I'm a bowl latherer. I have a handful of brushes: 2 vintage boars, a cheap badger, a horse, and a synthetic and I know exactly how they behave and can make the perfect bowl lather (for me) every time. Plus, my face doesn't appreciate a lot of brush contact. That said, one of the boars, the horse, and the synthetic are plenty comfortable, I just couldn't get an acceptable lather on my face with them.
Enter this 24mm Yaqi two-band, recently purchased off the BST.
I've used it twice. Both times I've struggled to get a good lather in the bowl. It holds a lot of water, even after a bunch of shakes, and I just couldn't dial it in. However it's got really soft tips and lots of backbone so I thought, what the heck. Maybe I'll try face lathering again.
Mind. Blown. I shook out the brush after rinsing, loaded like normal, and hit my wet face with it, and had the perfect lather IN SECONDS. I mean, it looked right, it felt right, but I was still skeptical. Guess what? It was right. Shaved great. Second pass, I thought maybe I should add a little water. Nope... that was a mistake. Although the pass was fine, just very wet. Loaded a bit more soap for the third pass and it was perfect.
Today I just shook out the brush, loaded moderately, and again got perfect lather, in seconds, and just enough for three passes. And my face is just fine. This was with Stirling, one mutton and one beef. I'll give it a shot with Arko tomorrow.
Enter this 24mm Yaqi two-band, recently purchased off the BST.
I've used it twice. Both times I've struggled to get a good lather in the bowl. It holds a lot of water, even after a bunch of shakes, and I just couldn't dial it in. However it's got really soft tips and lots of backbone so I thought, what the heck. Maybe I'll try face lathering again.
Mind. Blown. I shook out the brush after rinsing, loaded like normal, and hit my wet face with it, and had the perfect lather IN SECONDS. I mean, it looked right, it felt right, but I was still skeptical. Guess what? It was right. Shaved great. Second pass, I thought maybe I should add a little water. Nope... that was a mistake. Although the pass was fine, just very wet. Loaded a bit more soap for the third pass and it was perfect.
Today I just shook out the brush, loaded moderately, and again got perfect lather, in seconds, and just enough for three passes. And my face is just fine. This was with Stirling, one mutton and one beef. I'll give it a shot with Arko tomorrow.