What's new

Impression of Vie-Long LE Butterscotch Beehive in Natural Horse Hair

First off I would like to thank Phil from Bullgoose Shaving Supplies for making this brush available in the Interdependence Day Contest.

Having used this brush almost exclusively for the last two weeks, I feel that I can give an honest evaluation.

Look and Feel
Being my first butterscotch brush, I did not realize how "orange" they where. When I first opened the package I was a little set back by it as it reminded me (and still does) of a pumpkin.

Within a matter of days having it and looking at other butterscotch brushes, I fell in love with the color. I now find it to be as beautiful as my Vintage Stanley Home (StanHome) Badger Hair in Lucite with a black cap.

Where this brush excels over any brush that I own is in the beehive shape. The deep ridges in the brush offers superior holding even with the slickest lather on it. The round shape feels very comfortable and natural in your hands.

Hair and Break-In
This is my second horse hair, my first being the Vie-Long Sardinero 13800 Horse Hair. The Sardinero, while being a beautiful looking brush was an extreme disappoint. The brush lost all backbone and looks jagged and hollow after break in. My wife will likes it, as she tends to paint the lather on her legs, so at least it is being used.

The LE Butterscotch Beehive Horse Hair on the other hand has broken in fantastically. The hair is softer than I had expected. I have read many reports that natural horse hair was more stritchy than dyed horse hair, but in this case, that is not the truth. This is much softer than the Sardinero and even softer than any budget badger hair brush that I own.

The backbone remains very strong, while the tips are nice and soft.

Lathering and Performance
Although I bowl lather 90% of the time, I have found that this brush is a joy to use for both bowl and face lathering. Not only does it produce an enormous amount of lather, it holds enough water within the hair that very little, if any additional water needs to be added after loading the brush.

When bowl lathering I see immediate results, compared to other brushes that seem to first put a lot of air bubbles into the lather.

While face lathering, the hairs are soft enough to not irritate your skin, while there is enough backbone to really put on the pressure and exfoliate your skin.

Conclusion
I love this brush. It is now my daily go to brush. I would highly recommend this to anyone that would like to try a horse hair.

Mountains of lather, soft hair, and good back bone...there is not much more that one could want from a brush.

proxy.php



proxy.php
 
Last edited:
Nice review , I may have to try one... Gorgeous brush , and I love the beehive shape....the lathers that I've seen you make with this are really nice and lush ....an exceptional value brush.
 

Intrigued

Bigfoot & Bagel aficionado.
Thanks for posting this review, Arley. I keep thinking I should add a horse hair brush or two to my stable.
 
Arley, excellent review.

I have the 13061 Dyed Zurito and if I were buying now, I would stay with the non-dyed brush based on the retention of backbone. Also tail / mane hair mix is important in the backbone versus softness debate.

Sargon said:
On Vie-Long brushes... they have 3 basic hair mixes. The dyed are the softest, being 50% mane and 50% tail ( the mane is softer), the other unbleached are 35% mane, 65% tail, with the exception of their pro brush ( which is 25% mane, 75% tail). All of their brushes undergo a softening process, except for a couple of models of their pro brush.

The grip on that must truly be excellent! Enjoy in good health.
 
Nice review, I was also surprised at the softness of the tips out of the box and think V-L has improved they're method of processing the knot hair. I ordered another Natural Brown Horse recently from Gifts & Care and it had the same softness out of the box. I find a couple of shakes to remove the excess water works well with all my V-L horses and usually need one dip to bring the lather to the wet consistency I like. Lastly, I think the "Butterscotch" is on the orange side as well and really like the way it looks, I'd imagine the Butterscotch color would vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, as well as how the Butterscotch is processed.
 
never a fan of the buterscotch colour myself but the more i see your pictures of it th more it is growing on me, great review Arley glad you are happy with the brush makes losing the contest feel not o bad to see the winner enjoyingit so much ! lol
 
I got one of these right after Phil put them on the market. It is a great brush and Arley's review is spot on. The shape really works for gripping. A great brush.
 
Nice review. I saw the beehive butterscotch and was glad they were making horsehairs that will appeal to a larger audience. Someday soon I'll try one (Vintage horsehairs are HORRIBLE and scared me off these).

"Vintage/True/Natural/whatever" Butterscotch varies a lot based on how it aged, how long, what it looked like at the start. Etc. I've seen more orange, more pale/yellow (I'm partial to the paler ones) and everything in between. That's why when people comment on these fakes not looking like "real" butterscotch, I'm like... well, what REAL butterscotch are you comparing them too.

My personal favorite butterscotch is the one example I have that still shows the ivory pattern. It's a gas. I just thought it was a weird patterned orange brush until I was cleaning up inside to fit the knot in and saw the same pattern in there in brilliantly shining Ivory white.
 

Attachments

  • $PICT0397.JPG
    $PICT0397.JPG
    14.2 KB · Views: 310
Very nice brush! I have a 12705 on the way from G&C with the brown horse hair. Although the knot is only 23mm, if I end up liking it as much as my bleached horse hair brush, I'll be picking up that very butterscotch model from BG.
 
Great review, thanks for posting.

I have one also, and I can fully agree with your findings.
Good backbone, good firm yet soft tips with a bit of scritch, great performer, great ergonomics and a real looker in the den.

It is a good companion to the other Beehive that I have in badger / horse mix.
This knot is natural horse (35% mane hair and 65% tail hair).

This brush shines with soaps, but I have not tried it with creams yet (not much of a cream user anyway).

At if I remember correctly $42 not the cheapest brush in the house, but a great value for money.
 
Last edited:
Is this the same knot as in the Vie-Long 14033M? The stats say the Beehive is 1mm bigger and 1mm higher, but other than that are they about the same?

$vie-long-horse-hair-shaving-brush-14033m.jpg

Phil is an awesome vender, but I really like this handle a lot more.
 
Very nice, i love how that brush looks. Im not sure if id get this or the red/white marbled vie long *** my first horse hair brush. They're both such amazing handles.
 
Is this the same knot as in the Vie-Long 14033M? The stats say the Beehive is 1mm bigger and 1mm higher, but other than that are they about the same?

View attachment 262388

Phil is an awesome vender, but I really like this handle a lot more.

I believe it is, I have the Beehive Natural Brown Horse and the V-L 14830M Horse, though the V-L knot is only 23mm the Tips of both brushes were very soft and had less scritch out of the box than many of my older V-L Horse Brushes. 14830M & V-L Horse/Badger sandwiching my TGN Black Badger.
 

Attachments

  • $IMG_3087.jpg
    $IMG_3087.jpg
    47 KB · Views: 246
Top Bottom