Another New Brush Thursday! Simpson Colonel X2L

[ailevin]

I am starting to really like Thursdays.

I love my Simpson Berkeley 46B which arrived eight or nine Thursdays ago and I wanted to add another badger brush to my rotation. I thought it would be boring to just buy another Berkeley, and I also thought that the Colonel might be too similar to the Berkeley. But then I figured, well at least I can see if I prefer to the longer handle, and I know I really like Simpson's Best Badger. The Colonel arrived this afternoon, and I just had to do some test lathering. It lathered like a champ using MWF.

To my surprise, the knot on my Colonel seems significantly larger than the Berkeley, more so than I would have expected from the measurements. When bloomed it seems similar in density to the Berkeley, but half again as large. Viewed from the top is looks more the size of my Pro 49 boar than the Berkeley. The handle is a bit longer, but so far it seems very ergonomic and I can particularly see its advantages along with the larger knot for bowl lathering. OTH, lately I have been pretty much strictly face lathering. The feel of the badger hair in both brushes is quite similar. I have read that there can be significant variation in Simpson Best, but so far the hair in these two brushes feels pretty much the same. Now I am really curious to see whether I will prefer the Berkeley or the Colonel.

I will have a better chance to evaluate density, backbone, and flow through when I use it to shave tomorrow, and then I will report back. And then it will take a few weeks to see what I think in rotation as the Colonel breaks in and I have a good chance to compare it with other brushes.

Good Shaving,
Alan

P.S. Pictures and I measured bloom and Colonel was 30% larger in diameter

 

[jazzguy]

Please post some pictures of those brushes.

 

[RobW]

Excellent "throw-down" idea Alan! Subscribed. Looking forward to your insights. These are the exact two brushes that I (and I'd bet other novice DE shavers) contemplated buying when getting into this hobby. Both brushes punch way above their price point and are great ways for folks on a budget to get tremendous value in a Simpsons brush. The Colonel is a versatile brush that makes its home in a bowl or straight to the face...do not hesitate to face-lather, it's a champ!

You know that thread on the General forum, "Things you'll never buy again"? My Colonel is one of those things...but for the reason that I'm never getting rid of the one I already own!

 

[Matt_Bloodletter]

The Colonel rocks. Memory can play tricks but I think the knot on a Duke 3, for example, is denser, but the Colonel comes darn close and the handle is way more comfortable.

 

[RobW]

The Colonel rocks. Memory can play tricks but I think the knot on a Duke 3, for example, is denser, but the Colonel comes darn close and the handle is way more comfortable.

Being ~half the price of a Duke 3 is nice too.

 

[UWBadgers1]

Wonder how the Colonel would compare to a Duke 2.

Similar specifications, and I picked up my Duke 2 from TSS (Jarrod) for $79.


My Duke 2 is denser then my Berkeley, but I think the Berkeley has the right amount of backbone for me, and I wish the knot was a tiny bit more dense. But I'm nit picking at this point.



I also and finding out I like slightly larger knots (a dense 20mm [if such exists] - 24mm). The Berkeley is listed at 20mm, however I'm not sure mine is. Feels a little smaller then my 20mmx50 VB "Finest".



Enjoy your new brush, and keep us posted as to how the brushes improve over the next couple weeks..

 

[jazzguy]

Those are good looking brushes.

 

[ailevin]

Jazzguy: If I save much more money, I'll be the homeless guy pushing a shopping cart of soaps and brushes down the street.

UWBadgers1 and Mark_Bloddletter: I believe that the price of a brush from a given maker, in a given grade of hair is a good indication of the number of grams of Badger hair in the brush. So I would expect the more expensive brush with the same knot size would be more dense.

RobW: It's true that these two brushes get a lot of praise here as good entry points to Simpson badger. I like the Berkeley so much, that I did consider just buying a second one to have two in rotation. I bought the Colonel because I thought it would be very similar--it is the same quality badger from the same maker in a similar size. I guess I didn't realize the subtlety of differences in badger brushes, but it appears that it will make an interesting comparison. I just hope this curiosity subsides before I make my way through Duke, 57, and Chubby (see note to Jazzguy above).

Shave report to follow.

