(I suspect that we'll be seeing a lot of reviews over the next few weeks for Yaqi brushes, due to the "11.11" blowout sale on AliExpress. Therefore, to get out ahead of that, I figure that I should report on the Yaqi Red Marble 26mm Tuxedo shaving brush that was generously PIFed to me by @CanuckShaver back in October.)
Well, I didn't really have any expectations for this brush, considering that the only thing that I knew was that it had a synthetic knot and was cheap as dirt. I had never used a synthetic brush before and most of what I'd heard about them wasn't flattering. However, now that I've thoroughly put this brush through its paces (as of this post, I've used it everyday for two weeks), I feel confident that I can offer a useful review.
Out of the box, I found the red and black marbling on the resin handle to be quite eye-catching. The Tuxedo knot, with its unusual jet black hair shafts and snowy white tips, also was curiously attractive. Together, they combine to give this brush a striking appearance. There was no smell to speak of; no plasticky or chemical-like odours. There was certainly no funk like many natural hair brushes.
The first thing that I needed to do was to clean the brush. There was some lint in the knot and the handle had some light staining on it. This turned out to be residue from the factory. I described the process that I used to clean/disinfect the brush in this thread. (Note: In that thread, I described the brush as having a 24mm knot. In a later post, I noted that I'd actually been sent a 26mm.)
Once cleaned, I decided to thoroughly test it with a variety of products to gauge how it would perform. So, over the last two weeks, I used the following soaps and creams with the brush: LEA Classic (cream in a tin), Proraso Green & White tubs, Pacific Shaving Co. Natural & Caffeinated creams, Williams Mug Soap, Nivea Sensitive, Gillette Pure, and Omega (cream in a tub; old formula).
(TLDR if you're already getting bored: They all lathered up easily using the same basic technique. See below.)
Before starting, I had some concerns about the ability of the Tuxedo knot to retain water. For years, I had read that synthetics have extremely poor water retention. Even as recently as this week, there are comments about water dribbling out of synthetics and having to constantly dip them while lathering. However, I quickly found that this knot is so densely-packed that it holds water like a sponge. In fact, I had to whip it over the bathtub with force to get most of the water out of it. Gently shaking it over the sink like I do with my natural hair brushes was completely ineffectual at removing water. Squeezing the knot was reasonably effective at getting the water out, but I sometimes found that more needed to be removed. I found this out the hard way after my first test-lather without shaking out the excess water; I just created a big runny mess.
Therefore, water retention was not an issue. In fact, holding too much water was the actual issue.
Heat retention was another area that I'd read was a sore point. I'd also heard that some synthetics felt clammy on the skin. After dunking it in warm water, squeezing the excess water out, then lathering up, I was pleased to find that this brush did not cool off or get clammy. I think that the aforementioned densely-packed knot probably helps in this regard.
Having said that, heat retention is still not up to par with natural hair brushes, particularly badger. This brush cooled off faster than any of my badger brushes would have. On the other hand, it's not as bad as I was led to believe.
At this point, I have to say that I think that many of these complaints are merely stereotypes that are being parroted without any real basis in fact. Some early synthetic knots (which I understand were mostly made of nylon) may have had these types of issues, but it seems obvious that the design of modern synthetics (which are now made with thermoplastics) have been carefully thought out to minimize (or eliminate) the problems of the past. I wonder if the people who are making these comments have looked at modern synthetic brushes in an objective fashion. It seems hard to believe considering the vehemence with which many of these comments are being made. But, I guess this is a prime example of the old idiom: Your Mileage May Vary.
The general description of the Tuxedo knot is accurate: Very soft tips and lots of backbone. In fact, I've heard many shavers comment that there's too much backbone, leading to insufficient splay, which made face-lathering difficult. I was worried that this would be the case for me because when I first pressed the brush against my face, I did notice a lot of resistance. Actually, it was much higher than any other brush that I'd tried before. However, there's a tipping point, so to speak, where if you keep pressing, the brush readily splays out and requires almost no pressure to stay splayed. Then, during re-lathers, the brush doesn't need undue pressure against your face to splay; when loaded with lather, the hairs stay partially splayed (i.e. they don't spring back to their original starting positions). This makes subsequent lathering a simple affair. Therefore, I found the brush to be quite enjoyable to face-lather with. As mentioned earlier, the Tuxedo knot has extremely soft tips, so the overall face-feel of this brush is extraordinary. The most descriptive word that comes to mind is "luxurious".
