Want to try a badger (do I need to?)

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

View attachment 1050591

I think this is the one you linked. Actual photos upon receipt.

Is this the same one? I think so, but I'm not sure (this is from the eBay vendor).

I think you're going to love it.

As I said, I've not tried a Zenith silvertip yet. I'll enjoy your reviews of the brush.

I'm particularly interested in the backbone and scrub (which guys say is great) and the softness (which can't be any thing but great because it's a silvertip).

I don't have a silvertip with tremendous backbone. I have two silvertips with good backbone, acceptable backbone, but I've heard this Zenith silvertip has more backbone than my copper Manchurian (and that's quite a feat) and is soft, too. If so, it's going to be delightful to use. I believe the previous reviews, but one more will be even more enabling.

I'm excited for you.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[gstriftos]

I would suggest a Yaqi but seems like you've already made up your mind.

I had not until I happened to get a close look at some available Yaqi's here in Greece and did not liked them. The loft is too tall for my taste, reminding me of RR Big Bruce (I gave it to a friend, never suited me).
So this was the next most ''reasonably'' priced choise from within EU. I may look for a short lofted Yaqi or Maseto IF somehow this one fails me.

View attachment 1050602

Is this the same one? I think so, but I'm not sure (this is from the eBay vendor).

I think you're going to love it.

As I said, I've not tried a Zenith silvertip yet. I'll enjoy your reviews of the brush.

I'm particularly interested in the backbone and scrub (which guys say is great) and the softness (which can't be any thing but great because it's a silvertip).

I don't have a silvertip with tremendous backbone. I have two silvertips with good backbone, acceptable backbone, but I've heard this Zenith silvertip has more backbone than my copper Manchurian (and that's quite a feat) and is soft, too. If so, it's going to be delightful to use. I believe the previous reviews, but one more will be even more enabling.

I'm excited for you.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Most probably the same one.

Truth be told I don't know if I want a tremendous backbone, I just want to see if a good badger is indeed an upgrade from my synths.
I suppose that eventually I will try a good boar to see if they fit me.

Thank for your kind words and suggestions.

 

[Billy T.]

I've had great success with the HighMountain Silvertip and the 2Band Moka Express both set at 55mm If I am not mistaken.

 

[Njguy1977]

Larry at whippeddog.com will custom make you a top ofthe line silvertip to your taste and tailor it to if your a bowl lather or face lather or both kind of guy. If your going to want the best of the best why not order something reasonbly priced (under 40 dollars) and made to your liking. There is also Rudy Vey on the board as well who does awsome custom work and is well worth looking into and will provide the same level of service.

I have synthetic, boar, and badger....IMO the synthetic comes out for my difficult lathering soaps, my boars are my everyday utility bush, my badgers come out when I want to use my straight razors. I use my badgers when I need lather to stick around a while for a 3 pass shave because straight shaving takes a little bit more time then DE shaving. As far as lather quality, a badger will whip up lather like a synthetic but will feel way softer then your synthetics without that springy resistance feel. Boars will whip up a great face lather but you will have to soak them and get the product to water ratio right, but when you do its quite rewarding and you know when you hit it right and they hold their stiffness through the whole shave (shorter brissle) or be a little floppy (longer brissle).

Larry

 

[gstriftos]

Ahem..

For 5€ what can fo wrong??

 

[gstriftos]

Finally!!


The unboxing..



Looking good..

Waiting to go home and give it a run, should I take any caution steps?

 

[Rustyshackelford]

Finally!!


The unboxing..
View attachment 1054530 View attachment 1054531
View attachment 1054532 View attachment 1054536

Looking good..

View attachment 1054541


Waiting to go home and give it a run, should I take any caution steps?

Start with a good soak in warm water.... come back in 10 min and give it a sniff. Probably a good idea either way to add some dawn to that water and put the brush back in for another 10 min. When you return, agitate or pump the brush up and down in the water to encourage movement in and out of the knot. Then do a little palm lather. When you are ready, rinse it clean. Then grab some 2in1 shampoo/conditioner and give the whole thing another go with lathering, then rinse. If it isnt letting letting out murky water when you squeeze the knot, and it doesn’t have an overly offensive odor, go to down and enjoy you first shave... if it still lets out murky water or stinks to high heavens, repeat the other cleaning processes until things improve. Probably best to let it dry between cleanings to.

 

[gstriftos]

Does not smell as is now (on the contrary the boar above smelled a little when new, a little more when wet but after a couple of days smell disappeared).

 

[Dave-the-rave]

Finally!!


The unboxing..
View attachment 1054530 View attachment 1054531
View attachment 1054532 View attachment 1054536

Looking good..

View attachment 1054541


Waiting to go home and give it a run, should I take any caution steps?

Make sure it's dead.

 

[Sotiris_A]

Finally!!


The unboxing..
View attachment 1054530 View attachment 1054531
View attachment 1054532 View attachment 1054536

Looking good..

View attachment 1054541


Waiting to go home and give it a run, should I take any caution steps?

It looks great! Eagerly waiting for the review.

Just soak it for a few minutes and give it a test lather with some soap or mild shampoo to clean it up before the first use.

Happy shaves!

 

[sugardaddy]

Avoid conditioner (and a shampoo that had it built in). Affects the slickness of the hairs negatively. I would either use a little bit of dish soap or A couple of test lathers with shaving soap.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

 

[gstriftos]

The family keeps growing..



After a 20 minute bloom in warm water:




Aaaand testing (I will leave it like that for some hour, I hope it does not hurt):

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Avoid conditioner (and a shampoo that had it built in). Affects the slickness of the hairs negatively. I would either use a little bit of dish soap or A couple of test lathers with shaving soap.

This ^ but it probably needs nothing unless the water was dirty looking or it smells bad.