Alan

 

[ailevin]

I used Colonel today for my shave. Face lathered using Valobra stick and did four passes. The Colonel is a great brush, but it still needs a bit more break in. With boar brushes, the face feel really changes significantly as the brush breaks in and the tips fray. With badger, what I am discovering is that the face feel doesn't seem to break in much, but the way they lather does. With both the Berkeley and the Colonel, when they were new, I did not seem to get very good lather mixing in the breech of the brush even after a pretty long period of lathering. When the Berkeley was new, I thought it was just my technique or that I had to figure out how badger holds water compared to boar. But now that I am seeing the same thing with the Colonel, I am going to attribute it to break-in. Basically, I end up with water deep in the breech behind a nice creamy lather when I squeeze out the brush. However, after the Berkeley had been lathered several times, using the same loading and lathering methods, I no longer saw this water left in the breech. After a few more shaves with this brush, I will maybe try a two brush shave where I lather one side with one brush and the other side with the other. So remember that the impressions below are just first impression, which in my experience tend to over emphasize differences and confirm preconceptions, but we'll see as this develops. By the way, my prejudices going in are as follows. The Berkeley is more optimized for face lathering with the shorter loft and shorter handle that is easier to palm. The Colonel is more general purpose with a larger knot, a little more loft, a little longer but very ergonomic handle.

Anyway, today was a great shave. Valobra is my favorite soap, and I had a new Personna Lab Blue in my razor. Here are my impressions after a first shave with the Simpson Colonel:

• Scritch: The face feel was very similar to the Berkeley, with perhaps a bit less scritch. My best measure of scritch is how it feels to just poke my cheek with the unlathered brush. If I move the brush across my cheek it feels pillowy soft, but if I poke it straight into my cheek it feels like there is just a little sharpness embedded in the pillow. Doing this sort of test confirmed that the Colonel had just a tiny bit less sharpness. I don't know if this is related to knot size/loft/density difference or just variation in Simpson Best Badger, but again it is rather minor. If you like Simpson Best Badger, you will like the level of scritch.
• Backbone: The Colonel has less backbone than the Berkeley. It feels less like I am scrubbing my face when I am lathering, but it is not at all floppy. Face lathering is a milder experience with the Colonel. With the Colonel I never thought about trying to splay the brush as part of my lathering, partly because the brush is larger, and partly because it splays more easily than the Berkeley, so it was just an unconscious part of the scrubbing/lathering motion that it splayed a bit. With the Berkeley, splaying the brush is a more deliberate effort to move beyond the pressure of just scrubbing or lathering.
• Lathering: The Colonel seemed to lather up more quickly. I usually start with a fairly dry brush when I use a soap stick and then use several dips to get it to the texture that I want. With the Colonel, I think I had more water in the brush to start since I am still figuring it out, and also just because the knot is a bit larger I definitely pick up more water with a dip.
• Knot Size: The brush feels larger and it was quicker to apply lather to my face for succeeding passes. I didn't find that I was having any trouble controlling the lather or getting it where I didn't want it. The size and shape makes lathering and applying the lather seem more effortless (easier?). I think I see why larger brushes are considered more luxurious (besides cost). It's as if all of this lather is "just there."
• Handle Shape: I was surprised that after the shave was over and I went to collect my thoughts, I hadn't paid any attention to the handle. Clearly it wasn't uncomfortable in any way. The one thing I do recall is that I had less lather on my hands and the handle than with the Berkeley style handle. My expectation when I was shopping was that the handle would be the big difference and that the Colonel would feel much less precise with the larger knot and longer handle, but I forgot to be prejudiced about that and I have no recollection of any issues in that regard. I will try to pay more attention next time.

I will report back after a little more break-in for the Colonel, and a little more direct comparison with the Berkeley. I plan to stick with face lathering, but I will compare the brushes using MWF, soft Italian soaps (Cell/Proraso), and cream (TOBS). I will also try to use different loading techniques to see if there is any difference there.

Alan

 

[ailevin]

Used the Colonel again this morning using Marco's Method (very wet brush, gravity drained only) with MWF. I had lather enough to shave the neighborhood. I will definitely shake out some water next time, modifying Marco's method with this brush. Obviously this brush has no difficulty eating hard soap (I did wet the surface of the puck for a minute while soaking the brush). I also discovered it is possible to drown the longer handle in lather. I noticed that I hold the Colonel handle more toward the end while I think I usually palm the Berkeley. So not only is the knot bigger, but the motions on my face are larger as well. OTH, I had no trouble controlling and managing the billowing lather.