As for the knot itself, I examined it with a jeweller's loupe and noted that the hairs have shafts that start out fairly broad, but gradually taper as they near the tips. That probably helps to explain the combination of firm backbone, but soft tips. Also, on my brush, I noticed that some of the hair shafts have a slight spiral twist to them. I wonder if this is why the brush is able to retain water so well? Also, some of the tips have a slight curl at the ends and a few even appear to have split ends. I don't know if this is by design or if those hairs have actually been damaged somehow. Whatever the case, I suspect that this contributes to the softness of the tips.
One other part of the knot that is noteworthy is the size of the glue bump. In @nav's reviews, there are some comments about the height of the glue bumps of various Yaqi knots and the effect that they had on the performance of the brushes. In a nutshell, it was reported that a glue bump around 5mm isn't an issue, but glue bumps of 10mm or more can affect the way that the knot splays and the way that the brush feels on the face. In the case of my brush, the glue bump is right at 5mm (as measured with the depth rod of a dial caliper). As mentioned above, the face-feel of this brush is quite luxurious. However, I don't know if that has to do with the glue bump being on the low end of the scale or if it would feel luxurious regardless of its size; I have no other Yaqi brushes to compare it to.
I found that a different technique is needed to build lather compared to my natural hair brushes. As noted earlier, I actually had to get rid of excess water. After three firm shakes over the bathtub, the hairs felt almost dry to the touch. It felt odd to begin lathering with the brush in that state, but I forged ahead. I loaded the brush with product (LEA Classic during my first real shave with this brush), then face-lathered. After a few swirls, I added a dribble of water. Eventually, I had a rather tight, somewhat dry lather (reminded me of really thick Greek yogourt). But, after adding another dribble of water, it exploded into copious amounts of rich, glossy lather; enough for four good passes (that day, I did three normal passes with a Slim Adjustable and a touchup pass with a Tech) with plenty to spare. Frankly, making lather with this brush was much easier than I thought it would be. (In the photo below, I added a few drops of water and started hand-lathering after I had already finished shaving. As I said, lather was practically exploding out of this thing.)
Another thing that I noticed was that this brush doesn't have a problem releasing lather onto my face unlike my badger brushes which seem to hog it up. I didn't have to squeeze any lather out of the knot to continue shaving; I just swirled the brush on my face a few times and I was ready for another pass.
The other interesting feature that surprised me is one that many people have commented on: Synthetic knots dry very quickly. After rinsing, I shook out the excess water and gently dabbed the tips on a towel. Then, I left it on the vanity, sitting on its base. In less than two hours, it was dry. So, unlike my usual routine of rotating several natural hair brushes to allow them to dry completely, I can use the same brush everyday. I suppose it's unnecessary to dry out a synthetic brush between uses. But, it's a nice feature, especially if I ever travel with it.
The last performance trait that I need to mention is that there has been no shedding, at all. Neither the cleaning process nor my everyday use of the brush over the last two weeks has produced any loose hairs. In their item descriptions, Yaqi warns that their brushes may lose hairs up to four times after the first use, though, so maybe my experience is atypical.
Finally, I wanted to comment a bit more about the physical characteristics of the brush...
The build quality is excellent; the finish is smooth and blemish-free. As I mentioned earlier, the combination of the "red marble" resin handle and the unusual colouration of the knot is really quite dazzling.
As measured with a caliper, the loft is 60mm and the handle height is 68mm for a total height of 128mm. This jibes exactly with the stated dimensions from Yaqi's item description. The weight of the brush is 115 grams (dry). My former preferred brush (an Omega 10005 boar) is 108 mm tall and weighs only 60 grams, so the Yaqi feels quite solid and weighty in comparison. I was worried that the sheer size of this brush might be a hindrance when face-lathering, but I found that the shape of the handle fits comfortably in my hand. I didn't notice the extra size or weight while lathering.
The knot is a typical bulb shape. To my eye, it looked like it was bulging slightly at its base. That might be barely detectable in the photo above. I gave the base a good squeeze where it enters the handle and could see that the plug is fairly wide. I measured the widest extent at 27.70mm (had to eyeball it a bit). Compare that to the diameter of the bore in the handle at 28.51 mm. I'm unsure on this point, but I suspect that the tightness of the fit also contributes to the noticeable backbone of my particular brush. It also makes me ponder whether the knot is actually bigger than the stated 26mm. (Maybe someone can educate me on what these numbers really mean!)
Anyway, in conclusion: Overall, I think that this is a great brush. It has an attractive and functional design, exhibits excellent build quality, performs extremely well, and is surprisingly affordable. If you're still skeptical about the performance of synthetics, then this or another Yaqi brush might be a good way to introduce (or re-introduce) yourself to them. It worked for me; I went into this process as a skeptic and came out as a convert. I've already been using this brush for two weeks straight and don't see a reason why I shouldn't keep using it everyday from now on.
