Hello all, and welcome to the 13th installment of the Brush Chronicles! Thanks to djh and beginish, the Brush Forum moderators, for allowing us this opportunity. dpmtherrien and I will be taking it in turns to feature our respective Vulfix brush. We hope to show how this venerable brush can handle soaps and creams alike. Their knots aren't as densely packed as Simpson, Shavemac, or Thater, but they are powerhouse brushes and worthy of note. Vulfix makes a great, very affordable brush perfect for the beginner or the veteran wet shaver.
We'll be featuring the 2233S and the 2234S; but this is a conversation, so join in everyone, and share your thoughts and post pics of your favorite Vulfix brush.
First up is my 2233 in Super Badger. It's a wee little powerhouse of a brush. It's the Bruce Lee of brushes; small, efficient, flexible, elegant, powerful. I'll take it through the range of software in my den and hopefully we'll get a chance to see how it handles a puck of Mitchell's Wool Fat before the end of the chronicle. I've got one coming in from Canada thanks to my friend Rockviper. If it comes in time we'll put the 2233S to the ultimate test and lather the Fat with it.
Let's have a look at the brush itself. This brush has a 20mm knot and a 49mm loft. The handle is small but comfortable. It's not a cheap molded handle either, no sir! This brush has a nice, solid, lathe turned handle giving the brush a nice quality feel. By way of comparison, here's the 2233S pictured next to my 1305 and my Duke 2 so you can get a sense of the size of this brush.
1305 left/2233S center/Duke2 right
The knot is not nearly as densely packed as the Simpson Duke 2 but it's by no means sparse. It's probably one of the least densely packed Super Badger brushes out there, but that doesn't keep it from being a lathering beast. This brush lathers like crazy; bowl lathering, face lathering, it does it all and it does it well.
Today we'll test this brush with Proraso soft soap. After about 20 seconds of loading this is the result. I find this brush picks up soap and makes a great proto-lather on triple milled and soft soaps alike with tremendous ease. Now, wouldn't you like to start building lather with this?
After a little face lathering this is the result. This brush is brimming with lather. I had plenty for my three pass shave and some to spare. Many call this brush floppy but I don't think that's a fair assessment. We need a different adjective for this brush but I have yet to come up with one that does it justice. To me a floppy brush is a brush that's an uncontrollable mop on your face. This brush is nothing of the sort. While it is soft and splays very easily, it's also very easy to control and has excellent flow through. The brush releases lather really easily but without dropping it all over the place. I think a good brush should both hold lather and give it up, depositing it on your face when you need it. This brush does just that.
The Super Badger hair of the 2233S is probably not as plush as other brand's version of Super Badger. In fact, I'd say without a doubt that the Best hair in my Duke 2 has much softer tips, but this brush is by no means scritchy. It's just not as luxurious as a more expensive brush. But hey, for about $50.00 this is a fantastic brush.
New wet shavers should consider this brush over an inexpensive pure badger brush. It lathers better than a pure badger brush, as well any higher end brush, and is much easier on the face without being hard on the wallet. If I had known about this brush when I began wet shaving I never would have gotten that scritchy, stabby, pure badger brush that I started out with.
Finally, here's the brush rinsed and ready to dry for the next shave.
We'll be featuring the 2233S and the 2234S; but this is a conversation, so join in everyone, and share your thoughts and post pics of your favorite Vulfix brush.
First up is my 2233 in Super Badger. It's a wee little powerhouse of a brush. It's the Bruce Lee of brushes; small, efficient, flexible, elegant, powerful. I'll take it through the range of software in my den and hopefully we'll get a chance to see how it handles a puck of Mitchell's Wool Fat before the end of the chronicle. I've got one coming in from Canada thanks to my friend Rockviper. If it comes in time we'll put the 2233S to the ultimate test and lather the Fat with it.
Let's have a look at the brush itself. This brush has a 20mm knot and a 49mm loft. The handle is small but comfortable. It's not a cheap molded handle either, no sir! This brush has a nice, solid, lathe turned handle giving the brush a nice quality feel. By way of comparison, here's the 2233S pictured next to my 1305 and my Duke 2 so you can get a sense of the size of this brush.
1305 left/2233S center/Duke2 right
The knot is not nearly as densely packed as the Simpson Duke 2 but it's by no means sparse. It's probably one of the least densely packed Super Badger brushes out there, but that doesn't keep it from being a lathering beast. This brush lathers like crazy; bowl lathering, face lathering, it does it all and it does it well.
2233S left/Duke 2 right
Today we'll test this brush with Proraso soft soap. After about 20 seconds of loading this is the result. I find this brush picks up soap and makes a great proto-lather on triple milled and soft soaps alike with tremendous ease. Now, wouldn't you like to start building lather with this?
After a little face lathering this is the result. This brush is brimming with lather. I had plenty for my three pass shave and some to spare. Many call this brush floppy but I don't think that's a fair assessment. We need a different adjective for this brush but I have yet to come up with one that does it justice. To me a floppy brush is a brush that's an uncontrollable mop on your face. This brush is nothing of the sort. While it is soft and splays very easily, it's also very easy to control and has excellent flow through. The brush releases lather really easily but without dropping it all over the place. I think a good brush should both hold lather and give it up, depositing it on your face when you need it. This brush does just that.
The Super Badger hair of the 2233S is probably not as plush as other brand's version of Super Badger. In fact, I'd say without a doubt that the Best hair in my Duke 2 has much softer tips, but this brush is by no means scritchy. It's just not as luxurious as a more expensive brush. But hey, for about $50.00 this is a fantastic brush.
New wet shavers should consider this brush over an inexpensive pure badger brush. It lathers better than a pure badger brush, as well any higher end brush, and is much easier on the face without being hard on the wallet. If I had known about this brush when I began wet shaving I never would have gotten that scritchy, stabby, pure badger brush that I started out with.
Finally, here's the brush rinsed and ready to dry for the next shave.
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