Can't wait for you reports. So exciting.

Lovely brush. My favorite handle.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[sugardaddy]

The family keeps growing..

View attachment 1054595

After a 20 minute bloom in warm water:

View attachment 1054596


Aaaand testing (I will leave it like that for some hour, I hope it does not hurt):

View attachment 1054597

I think working up the lather with Mitchell's wool fat was an excellent choice.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

 

[gstriftos]

The last photo was AFTER I applied a generous lather on face (honestly I was too eager to try it ).

Initial impressions:

• Very faint smell after blooming just with warm water, let's see how it will go on. The Omega boar took around 2 days of lathering to get rid of the smell. It was not anything reallly offset to using but ..smelly.
• Oh, this thing is soft..Ok not synth soft but really very close and I think I found my preference for softness. On the other hand I am still breaking in the Omega so I think it will take a time to make an accurate tell. Honestly I don't think the balance will turn in favor of the boar but no one ever knows (Ok, unfair to compare a 10times cost product).
• It seems that after a while is will become a badger wall. So kind of big for my face but what the hell, YOLO.
• Backbone ( I know Jim is eager on this), way better than the synths, really close to the boar! All brushes wet comparison, when dry boar is still miles ahead but who uses a dry brush?
• The handle is quite comfortable, really good for bowl lather but I don't want to bowl lather fot the time being. I would like to feel how Zenith and Omega are changing over time.
• Heat retention and water absorbtion, Zenith is the clear winner (ok, expected result if you take into account the density and size). Even after 20 mins I had the feeling that it did not get to its maximum, so I will follow on that the next days.
• Negative factor, it needs a lot more soap when compared to synths. I did the 10 swirl test with the MCD and it was not even worth to take a photo. I don't know if this will change over time due to saturation of the bristles but I don't count a lot on it.

Overall feeling.. is one word: Luxury.
Like when you put on a fine blended wool sweater or a very comfortable pair of shoes.


P.S. The Omega is astonishly good if you take into account cost factor.

P.S.2. Fellow shavers talk me out of buying a Manchurian..

 

[sugardaddy]

One note: it may not be using more soap. It may be picking up the same amount of soap as a synthetic , but it just takes longer to do it.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

 

[Sotiris_A]

The last photo was AFTER I applied a generous lather on face (honestly I was too eager to try it ).

Initial impressions:

• Very faint smell after blooming just with warm water, let's see how it will go on. The Omega boar took around 2 days of lathering to get rid of the smell. It was not anything reallly offset to using but ..smelly.
• Oh, this thing is soft..Ok not synth soft but really very close and I think I found my preference for softness. On the other hand I am still breaking in the Omega so I think it will take a time to make an accurate tell. Honestly I don't think the balance will turn in favor of the boar but no one ever knows (Ok, unfair to compare a 10times cost product).
• It seems that after a while is will become a badger wall. So kind of big for my face but what the hell, YOLO.
• Backbone ( I know Jim is eager on this), way better than the synths, really close to the boar! All brushes wet comparison, when dry boar is still miles ahead but who uses a dry brush?
• The handle is quite comfortable, really good for bowl lather but I don't want to bowl lather fot the time being. I would like to feel how Zenith and Omega are changing over time.
• Heat retention and water absorbtion, Zenith is the clear winner (ok, expected result if you take into account the density and size). Even after 20 mins I had the feeling that it did not get to its maximum, so I will follow on that the next days.
• Negative factor, it needs a lot more soap when compared to synths. I did the 10 swirl test with the MCD and it was not even worth to take a photo. I don't know if this will change over time due to saturation of the bristles but I don't count a lot on it.

Overall feeling.. is one word: Luxury.
Like when you put on a fine blended wool sweater or a very comfortable pair of shoes.


P.S. The Omega is astonishly good if you take into account cost factor.

P.S.2. Fellow shavers talk me out of buying a Manchurian..

It seems like a great buy. Congrats!

I agree with @sugardaddy that it might be picking up less soap per swirl. It is also possible that the knot needs to bloom a bit. That said, I find that bigger and denser brushes usually require more soap.

I have so many brushes that I should be the last one to try and talk you out of another one. However, I think you have enough to keep you busy for a while. Take your time to break them in and see how they pair with your soaps and creams. This will help you identify what attributes you seek. You can always get a Manchurian later, they seem to be available anytime.

 

[cytus]

Since i got my synths and boar (Omega), seldom use my AOS pure badger brush. I just find the others better at lathering difficult soaps and softer on face. However, I do wonder sometimes if a silver tip or 2 band badger brush would be better.

 

[JoeLr]

I sold all 6 of my various quality badger brushes a little over a year ago in a move to all-synth knots. A friend sent me a brand new WCS 26mm silvertip to break-in and use for a while. Methinks he wants me down in the badger blackhole with him, hahaha. In any event, I can see myself once again owning one or two badger brushes, but synth knots have been a joy for me to use.

 

[gstriftos]

One note: it may not be using more soap. It may be picking up the same amount of soap as a synthetic , but it just takes longer to do it.

It seems like a great buy. Congrats!

I agree with @sugardaddy that it might be picking up less soap per swirl. It is also possible that the knot needs to bloom a bit. That said, I find that bigger and denser brushes usually require more soap.

Yesterday's night set up:



C&F is my favorite cream (in terms of performance) and the most used one, I even do test lathers with it.
It definitely needed more quantity with the Zenith compared to my synths and I don't say I am surprised (much bigger volume of bristles in Zenith).
I cannot comment on Omega so far - eats lather for breakfast- but most probably it needs more mileage so as to ''stabilize''.

On a side note, the water retention of the badger really improved the feel of the lather, with the synths I had to add water more frequently (but they too produce a damn fine result).