(Thanks for reading.)
Well, I didn't really have any expectations for this brush, considering that the only thing that I knew was that it had a synthetic knot and was cheap as dirt. I had never used a synthetic brush before and most of what I'd heard about them wasn't flattering. However, now that I've thoroughly put this brush through its paces (as of this post, I've used it everyday for two weeks), I feel confident that I can offer a useful review.
Out of the box, I found the red and black marbling on the resin handle to be quite eye-catching. The Tuxedo knot, with its unusual jet black hair shafts and snowy white tips, also was curiously attractive. Together, they combine to give this brush a striking appearance. There was no smell to speak of; no plasticky or chemical-like odours. There was certainly no funk like many natural hair brushes.
The first thing that I needed to do was to clean the brush. There was some lint in the knot and the handle had some light staining on it. This turned out to be residue from the factory. I described the process that I used to clean/disinfect the brush in this thread. (Note: In that thread, I described the brush as having a 24mm knot. In a later post, I noted that I'd actually been sent a 26mm.)
Once cleaned, I decided to thoroughly test it with a variety of products to gauge how it would perform. So, over the last two weeks, I used the following soaps and creams with the brush: LEA Classic (cream in a tin), Proraso Green & White tubs, Pacific Shaving Co. Natural & Caffeinated creams, Williams Mug Soap, Nivea Sensitive, Gillette Pure, and Omega (cream in a tub; old formula).
(TLDR if you're already getting bored: They all lathered up easily using the same basic technique. See below.)
Before starting, I had some concerns about the ability of the Tuxedo knot to retain water. For years, I had read that synthetics have extremely poor water retention. Even as recently as this week, there are comments about water dribbling out of synthetics and having to constantly dip them while lathering. However, I quickly found that this knot is so densely-packed that it holds water like a sponge. In fact, I had to whip it over the bathtub with force to get most of the water out of it. Gently shaking it over the sink like I do with my natural hair brushes was completely ineffectual at removing water. Squeezing the knot was reasonably effective at getting the water out, but I sometimes found that more needed to be removed. I found this out the hard way after my first test-lather without shaking out the excess water; I just created a big runny mess.
Therefore, water retention was not an issue. In fact, holding too much water was the actual issue.
Heat retention was another area that I'd read was a sore point. I'd also heard that some synthetics felt clammy on the skin. After dunking it in warm water, squeezing the excess water out, then lathering up, I was pleased to find that this brush did not cool off or get clammy. I think that the aforementioned densely-packed knot probably helps in this regard.
Having said that, heat retention is still not up to par with natural hair brushes, particularly badger. This brush cooled off faster than any of my badger brushes would have. On the other hand, it's not as bad as I was led to believe.
At this point, I have to say that I think that many of these complaints are merely stereotypes that are being parroted without any real basis in fact. Some early synthetic knots (which I understand were mostly made of nylon) may have had these types of issues, but it seems obvious that the design of modern synthetics (which are now made with thermoplastics) have been carefully thought out to minimize (or eliminate) the problems of the past. I wonder if the people who are making these comments have looked at modern synthetic brushes in an objective fashion. It seems hard to believe considering the vehemence with which many of these comments are being made. But, I guess this is a prime example of the old idiom: Your Mileage May Vary.
The general description of the Tuxedo knot is accurate: Very soft tips and lots of backbone. In fact, I've heard many shavers comment that there's too much backbone, leading to insufficient splay, which made face-lathering difficult. I was worried that this would be the case for me because when I first pressed the brush against my face, I did notice a lot of resistance. Actually, it was much higher than any other brush that I'd tried before. However, there's a tipping point, so to speak, where if you keep pressing, the brush readily splays out and requires almost no pressure to stay splayed. Then, during re-lathers, the brush doesn't need undue pressure against your face to splay; when loaded with lather, the hairs stay partially splayed (i.e. they don't spring back to their original starting positions). This makes subsequent lathering a simple affair. Therefore, I found the brush to be quite enjoyable to face-lather with. As mentioned earlier, the Tuxedo knot has extremely soft tips, so the overall face-feel of this brush is extraordinary. The most descriptive word that comes to mind is "luxurious".
As for the knot itself, I examined it with a jeweller's loupe and noted that the hairs have shafts that start out fairly broad, but gradually taper as they near the tips. That probably helps to explain the combination of firm backbone, but soft tips. Also, on my brush, I noticed that some of the hair shafts have a slight spiral twist to them. I wonder if this is why the brush is able to retain water so well? Also, some of the tips have a slight curl at the ends and a few even appear to have split ends. I don't know if this is by design or if those hairs have actually been damaged somehow. Whatever the case, I suspect that this contributes to the softness of the tips.
