Item Description
Do you revel in the luxury of a fine pillowy silvertip badger brush? Are your dreams filled with mountains of lather piled on gossamer threads of badger fluff? If so, save yourself the time and skip this review because the Vulfix No. 9 is not your brush.
I bought this brush because I was actually impressed with the common $5 Van Der Hagen (VDH) boar brush. While it shed like a mangy cat and required a little work to make a lather, I was curious how a well-made boar brush would perform.
As it turns out this brush made me a real fan of boar brushes. The scrubbing power is really unparalleled due to the medium-length, thick bristles. As with most boar bristle brushes it starts out a little harsh on your face. Give it time! The bristles will soften fairly quickly. (There are various methods for accelerating this process such as soaking in VERY HOT, never boiling, water. I prefer to just use the thing until it softens.) I think the stiffness of the No. 9 would be perfect for guys with coarse beards who don't shave every day.
But don't get the wrong idea. This thing isn't a wiry mess. It can actually whip up a decent lather! I have used it on hard soaps and it easily picks up enough water and soap for one full pass. Since it is boar rather than badger you can't expect it to soak up 300mL of water and give you enough lather for three passes. I did have a little more success loading it with cream (Godrej Lime Fresh) this morning. It fluffed up really nice and gave me some good foam.
The No. 9 is constructed very well. Vulfix does make quality badger brushes as well so I would expect that their boar would be solid as well. In the three weeks of use I have yet to lose a single bristle. The handle is a great size/shape. The only minus point is that it uses a molded handle rather than a turned handle so you do see a little seam where the two halves were melted together. Call it function over form.
One little bonus benefit that might help traveling shavers or guys in tropical climates: this thing dries out quickly! After shaking it out and leaving it on the sink for a few minutes it was dry. (It's December and I'm in Seattle. Nothing dries out in minutes!)
To summarize, this is a well made (handmade in the UK) boar brush that scrubs with the best of them. If you need a little extra scrubbing power this is a great tool for that. It makes a decent lather and won't fall apart any time soon.
I bought this brush because I was actually impressed with the common $5 Van Der Hagen (VDH) boar brush. While it shed like a mangy cat and required a little work to make a lather, I was curious how a well-made boar brush would perform.
As it turns out this brush made me a real fan of boar brushes. The scrubbing power is really unparalleled due to the medium-length, thick bristles. As with most boar bristle brushes it starts out a little harsh on your face. Give it time! The bristles will soften fairly quickly. (There are various methods for accelerating this process such as soaking in VERY HOT, never boiling, water. I prefer to just use the thing until it softens.) I think the stiffness of the No. 9 would be perfect for guys with coarse beards who don't shave every day.
But don't get the wrong idea. This thing isn't a wiry mess. It can actually whip up a decent lather! I have used it on hard soaps and it easily picks up enough water and soap for one full pass. Since it is boar rather than badger you can't expect it to soak up 300mL of water and give you enough lather for three passes. I did have a little more success loading it with cream (Godrej Lime Fresh) this morning. It fluffed up really nice and gave me some good foam.
The No. 9 is constructed very well. Vulfix does make quality badger brushes as well so I would expect that their boar would be solid as well. In the three weeks of use I have yet to lose a single bristle. The handle is a great size/shape. The only minus point is that it uses a molded handle rather than a turned handle so you do see a little seam where the two halves were melted together. Call it function over form.
One little bonus benefit that might help traveling shavers or guys in tropical climates: this thing dries out quickly! After shaking it out and leaving it on the sink for a few minutes it was dry. (It's December and I'm in Seattle. Nothing dries out in minutes!)
To summarize, this is a well made (handmade in the UK) boar brush that scrubs with the best of them. If you need a little extra scrubbing power this is a great tool for that. It makes a decent lather and won't fall apart any time soon.
