B&B Community, I proudly present B&B’s next Brush Chronicle. Brush Chronicles are B&B's in depth examination of shaving brushes that puts them through their paces in all manner of uses. We hope to show what a brush can do and how well it can do it. The format is designed for one to two people to lead the discussion, posting regularly over the course of two weeks and recounting their experiences using the brush in question. The best Chronicles are those where many members join in the discussion and share their experiences. And the more pictures the better (even though I am a lousy photographer which is probably why I don’t post much photos to begin with).
The Manchurian - brought to me by the eminent Adam and John (aka @flask28 and @Tanuki) - is my most premium brush. From what I have found on the web (info from The Gentle Shave) this bad boy comes with a 28+mm knot measuring at 51mm loft, with an effective loft of 42-45mm. It weighs about 110 grams because of the solid copper handle. The height of the brush is about 115mm. Jim @Chan Eil Whiskers has written extensively (for example here on its first outing and here on perhaps more accurate measures). I thought it would be fitting for BADGERary to use a badger brush and why not my best of the best. It is also a brush I haven’t used extensively yet so it will be interesting to experience if there are any changes after a longer period of usage.
As usual I will be using the brush with a variety of soaps and for face and head shaving alike.
Today I started out with a croap - Proraso Green - which I smeared across my Captain’s Choice Bowl.
The Zenith had zero trouble in whipping up a great and rich lather.
This is a very dense brush and what I found in bringing the lather to my face is that it is not a splaying applicator, but rather a painting brush. I needed only painting motions to get the lather onto my face. Using a rotation motion with splay as I do when face lathering only drove the lather into the brush rather than onto my face.
The brush was damp, but maybe I need to soak it for a longer time than I do with boars and synthetics. That is exactly the point of doing these chronicles. Because a painting motion was more appropriate today I had more lather available for the final pass than I normally do. Post shave there was still plenty left.
And when I squeezed the brush for rinsing and cleaning all that glorious lather surfaced from the hairs. I might need to use the tips more tomorrow than the entire brush. That might be it.
In terms of feel the brush packs a firm amount of backbone yet feels soft to the face. A lovely and comfortable scritch.
If you have one yourself feel free to post your thoughts and experiences in this thread!
The Manchurian - brought to me by the eminent Adam and John (aka @flask28 and @Tanuki) - is my most premium brush. From what I have found on the web (info from The Gentle Shave) this bad boy comes with a 28+mm knot measuring at 51mm loft, with an effective loft of 42-45mm. It weighs about 110 grams because of the solid copper handle. The height of the brush is about 115mm. Jim @Chan Eil Whiskers has written extensively (for example here on its first outing and here on perhaps more accurate measures). I thought it would be fitting for BADGERary to use a badger brush and why not my best of the best. It is also a brush I haven’t used extensively yet so it will be interesting to experience if there are any changes after a longer period of usage.
As usual I will be using the brush with a variety of soaps and for face and head shaving alike.
Today I started out with a croap - Proraso Green - which I smeared across my Captain’s Choice Bowl.
The Zenith had zero trouble in whipping up a great and rich lather.
This is a very dense brush and what I found in bringing the lather to my face is that it is not a splaying applicator, but rather a painting brush. I needed only painting motions to get the lather onto my face. Using a rotation motion with splay as I do when face lathering only drove the lather into the brush rather than onto my face.
The brush was damp, but maybe I need to soak it for a longer time than I do with boars and synthetics. That is exactly the point of doing these chronicles. Because a painting motion was more appropriate today I had more lather available for the final pass than I normally do. Post shave there was still plenty left.
And when I squeezed the brush for rinsing and cleaning all that glorious lather surfaced from the hairs. I might need to use the tips more tomorrow than the entire brush. That might be it.
In terms of feel the brush packs a firm amount of backbone yet feels soft to the face. A lovely and comfortable scritch.
If you have one yourself feel free to post your thoughts and experiences in this thread!
