A notice to potential buyers: the Vie-Long 13120M brush is smaller than you might think!
I was really eager to get this mini horse hair brush because I was attracted by its small size and color theme (coffe twirl marble). The 13120M is the undied, natural brown horse hair version of the 13120.
The 35%/65%, mane/tail hair mixture gives it a good backbone but, compared to my Omega boar, this brush's backbone is noticeably weaker. Not an issue for me though.
The bristles, when new, were very slightly prickly (non irritating), but they were stiff (pushing the brush against the face in order to spread out the bristles and increase surface area). Now, after roughly 13 shaves, the bristles are starting to become flexible,though the tips haven't shown signs of splitting yet. It has lost 16 hairs so far (for me, an acceptable number compared to my average).
The other thing about this brush also, is again, its size. As the pictures show, this brush will almost always get your fingers wet with lather - no way around it.
The handle is very well made: its a heavy resin multicolored gradient brown handle. There's a picture showing the nice vertical ivory band within the handle.
Surprizingly, the 13120M lathers richfully and quickly, with enough lather for 2 passes (enough for 1 pass if you want a santa clause face). You need to swirl just a little more with this one than your average brush.
When I first wet the brush, it smelled really bad (but better than my Edwin Jagger BBB). A good shampoo soak overnight took care of it.
I enjoy this brush now as a novelty, but I have other brushes that outperform it in terms of comfort and ease of use.
Get it only if you want it as a toy. I will not use it as a travel brush - I'd rather a more user friendly, easy, and cheap brush instead.
Cheers.
I was really eager to get this mini horse hair brush because I was attracted by its small size and color theme (coffe twirl marble). The 13120M is the undied, natural brown horse hair version of the 13120.
The 35%/65%, mane/tail hair mixture gives it a good backbone but, compared to my Omega boar, this brush's backbone is noticeably weaker. Not an issue for me though.
The bristles, when new, were very slightly prickly (non irritating), but they were stiff (pushing the brush against the face in order to spread out the bristles and increase surface area). Now, after roughly 13 shaves, the bristles are starting to become flexible,though the tips haven't shown signs of splitting yet. It has lost 16 hairs so far (for me, an acceptable number compared to my average).
The other thing about this brush also, is again, its size. As the pictures show, this brush will almost always get your fingers wet with lather - no way around it.
The handle is very well made: its a heavy resin multicolored gradient brown handle. There's a picture showing the nice vertical ivory band within the handle.
Surprizingly, the 13120M lathers richfully and quickly, with enough lather for 2 passes (enough for 1 pass if you want a santa clause face). You need to swirl just a little more with this one than your average brush.
When I first wet the brush, it smelled really bad (but better than my Edwin Jagger BBB). A good shampoo soak overnight took care of it.
I enjoy this brush now as a novelty, but I have other brushes that outperform it in terms of comfort and ease of use.
Get it only if you want it as a toy. I will not use it as a travel brush - I'd rather a more user friendly, easy, and cheap brush instead.
Cheers.
