Hello, all you shaving brush lovers!
I got a hold of a lovely custom brush from the artisan, Craving Shaving. Charles makes great ergonomic handles that looks beautiful. This time I requested for a jade like swirl color with his classic handle shape and 26mm Fan fiction knot. This knot is a 50/50 mix between badger and synthetic and it's not very common. I hear that it's been around for a while but there are not a lot of reviews on it. So here I am.
First Impression
This knot looks just like a 2-band fan badger. I compared this to my Yaqi Fan 2-band knot and it is almost the same. The synthetic bristles are colored to match the 2-band badger so you can't tell just by looking at it. It has a springy feel like a synthetic but the tips looks like badger. It's hard to tell unless you lather it up.
Lathering process
The brush lathered up really quickly. It lathers up like a synthetic but maybe a touch behind. It does not splay well on the bowl and in that, I see a resemblance between this knot and Supervisor (Black high backbone synthetic) knot. When I try to bowl lather, the knot pushes back against me and does not splay easily. But when it is splayed out all the way, it is easily to lather in circular motion. It whips up a lather well but it is a bit tougher to splay out the brush.
Face Feel + General experience
For me, the face feel of this knot falls behind. I do not like scrubby brushes and my face can only take so much brush. This knot is bordering on the line of too scrubby and just right. I believe the synthetic bristles are thick and does not bend well. This leads to pokey, scrubby, and lack of splay in the knot. The badger bristles seem fine as they provide softer feel. But as I said, when this knot is fully splayed out, it reduced the pokey and scrubby feel. It resembles more of a 2-band badger when fully splayed out and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The painting motion was fine for me. It felt soft and moved around the lather easily. It's slightly an issue when I lather the brush in circular motion. I'd say when I splay the knot 30-40%, the synthetics poke against my face and refuse to splay out, resulting in the roughness. But when I fully splay it, it feels a lot better as the synthetics are not poking against my face.
As for the funk, this brush did not have much. As it is 50% synthetic, I did not notice any scent after cleaning out the knot with shampoo/conditioner. When the knot is drained out and stropped a bit, it blooms into a beautiful fan shape and I quite enjoy it.
In Conclusion,
I enjoy the look of the knot and it performs well. However, the face feel is a bit rough for me and doesn't splay as easily. It'll serve well as a painting brush but I particularly stick to splaying out the brush. I'll put out more update and see if this knot breaks in. Thanks for reading!
I got a hold of a lovely custom brush from the artisan, Craving Shaving. Charles makes great ergonomic handles that looks beautiful. This time I requested for a jade like swirl color with his classic handle shape and 26mm Fan fiction knot. This knot is a 50/50 mix between badger and synthetic and it's not very common. I hear that it's been around for a while but there are not a lot of reviews on it. So here I am.
First Impression
This knot looks just like a 2-band fan badger. I compared this to my Yaqi Fan 2-band knot and it is almost the same. The synthetic bristles are colored to match the 2-band badger so you can't tell just by looking at it. It has a springy feel like a synthetic but the tips looks like badger. It's hard to tell unless you lather it up.
Lathering process
The brush lathered up really quickly. It lathers up like a synthetic but maybe a touch behind. It does not splay well on the bowl and in that, I see a resemblance between this knot and Supervisor (Black high backbone synthetic) knot. When I try to bowl lather, the knot pushes back against me and does not splay easily. But when it is splayed out all the way, it is easily to lather in circular motion. It whips up a lather well but it is a bit tougher to splay out the brush.
Face Feel + General experience
For me, the face feel of this knot falls behind. I do not like scrubby brushes and my face can only take so much brush. This knot is bordering on the line of too scrubby and just right. I believe the synthetic bristles are thick and does not bend well. This leads to pokey, scrubby, and lack of splay in the knot. The badger bristles seem fine as they provide softer feel. But as I said, when this knot is fully splayed out, it reduced the pokey and scrubby feel. It resembles more of a 2-band badger when fully splayed out and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The painting motion was fine for me. It felt soft and moved around the lather easily. It's slightly an issue when I lather the brush in circular motion. I'd say when I splay the knot 30-40%, the synthetics poke against my face and refuse to splay out, resulting in the roughness. But when I fully splay it, it feels a lot better as the synthetics are not poking against my face.
As for the funk, this brush did not have much. As it is 50% synthetic, I did not notice any scent after cleaning out the knot with shampoo/conditioner. When the knot is drained out and stropped a bit, it blooms into a beautiful fan shape and I quite enjoy it.
In Conclusion,
I enjoy the look of the knot and it performs well. However, the face feel is a bit rough for me and doesn't splay as easily. It'll serve well as a painting brush but I particularly stick to splaying out the brush. I'll put out more update and see if this knot breaks in. Thanks for reading!