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Girls call me Makaluod
Yesterday I received a Vielong Rolhó 24mm knot of brown horsehair, my first horsehair shaving brush.
As received, it had no smell, either wet or dry. Remember, I love that fine fragrant scent of ARKO! 
I always face lather. My other brushes are of badger (3), boar (1) and synthetic (3), with a no-brand Chinese synthetic 19mm brush getting almost exclusive use. This morning was my first lathering with the Rolhó and I am comparing it against my no-brand Chinese synthetic.
I had previously been advised by some on B&B to treat this Rolhó like a synthetic, no pre-soaking and use it gently on the face. Being Arkoaugust, after my face preparation, I applied the ARKO stick. Having a much larger knot than my no-brand, I realised that I would need more soap so applied about twice as much as I would normally apply. Dipping the brush in warm water (it's still winter in AU) I commenced face lathering, just using the tips of the hair - no splaying. This worked well and I soon had a lovely wet lather worked up on my face ready for my ⅝ "Bengall" SR shave.
All went well with the first pass. With plenty of lather left on the Rolhó, I relathered for the second pass. Again, all went well.
For the third pass, I found that I needed to apply a bit more ARKO to my face as the lather now left on the Rolhó was getting a bit too thin. With that done, the third pass also went well.
In conclusion, I found the Rolhó to indeed be very similar to my synthetic brush. It does need about three time the amount of soap but that is to be expected due to the knot size. Face feel is not quite as soft as my normal synthetic but still rather pleasant. I will continue using this Rolhó for a week or so to see how it develops using my lathering technique.
I always face lather. My other brushes are of badger (3), boar (1) and synthetic (3), with a no-brand Chinese synthetic 19mm brush getting almost exclusive use. This morning was my first lathering with the Rolhó and I am comparing it against my no-brand Chinese synthetic.
I had previously been advised by some on B&B to treat this Rolhó like a synthetic, no pre-soaking and use it gently on the face. Being Arkoaugust, after my face preparation, I applied the ARKO stick. Having a much larger knot than my no-brand, I realised that I would need more soap so applied about twice as much as I would normally apply. Dipping the brush in warm water (it's still winter in AU) I commenced face lathering, just using the tips of the hair - no splaying. This worked well and I soon had a lovely wet lather worked up on my face ready for my ⅝ "Bengall" SR shave.
All went well with the first pass. With plenty of lather left on the Rolhó, I relathered for the second pass. Again, all went well.
For the third pass, I found that I needed to apply a bit more ARKO to my face as the lather now left on the Rolhó was getting a bit too thin. With that done, the third pass also went well.
In conclusion, I found the Rolhó to indeed be very similar to my synthetic brush. It does need about three time the amount of soap but that is to be expected due to the knot size. Face feel is not quite as soft as my normal synthetic but still rather pleasant. I will continue using this Rolhó for a week or so to see how it develops using my lathering technique.
