with more water, and start with more water in the brush. Such a simple thing, but as I hadn't bothered about blooming with synthetics, I did it wrong.

Going back to the small Plisson-style synthetic for a while, it was noticeably springy compared to the boar. It gets the job done, no muss no fuss, but the big boar feels significantly more comfortable on the face, I dare say luxurious. Returning to the original topic of the thread, it's nice we don't have to pick between these various materials but can rotate.

Best wishes to everyone,

Carm

Yes, it is nice to be able to experience various sorts of brushes. There is a lot of difference as I go from a good boar to a good silvertip or two band to my horse and then to a great Manchurian. It's fun, interesting, and all good.

I've used all sorts of methods and such as I face lather, but have a fairly standard method now. Still, there are variations in my method depending on the soap and my mood, etc. It's usually easy enough to "fix" things by adding either more water or more soap or sometimes (like this morning) more of both (which doesn't make sense to me but there it is).

I'm glad my reviews were useful to you, sir.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
If I could start all over again, I'd still just use the Stirling Kong and not spend all the money that I have spent on badger brushes.
+1
Same here. However, I would always be wondering whether I could do better with a badger until I tried one (or in my case quite a few).

In fact, now thinking about it, for me to have my current preference for synths, I would still have had to try some badger brushes.
 
I tried a few badger brushes and then discovered a synthetic that outperformed them, and never went back. Some people prefer badger hair brushes while others prefer synthetics, boars, or even horse hair brushes. The superior brush is the one that meets your own needs, whatever they may be.
Which synthetic are you talking about?
 
Which synthetic are you talking about?

Whipped Dog, standard synthetic knot. I've tried the black/white synthetic, as well, but it was not nearly as good. I don't know whether the manufacturing process has changed or whether the two types of knots are inherently different, but whatever the case, the brush that I bought from them a few years ago has been an excellent performer.
 
Whipped Dog, standard synthetic knot. I've tried the black/white synthetic, as well, but it was not nearly as good. I don't know whether the manufacturing process has changed or whether the two types of knots are inherently different, but whatever the case, the brush that I bought from them a few years ago has been an excellent performer.
Thanks, i am interested in their products but wasn't sure which one
 
I started wet-shaving using boars and have tried several. Then one day I came across a cheap shave kit with a synthetic. The synthetic made very nice lather in the bowl but once I put it on my face I was done. It was pokey and felt very unnatural. I'm sure there's good ones out there but don't see any of them in my near future. I like boars in general, some a lot, some a little.
 
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