I recently received a Vie Long natural brush. It's fairly stiff right now, will it ease up with break in? I ordered it set at 49 loft.
Horse hair scritch-does it relax ?
- Thread starter RVshave
- Start date
Somewhat, I think. More than badger does, but not as much as boar.
I believe this to be true for the most part. My horse brush took a little getting used to and I eventually came to terms with the fact that it will never be as soft as my badger brushes. But, all of my badger brushes are either silvertip or super two and three bands. I have no pure or best badger brushes..... except for my Edwin Jagger travel brush which gets almost no use. That being said, I enjoy the full lather and heat retention I get from my Vie-Long 13061B Natural White 50/50 horse (loft set at 47 mm)...... it seems to outperform the boars in my collection in these respects. My well broken in boars feel good on my face, but they do not hold as much lather as my Vie-Long..... or retain the hear as well. I have to go back to the puck in between passes more often with my boars.
The horse has it's advantages, but mine is a little scritchy..... not that I mind a little scritch every so often.
Ben
It relaxes and becomes quite pliable. I had a well broken in 13061 that I PIF'd and I still have my Bullgoose 2012 LE beehive (a denser version of the 13061 knot) - great brushes that I can heartily recommend
The beehive is at it best with triple milled soaps, as it really picks up a lot of soap and releases it well. It is fine with creams, but for those I prefer the way a silvertip whips up a lather.
I exclusively face lather and the horsehair brush comes up in rotation every 7 days. It does drop a hair every couple of shaves, but is by no means a shedder. I found that soaking the knot half-way (vs fully submerged) dramatically slowed the hairs coming out of the knot/breaking out from the knot.
It will always have a bit of scrub, but not significantly more than my shavemac D01 2-Band brush
The beehive is at it best with triple milled soaps, as it really picks up a lot of soap and releases it well. It is fine with creams, but for those I prefer the way a silvertip whips up a lather.
I exclusively face lather and the horsehair brush comes up in rotation every 7 days. It does drop a hair every couple of shaves, but is by no means a shedder. I found that soaking the knot half-way (vs fully submerged) dramatically slowed the hairs coming out of the knot/breaking out from the knot.
It will always have a bit of scrub, but not significantly more than my shavemac D01 2-Band brush
It will soften up over the next dozen shaves.You can hasten the process by giving the brush a 3 minute soak in Mar-V-Cide every 10 shaves...Remember not to use too much pressure when lathering,this causes a "hole" to form dead center in the knot.Horse hair has different characteristics than boar or badger..
Mine softened after 20-25 uses. At first I didn't like it as I abhor scritch, but I was committed to it and now it's my go-to brush. The one thing I like about it is that it makes great lather but seemingly doesn't use much product. When I do a comparison against a 2band finest brush of the same size as my HH, the lather amount is more or less the same but I see that the badger uses more soap.
I am currently breaking in my first white horse. I do have a 13061 natural brown horse (fan) and it does have some scratch to it. The tips of the longer hairs are super soft and if your apply very gentle pressure only when face lathering you avoid the scratchy hairs that provide the backbone.
The white horse, although just a different color, it seems to be a "different animal". It did have some real strong funk to it when wet, I thought the entire bathroom was smelling of horse
. The hairs where really coarse and stiff and I already thought I made a mistake. However the brush tips are getting so soft, it's already softer than my SOC 2-band or TGN finest but with tons of backbone. Once I used it a couple of more times I'll post some pics and a short review. It's also a fan shape (custom, set at 48mm).
The white horse, although just a different color, it seems to be a "different animal". It did have some real strong funk to it when wet, I thought the entire bathroom was smelling of horse
. The hairs where really coarse and stiff and I already thought I made a mistake. However the brush tips are getting so soft, it's already softer than my SOC 2-band or TGN finest but with tons of backbone. Once I used it a couple of more times I'll post some pics and a short review. It's also a fan shape (custom, set at 48mm).
I couldn't stand mine at first because the scritch was so irritating but 20 shaves in and I love it. So for me, it did subside and has become my favorite brush.
