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Bestshave Horese Hair Brushes - Maybe.

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.
 

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Sorry, I could not fit the last photo in the post. Here it is. It is one of the Bestshaves after test lathers but fully dried.
 

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Wow. Your pictures match your words for sure. This would be shocking if really selling boar under "horse" -- they seem to really market to Muslims and others who have some very strict prohibitions on boar.
 
I think your order took long to arrive do to u.s. customs,bestshave is good about getting orders out. I have 5 vie-long horse hair brushes ,none of them splay like yours.As new,they may have the slightest scent of horse,but certainly not any type of swine scent..Your brushes look like re-branded jaguar brushes,which many think are horse,but they only produce swine brushes...you get what you pay for !
 
Again guys I like the brushes and the price is great. I get it about customs delays. No issues for twelve dollars and change. I am hoping to PIF two of them.

Cheers, Todd
 
I have an older Nr. 6, and a Nr. 7. I like them, but am on a synthetic trend right now. Was looking at cheap paint brushes in a hardware store recently, and the bristle color looked almost identical to the bestshave brushes. They do dry a lot faster than my father's Surrey (VDH) boar, however. The drying time for that brush was intolerable, so I replaced the knot with a synthetic badger from TGN.
 
I have read other threads commenting on these brushes and their 'nature'. I dare say the following - I suspect there is significant boar hair content in these brushes, with perhaps a small component of horse hair, so that they can be called 'horse hair' for the reasons already mentioned. If it looks like boar, smells like boar, and feels like boar ... well, I know what my conclusion is. In any case, $4 a brush is truly a bargain for a brush that is sure to perform well once broken in. Enjoy!
 
I've been using one of them for a while- I also have an Omega Boar brush. The smell definitely goes away after repeated use- I think my solution was to just lather williams on it every time I shaved and just kept using the Omega until the stench went away. While it looked like a boar and smelled like a boar the bristles are so much stiffer and different feeling on the face than the Omega- much stiffer and not as soft on the face post break in. I don't know if that means it is horse or just a different type of boar but that's my imput.
 
I have a No. 6 on order and if its any good I plan on picking up a couple more the next time I order from them. They have a good price on Arko shaving sticks and Derby blades, so what's a couple extra brushes added to the order at that price.

I have a Diane 9875 horse hair brush already, and it is a pretty poor brush, but I should be able to compare it to the No. 6. The Diane is pretty scrubby yet soft when wet. It is much stiffer than badger, and honestly I like how it feels on my face. It works well with soaps, and I have high hopes for the No. 6. I just hope that I don't get a lemon.
 
I've enjoyed my No. 6 on the few times I've used it, and like many others I found the smell to be pretty strong the first few times and it wasn't what I was expecting of horse. Neither did it smell like the boar my father handed down to me either, but that was well broken in and the No. 6 is pretty fresh. This isn't the first time I've seen people suggesting that it might be boar or at least partly boar, but for the price, I'm not too unhappy about ambiguity.

Nice pics Todd, it's interesting to see how similarly they behave to your boar.
 
Hey chaps. Aftrr the third or so lathering the stench is abating. Just as I expected from my experience with the Omegas. I suspect by the time the bristles split they will be odourless. These little brushes are one of the best bargains out there. I don't care what type of bristle they are the knot to loft ratio is excellent. It makes for easy lathering on the harder veg soaps like C&E Nomad. No worries. Just passing along observations.

Cheers, Todd
 
I've had my No.6 for over a year and agree it is a great brush. Mine feels nothing like my two boars,stiffer and scritchier and it doesn't look like the one in your pics when wet. I recently picked up a Vie-Long Horse and though it much better quality than my No.6, they are more alike than my No.6 and my boars. Who knows if they are pure horse or a mix but they are great brushes at great prices. Glad you are enjoying the brush!
 
My feelings agree the others here, I had mine for about 18 months now and use it daily. For the price it can't be beat IMO, heck, $2.45, not even the price of a gal. of gas here in Indiana.
 
I usually start off a new brush with an Arko lather, that usually sorts out any smell. :lemo:

I planned on spending some of my afternoon on grating an Arko stick into a container, so I might just take your advice.

I had a look at my No. 6 last night, and it doesn't seem to be quite as dense as Todd's. Unlucky for me, a bit of variation comes with the price I guess.
 
My feelings agree the others here, I had mine for about 18 months now and use it daily. For the price it can't be beat IMO, heck, $2.45, not even the price of a gal. of gas here in Indiana.
$2.45 is about the cost of the crude oil used to make a gallon of gasoline.
 
I've had my No.6 for over a year and agree it is a great brush. Mine feels nothing like my two boars,stiffer and scritchier and it doesn't look like the one in your pics when wet. I recently picked up a Vie-Long Horse and though it much better quality than my No.6, they are more alike than my No.6 and my boars. Who knows if they are pure horse or a mix but they are great brushes at great prices. Glad you are enjoying the brush!
Yes, close enough for me to resist the temptation to try a Vie-Long and exercise gentlemanly restraint. Used the Nr. 7 yesterday to face lather with an Irisch Moos stick. Lather was creamier than what I get with an Omega Sintex, but the Nr. 7 gave up a few hairs in the process.
 
Agreed with the ambiguity of the hair content and the performance of the brush. I dont care if it is dog hair, it is a player in my small rotation.
 
Yes, close enough for me to resist the temptation to try a Vie-Long and exercise gentlemanly restraint. Used the Nr. 7 yesterday to face lather with an Irisch Moos stick. Lather was creamier than what I get with an Omega Sintex, but the Nr. 7 gave up a few hairs in the process.
I like like my No.7 too, great face lathering brush.
 
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