Again I would describe lathering as effortless, though MWF does benefit from a bit more elbow grease and I did work it for while on my face. Unlike the shave stick where I was truly building (hydrating) the lather, here I was working the lather to get the texture I wanted. I didn't have the watery breech issue, but the break-in still has a bit to go as the lather at the tips was creamier than the lather deep in the breech. I still have the impression that lathering with the Colonel is less work than the Berkeley. I'm not sure what to say about flow through yet, except that when I was breaking-in the Berkeley, I was concerned that the brush was getting more lathered up than my face, but that improved with break-in. I don't have that sense with the Colonel starting out, so perhaps it will have better flow through than the Berkeley? More on that later. I don't have the patience to wait for full break-in to do the side by side, and it's been four days since I used the Berkeley, so tomorrow I will try to make a more direct comparison.

Alan

 

[ailevin]

Yesterday morning I used the Berkeley to face lather with a Valobra stick after my usual prep, but I only did 3 quick passes and no ATG because of time. It was a good comfortable shave, but not a truly close shave without that last pass. The Berkeley brush produced a terrific lather, maybe better than Colonel? I like palming the handle, and it lathered up easily with a rich creamy lather. I don't recall what I did in terms of squeezing/shaking out knot, but I had just the right amount of water to get a really nice lather and I had plenty for all three passes. Maybe I am just more used to the Berkeley. The brush does have more backbone but seemed similar enough to the Colonel, that at one point I compared handles just to make sure I hadn't started out with the wrong brush. I definitely need to use both brushes during the same shave, maybe today.

 

[ailevin]

Today was my first head to head (cheek to cheek?) comparison of Simpson Berkeley and Simpson Colonel. I face lathered with my usual prep and using Valobra stick. I lathered half my face with each brush for the first pass, and then I alternated passes between the two brushes. Actually, after the lather was well worked up for the first pass, I worked over my entire face and neck again with each brush, just to compare feel and see how they accumulated and/or distributed lather.

I could make some excuses for the Colonel needing additional break-in, but I have to give this first round of the throw down to the Berkeley. I could perceive no difference in scritch at all. The Berkeley does have slightly more backbone, but it is not a big difference, so the face feel is very similar. I prefer the Berkeley handle for face lathering, though the Colonel handle is also very nice. The biggest difference was flow through. Whether lathering or painting on and distributing, the Berkeley seemed more understanding that the lather belonged on my face, not in the brush. I know the Colonel is a larger brush, but even when it seemed equally lathered, which is to say there was more lather in the Colonel, it held on to the lather a little more tightly than the Berkeley. As I said, this could definitely change with more break-in for the Colonel, and it wasn't that the Colonel was a major lather hog, but it was a noticeable difference.

These are two excellent, closely related brushes and they will both have a place in my rotation. I agree with the usual advice that the Colonel with slightly larger loft and longer handle might have the advantage in bowl lathering. But I think I would be splitting hairs (wait, this is badger not boar so the metaphor is bad), because these brushes are more like variations on a theme with the Berkeley leaning toward face lathering and the Colonel positioned as a more general purpose shaving brush.

Alan

 

[RobW]

Thanks for the write-ups Alan. This has motivated me to bring out my Colonel again and it has been giving great lather for the last week. Mostly just face-lathering, but I've been going through some samples of T&H cream using a soup mug as well and the handle on the Colonel has been super comfortable using either method. I'm not sure the Berkeley is different "enough" to warrant a separate purchase for me, but this should prove useful for those that are deciding between the two which brush to buy.

 

[ailevin]

Thanks for the write-ups Alan. This has motivated me to bring out my Colonel again and it has been giving great lather for the last week. Mostly just face-lathering, but I've been going through some samples of T&H cream using a soup mug as well and the handle on the Colonel has been super comfortable using either method. I'm not sure the Berkeley is different "enough" to warrant a separate purchase for me, but this should prove useful for those that are deciding between the two which brush to buy.