One other part of the knot that is noteworthy is the size of the glue bump. In @nav's reviews, there are some comments about the height of the glue bumps of various Yaqi knots and the effect that they had on the performance of the brushes. In a nutshell, it was reported that a glue bump around 5mm isn't an issue, but glue bumps of 10mm or more can affect the way that the knot splays and the way that the brush feels on the face. In the case of my brush, the glue bump is right at 5mm (as measured with the depth rod of a dial caliper). As mentioned above, the face-feel of this brush is quite luxurious. However, I don't know if that has to do with the glue bump being on the low end of the scale or if it would feel luxurious regardless of its size; I have no other Yaqi brushes to compare it to.
I found that a different technique is needed to build lather compared to my natural hair brushes. As noted earlier, I actually had to get rid of excess water. After three firm shakes over the bathtub, the hairs felt almost dry to the touch. It felt odd to begin lathering with the brush in that state, but I forged ahead. I loaded the brush with product (LEA Classic during my first real shave with this brush), then face-lathered. After a few swirls, I added a dribble of water. Eventually, I had a rather tight, somewhat dry lather (reminded me of really thick Greek yogourt). But, after adding another dribble of water, it exploded into copious amounts of rich, glossy lather; enough for four good passes (that day, I did three normal passes with a Slim Adjustable and a touchup pass with a Tech) with plenty to spare. Frankly, making lather with this brush was much easier than I thought it would be. (In the photo below, I added a few drops of water and started hand-lathering after I had already finished shaving. As I said, lather was practically exploding out of this thing.)
Another thing that I noticed was that this brush doesn't have a problem releasing lather onto my face unlike my badger brushes which seem to hog it up. I didn't have to squeeze any lather out of the knot to continue shaving; I just swirled the brush on my face a few times and I was ready for another pass.
The other interesting feature that surprised me is one that many people have commented on: Synthetic knots dry very quickly. After rinsing, I shook out the excess water and gently dabbed the tips on a towel. Then, I left it on the vanity, sitting on its base. In less than two hours, it was dry. So, unlike my usual routine of rotating several natural hair brushes to allow them to dry completely, I can use the same brush everyday. I suppose it's unnecessary to dry out a synthetic brush between uses. But, it's a nice feature, especially if I ever travel with it.
The last performance trait that I need to mention is that there has been no shedding, at all. Neither the cleaning process nor my everyday use of the brush over the last two weeks has produced any loose hairs. In their item descriptions, Yaqi warns that their brushes may lose hairs up to four times after the first use, though, so maybe my experience is atypical.
Finally, I wanted to comment a bit more about the physical characteristics of the brush...
The build quality is excellent; the finish is smooth and blemish-free. As I mentioned earlier, the combination of the "red marble" resin handle and the unusual colouration of the knot is really quite dazzling.
As measured with a caliper, the loft is 60mm and the handle height is 68mm for a total height of 128mm. This jibes exactly with the stated dimensions from Yaqi's item description. The weight of the brush is 115 grams (dry). My former preferred brush (an Omega 10005 boar) is 108 mm tall and weighs only 60 grams, so the Yaqi feels quite solid and weighty in comparison. I was worried that the sheer size of this brush might be a hindrance when face-lathering, but I found that the shape of the handle fits comfortably in my hand. I didn't notice the extra size or weight while lathering.
The knot is a typical bulb shape. To my eye, it looked like it was bulging slightly at its base. That might be barely detectable in the photo above. I gave the base a good squeeze where it enters the handle and could see that the plug is fairly wide. I measured the widest extent at 27.70mm (had to eyeball it a bit). Compare that to the diameter of the bore in the handle at 28.51 mm. I'm unsure on this point, but I suspect that the tightness of the fit also contributes to the noticeable backbone of my particular brush. It also makes me ponder whether the knot is actually bigger than the stated 26mm. (Maybe someone can educate me on what these numbers really mean!)
Anyway, in conclusion: Overall, I think that this is a great brush. It has an attractive and functional design, exhibits excellent build quality, performs extremely well, and is surprisingly affordable. If you're still skeptical about the performance of synthetics, then this or another Yaqi brush might be a good way to introduce (or re-introduce) yourself to them. It worked for me; I went into this process as a skeptic and came out as a convert. I've already been using this brush for two weeks straight and don't see a reason why I shouldn't keep using it everyday from now on.
(Thanks for reading.)
