My favorite boar brush is a Zenith, and I've been curious about their badger brushes, particularly the Manchurians, for some time. I pulled the trigger on a white handled 506A with a gold ring from Your Shaving. It was a bargain at $65 including shipping to the US (after using a 10% discount coupon). Shipping was considerably quicker than I expected, with the brush arriving within two weeks and while I was away traveling. Yesterday I unpacked it and gave it a quick test lather. It has a modest amount of badger funk but I didn't think it was enough to warrant any special treatment. For the most part, with animal hair brushes, I just use fragrant soaps for the first dozen or so uses. It masks most of the smell until that smell fades.
Today was the actual shave with the new brush. I soaked it for 5-10 minutes in warm water, shook it out well and began building lather using Shannon's Haymarket Vetiver soap. I noticed, as I had with the test lather, that it required me to add quite a bit of water in order to keep it from being too pasty. Perhaps it would do better with a less vigorous shake after the soak. Sometimes I bowl lather and sometimes I go directly to my face with the loaded brush. Today was a face lathering day. As expected, the Zenith Manchurian has quite a bit of backbone as well as a bit of scritch. In that respect it reminds me quite a bit of my old Simpsons Duke 2 Best Badger brush. Flow through was excellent and the ergonomics of the handle were perfect for me. I should also note that during the test lather and for today's shave, the brush did not lose a single hair.
For a while I had been favoring smaller brushes, but for whatever reason I am now in a bigger brush phase. The Zenith is comparable in size to my Yaqi Moka 26mm 2 band badger, but I find it slightly easier to control it on my face, perhaps because it is a bit stiffer. After only one shave, it's too soon to say where this brush fits in my "hierarchy" but it is already very near the top, and I expect it to only improve in my estimation as it breaks in.
Today was the actual shave with the new brush. I soaked it for 5-10 minutes in warm water, shook it out well and began building lather using Shannon's Haymarket Vetiver soap. I noticed, as I had with the test lather, that it required me to add quite a bit of water in order to keep it from being too pasty. Perhaps it would do better with a less vigorous shake after the soak. Sometimes I bowl lather and sometimes I go directly to my face with the loaded brush. Today was a face lathering day. As expected, the Zenith Manchurian has quite a bit of backbone as well as a bit of scritch. In that respect it reminds me quite a bit of my old Simpsons Duke 2 Best Badger brush. Flow through was excellent and the ergonomics of the handle were perfect for me. I should also note that during the test lather and for today's shave, the brush did not lose a single hair.
For a while I had been favoring smaller brushes, but for whatever reason I am now in a bigger brush phase. The Zenith is comparable in size to my Yaqi Moka 26mm 2 band badger, but I find it slightly easier to control it on my face, perhaps because it is a bit stiffer. After only one shave, it's too soon to say where this brush fits in my "hierarchy" but it is already very near the top, and I expect it to only improve in my estimation as it breaks in.
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