My pleasure RobW. I have been using the Colonel every other day to speed break-in, but rotating through my other brushes on the off-Colonel days. The other brushes are the Berkeley, Omega Pro 49 boar, Omega 10275 boar (short loft boar brush), and WD synthetic. Each brush is different, but the two Simpsons are the most similar as you suggest. I ordered the Colonel out of conservatism--I didn't want to wander too far from the Berkeley that I loved so much--but for someone stepping up to a first quality badger and interested in the Simpson line, either one would be a great choice.

I don't know how much break-in a badger brush needs, and will give it a bit more time, but the Colonel isn't changing very much after about five shaves and a few test lathers. I will do another "two brush" shave in a week or so, but for my style of face lathering so far I prefer the Berkeley.

Alan

 

[RobW]

I've found that badgers "are what they are" after a handful of lathers. There isn't much change to the knot, but you might find different ways to hold the handle or something. Sounds like you have a very nice diverse set of brushes to work through, hope you enjoy them. But if you ever find yourself ever tiring of that Berkeley, give me a holler .

 

[ailevin]

Time for another two brush showdown between Berkeley and Colonel. I used the same approach as last time using my usual prep and Valobra stick to face lather. I built the lather for the first pass using Berkeley for my right side and Colonel for my left, and then I worked the lather using each brush over my entire face. This ensured that the two brushes were "equally lathered" after the first pass. I alternated brushes for the following passes.

It's not surprising that it takes more soap to load the Colonel since it is a bigger knot, but even when it is well lathered it is harder to get the lather from knot to face with the Colonel. I find that a painting motion with the Colonel works pretty well, and of course on late passes I just squeeze lather from the brush and apply it by hand. With the Berkeley, I really only need the painting motion to even out the lather before I begin shaving. Because of this difference in flow through, it is not obvious to me that I get more passes out of the larger Colonel knot when using a soap stick. However, this may be somewhat dependent on soap and loading method. With Marco's method, I load with a very wet brush and both brushes are over flowing with lather and it really does appear that the Colonel has much more "excess lather." Anyway, back to my first pass, I probably had a little too much water in each at first so I applied more soap to my face. The Colonel definitely requires more soap and is a little more Hoggy than the Berkeley, but it lathers up very nicely and gives me plenty of control.

The longer handle of the Colonel is more ergonomic for loading from soap in a container or cup, and that advantage increases if the container is deeper. The Colonel handle is also more comfortable for bowl lather, although the Berkeley handle is very workable in my lather bowl (a 12 oz low and wide heavy latte cup) or an OS mug. For face lathering, I prefer the Berkeley handle and I generally prefer face lathering. Further, right now my favorite (dare I say magical?) soap is only available in a stick. I prefer the compactness of the Berkeley handle and it is easier to palm, but it has a good weight and feeling of solidity to it. If I am not using a scuttle, I set my brush on the counter handle down with the knot facing up. I find the shape of the Colonel handle makes it a bit clumsy to put down compared to any of my other brushes. I don't know if it is how I am setting it down, or that the center of gravity of the handle is higher due to its shape and the added length.

The feeling of the Simpson's Best Badger on the face is pretty indistinguishable between the two brushes. The Berkeley feels a little more focused and gives perhaps a bit more scrub (more backbone?), but this is very subtle and I'm not sure I could tell the brushes apart if someone else was applying the lather. Perhaps the Colonel is a little more dense and the Berkeley has a slightly shorter loft and these compensate somewhat.

I like both brushes very much and neither one is leaving my rotation, but I continue to prefer the Berkeley, both for the flow through of the knot and the shape of the handle. I will report back if I have any new insights about the brushes or if my preference changes.

One final comment about my experience with brushes and my brush preferences. I have 5 brushes ranging in price from $10 to $65: 2 boar, 2 badger, 1 synthetic. While I like some brushes better for some things (products or lathering methods), I can pretty much get as good a lather as I am going to get with a particular product with any of the brushes. I can have a really excellent or a really poor shave with each and every one of them too. Of course, technique trumps most everything else, but for me, the quality of the shave (comfort and closeness) depends much more on preparation, blade, soap or cream, and razor than on which brush I use. It is fun to explore brush possibilities, and I will probably "invest" more in brushes. Yet the single best piece of shaving equipment advice that I listened to was to start with a $10 boar brush (Omega Pro 49).

Good Shaving,
Alan