Loving the Colonel!

[Mad Dog]

I recently pulled the trigger on a Colonel X2L from WCS. The first few days were disappointing - weak lather, brush not releasing lather, etc. After several test lathers, I had a eureka moment tonight, and have learned two very important things:

1. You REALLY have to load this brush
2. If you face lather, you have to spend a few minutes to work the moistened soap out of the brush before you start adding water and lathering

With my old brush - a C&E pure badger, working the soap onto the face before lathering was a 2 second job -- that's about all the soap that the brush could hold. Not with this guy. Once I realized this, the brush exploded with delicious lather. Unbelievable how much lather came forth.

Anyway, thought I'd share my excitement. Can't wait to shave tomorrow.

 

[taco8slo]

Good stuff, its a great feeling when a brush works out nicely, hope you enjoy many shaves with the Colonel!

 

[Teddyboy]

If you face lather, you have to spend a few minutes to work the moistened soap out of the brush before you start adding water and lathering.

What does this mean?

 

[sparco]

Great to hear you are enjoying your Colonel. I just recently purchased one in Best Badger for my dads birthday. I will hand it over to him in the start of october. Really looking forward to it, since this will be his first brush and experience with traditional shaving.(?)


@ Teddyboy: I think, what Mad Dog is trying to say, is that you need to work to get the cream/soap out to the tip of the brush before you start building lather. Put in another term, the brush wont create lather if its hidden inside the crown inbetween the middle of the loft.

Please dont mind my, sometimes poor english and lack of words.

 

[Mad Dog]

Sparco, thanks for clarifying my comments. Yes, that is what I meant. The loaded brush traps so much soap inside that you have to work the soap on the face for quite some time to get all the soap out. I know it sounds obvious, but to someone who learned DE shaving with a more "open" brush like the C&E pure badger, this was a revelation. The C&E brush would release the soap very quickly, so a couple of swipes on the face got the soap out, then you were ready to start lathering it. The Colonel requires more work, but it's well worth it.

 

[JLuger]

My Colonel is my main brush, and I love it. I spend a bit of time on the puck as well as my face, but once loaded, I could shave indefinitely without adding more soap, and only occasionally a touch of water. It performs great with my main soaps, Cella, Valobra, P160 and Proraso. I sort of want to buy a new brush, just out of AD, but I am too satisfied with this.

 

[Mad Dog]

For you face latherering Colonel users out there, do you shake the brush out thoroughly and then load the soap, or does the brush prefer 1 or 2 quick shakes and then loading? My C&E worked really well when the water was almost completely wrung out, then loaded. This of course meant adding quite a bit of water as I face lathered.

 

[celestino]

Enjoy the Colonel!

 

[Watasha]

Colonel may be my next brush, glad to hear you like yours.

Btw, did the Carey Grant avatar throw anyone else for a loop for a sec?

 

[jazzguy]

It really depends on what soap I am using but generally I get the best results out of the Colonel starting with a drier brush.

For you face latherering Colonel users out there, do you shake the brush out thoroughly and then load the soap, or does the brush prefer 1 or 2 quick shakes and then loading? My C&E worked really well when the water was almost completely wrung out, then loaded. This of course meant adding quite a bit of water as I face lathered.

 

[Mad Dog]

Btw, did the Carey Grant avatar throw anyone else for a loop for a sec?

Well, why not......that's what I see when I look in the mirror. Wait a minute, who taped that picture there??

 

[mcgils]

I love it when a brush reveals its secrets. Enjoy the Colonel.

 

[Oscroft]

The first few days were disappointing - weak lather, brush not releasing lather, etc. After several test lathers, I had a eureka moment tonight, and have learned two very important things:

1. You REALLY have to load this brush
2. If you face lather, you have to spend a few minutes to work the moistened soap out of the brush before you start adding water and lathering

I experienced exactly the same with my Duke 2. If your Colonel is anything like the Duke, it should open up even more after a bit of use, and should start releasing lather more easily.