I've been researching a good quality badger brush for a while now and decided that either a Simpsons Colonel or Rooney 2/1 would fit the bill. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...Style-2-Size-1-vs-Simpsons-Colonel?highlight=
I pulled the trigger on the Colonel and to celebrate the purchase I decided to get a few creams/soaps that I haven't tried. I decided on Valobra Shave Stick, Razor Rock Chianti Lavendar soft soap, and Erasmic cream.
I've "payed my dues" with boars, pure badgers, hair, and mixed boar/badger. Though I consider all of my brushes to be great performers, The Colonel is my first "luxurious" badger brush and I wanted to chronicle the start of my journey with this brush.
View attachment 246170
Initial break-in: 15 minute soak in warm water, and worked an Omega cream lather (I've found the menthol helps neutralizes the badger funk). I let it sit in the cream for another 10 minutes. After that, I rinsed out the brush and dried by gently squeezing the remaining water and tenderly brushing it on a fresh terry cloth towel. I left the brush alone for an hour or so before I shaved with it. There are many other great ways to initially break-in a brush (mostly to neutralize the scent) but Simpson brushes don't exhibit such a pungent badger funk as much as other brands.
Shave #1 Cream: Valobra Shave Stick. http://www.westcoastshaving.com/Valobra-Sapone-Per-Barba-Hard-Shave-Stick_p_189.html
Scent: Clean, light vanilla-almond, subtle Ivory Soap, with a hint of fresh dairy type scent.
Soap Performance: Very creamy and thick, contains vitamin E and lecithin providing a luxurious feel on your skin. Equal balance of cushion and slickness. I'm very impressed with it's performance and it's most notable quality was how great my skin felt afterwards. It felt refreshed, soft, and moisturized.
Colonel's performance: This is what I've been waiting for. The first thing I noticed was how ergonomic the handle is. It felt comfortable holding the handle towards the bottom when loading in a mug (I couldn't resist bowl lathering a little bit). However, I usually hold the handle right below the loft for better control when lathering on my face.
The first time the brush touched my face I was impressed with the super soft but comfortable scrubbiness of the best badger. I tend to favor brushes that have an exfoliating effect. Though I enjoy the scritchiness of my Special in pure, the Colonel allowed me to give my face a relaxing rub using a circular motion without the pronounced scritch of a pure.
Now, when it came to backbone I wouldn't say the colonel is floppy but I wouldn't say it's super stiff either. It's in between, which can be viewed as a quality or flaw. It's a quality in my book. It adds versatility to the brush. As much as I enjoyed the gentle massage I was really impressed with how evenly I was able to distribute the soap when using the paint brush motion.
Overall, I am very impressed with the Colonel's initial performance and I know with a little more time it's going to get better.
I pulled the trigger on the Colonel and to celebrate the purchase I decided to get a few creams/soaps that I haven't tried. I decided on Valobra Shave Stick, Razor Rock Chianti Lavendar soft soap, and Erasmic cream.
I've "payed my dues" with boars, pure badgers, hair, and mixed boar/badger. Though I consider all of my brushes to be great performers, The Colonel is my first "luxurious" badger brush and I wanted to chronicle the start of my journey with this brush.
View attachment 246170
Initial break-in: 15 minute soak in warm water, and worked an Omega cream lather (I've found the menthol helps neutralizes the badger funk). I let it sit in the cream for another 10 minutes. After that, I rinsed out the brush and dried by gently squeezing the remaining water and tenderly brushing it on a fresh terry cloth towel. I left the brush alone for an hour or so before I shaved with it. There are many other great ways to initially break-in a brush (mostly to neutralize the scent) but Simpson brushes don't exhibit such a pungent badger funk as much as other brands.
Shave #1 Cream: Valobra Shave Stick. http://www.westcoastshaving.com/Valobra-Sapone-Per-Barba-Hard-Shave-Stick_p_189.html
Scent: Clean, light vanilla-almond, subtle Ivory Soap, with a hint of fresh dairy type scent.
Soap Performance: Very creamy and thick, contains vitamin E and lecithin providing a luxurious feel on your skin. Equal balance of cushion and slickness. I'm very impressed with it's performance and it's most notable quality was how great my skin felt afterwards. It felt refreshed, soft, and moisturized.
Colonel's performance: This is what I've been waiting for. The first thing I noticed was how ergonomic the handle is. It felt comfortable holding the handle towards the bottom when loading in a mug (I couldn't resist bowl lathering a little bit). However, I usually hold the handle right below the loft for better control when lathering on my face.
The first time the brush touched my face I was impressed with the super soft but comfortable scrubbiness of the best badger. I tend to favor brushes that have an exfoliating effect. Though I enjoy the scritchiness of my Special in pure, the Colonel allowed me to give my face a relaxing rub using a circular motion without the pronounced scritch of a pure.
Now, when it came to backbone I wouldn't say the colonel is floppy but I wouldn't say it's super stiff either. It's in between, which can be viewed as a quality or flaw. It's a quality in my book. It adds versatility to the brush. As much as I enjoyed the gentle massage I was really impressed with how evenly I was able to distribute the soap when using the paint brush motion.
Overall, I am very impressed with the Colonel's initial performance and I know with a little more time it's going to get better.
I know, I know. It's true though, Simpson brushes like company.
