Good morning gents. i accidentally posted about this in the general forum so it quickly got lost in the crowd. So here we go. Back in September I ordered three of the $2.45 horse hair shave brushes from Bestshave. They finally arrived about seven weeks later. In very good condition I might add. They look exactly like the brush I experienced in a brush pass a year or so ago. I remember thinking then the brush reminded me of boar more than anything even though I had seen horse described as a bit of a combination of boar and badger. Well I wanted to get straight to washing these beasties up and running them through a bath of Barbicide to make sure they are cleansed. Imagine my surprise when I stuck my nose to the bristles and smelled...swine. I always give new brushes a wash with Dawn dish detergent as I have seen some seriously brown water roll off even new, high end badgers. Anyroad, the porcine smell escalated tremendously after the wash. Pure, unadulterated boar stench. I was expecting the slightly musty yet comforting smell of hoss to put a point to it. Horse smell is alright by us raised around them but nothing you would want to smell like all day.
This was a bit disconcerting. I scrubbed up a lather in each of the brushes with C&E Nomad and to frank, they make SUPERB lather with it. Creamiest I ever had with this soap. Still, the boar stench survives. I have snapped some photos of these brushes fresh from the package, after the initial wash and then bloomed a bit after some test/cleaning lathers and finally one after a real shave lather this morning and it's bloom. And one after it dried. They look EXACTLY like my Omega boar except its hair is almost white and these are quite yellow. Now let me say this. I am NOT saying these are boar. They certainly look and smell of it but who knows? I should also say at around $4 each shipped I am NOT concerned. I planned on PIF'ing two them anyway. Hope you enjoy the photos.
Cheers, Todd
PS. Second image is four brushes. The larger one in the middle back is the Omega boar I have had for years. Other than the white bristles you can see it behaves exactly like the Bestshave models when wet. Again, let me say the little brushes are great, I just wonder about that hair.
This was a bit disconcerting. I scrubbed up a lather in each of the brushes with C&E Nomad and to frank, they make SUPERB lather with it. Creamiest I ever had with this soap. Still, the boar stench survives. I have snapped some photos of these brushes fresh from the package, after the initial wash and then bloomed a bit after some test/cleaning lathers and finally one after a real shave lather this morning and it's bloom. And one after it dried. They look EXACTLY like my Omega boar except its hair is almost white and these are quite yellow. Now let me say this. I am NOT saying these are boar. They certainly look and smell of it but who knows? I should also say at around $4 each shipped I am NOT concerned. I planned on PIF'ing two them anyway. Hope you enjoy the photos.
Cheers, Todd
PS. Second image is four brushes. The larger one in the middle back is the Omega boar I have had for years. Other than the white bristles you can see it behaves exactly like the Bestshave models when wet. Again, let me say the little brushes are great, I just wonder about that hair.
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