Well written review, thank you for the information. And congratulations on getting your new brushes!
OUMO Brush Experience - Badger & Synthetic
- Thread starter Timeclo
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #22
Continuing on the OUMO Train, here comes SHD knots!
All SHD badger knots.
From the left, 24mm SHD Handmaster, 26mm SHD Handmaster, 24mm SHD WT knots.
Handmasters look amazing and reminds me of the Maggard SHD knots. As for the WT, it looks decent but it has some scraggly hairs and slightly rougher tips to it. Great quality products nonetheless.
Now with these knots, comes completed brushes. I have waited couple months to put these together and I was not disappointed.
From the left, Craving Shaving "A Shade of Jade" w/ Oumo 26mm SHD Handmaster
Next, Heritage Collection Shaving Ever-Ready 200 w. Oumo 24mm SHD Handmaster
Lovely brushes. I can't wait to use them. I still have couple knots to assemble with handles but these ones look fantastic already.
One drawback to these knots was the shipping. It took me about a month to get these knots and that was without any guarantee. Firstly, the knots were stuck at the departing customs for at least a week. Then, once it came to the states, I got a notice saying that the package was temporarily halted at customs. Vendor said that my package was gone and there's not much I could do. Fortunately, contacting the local post office, they were able to give me updates on where the package was. After couple days, the package progressed and landed at my mail box in three days. All that said, the shipping was frustrating but I was able to get the knots for a great price and with good customer service.
I'll be posting more on the performance on the knots but I can already tell that they're going to be amazing.
All SHD badger knots.
From the left, 24mm SHD Handmaster, 26mm SHD Handmaster, 24mm SHD WT knots.
Handmasters look amazing and reminds me of the Maggard SHD knots. As for the WT, it looks decent but it has some scraggly hairs and slightly rougher tips to it. Great quality products nonetheless.
Now with these knots, comes completed brushes. I have waited couple months to put these together and I was not disappointed.
From the left, Craving Shaving "A Shade of Jade" w/ Oumo 26mm SHD Handmaster
Next, Heritage Collection Shaving Ever-Ready 200 w. Oumo 24mm SHD Handmaster
Lovely brushes. I can't wait to use them. I still have couple knots to assemble with handles but these ones look fantastic already.
One drawback to these knots was the shipping. It took me about a month to get these knots and that was without any guarantee. Firstly, the knots were stuck at the departing customs for at least a week. Then, once it came to the states, I got a notice saying that the package was temporarily halted at customs. Vendor said that my package was gone and there's not much I could do. Fortunately, contacting the local post office, they were able to give me updates on where the package was. After couple days, the package progressed and landed at my mail box in three days. All that said, the shipping was frustrating but I was able to get the knots for a great price and with good customer service.
I'll be posting more on the performance on the knots but I can already tell that they're going to be amazing.
Some good reviews.
I've not tried their synths or badgers, but a flat top boar which is a superb brush
Pre bloom
Post bloom
I've not tried their synths or badgers, but a flat top boar which is a superb brush
Pre bloom
Post bloom
- Thread starter
- #24
Nice. That is one Long boar. How do you like the higher loft?Some good reviews.
I've not tried their synths or badgers, but a flat top boar which is a superb brush
Pre bloom
Post bloom
- Thread starter
- #25
SOTD - 17 NOV 2019
I had a good shave today. However, I made one mistake that almost destroyed the lather.
This Oumo SHD Handmaster knot holds way too much water. I squeezed out for a brief second and shook off some water. I started loading the soap and my tub was getting filled with water from the knot. I knew badgers hold a lot of water but boy, this kept going. Once I started lathering on my face, water started flying everywhere.
I had to load more soap on the second pass because I did not have enough lather. Still, I had too much water on the brush and this is without putting a single drop of extra water. Next shave for sure, I'm starting out with a much drier brush and adding water if necessary. I got a wet looking airy and thin lather that worked, only because of the slick properties off TASS soaps.
The feel of the knot itself if pretty nice. It's set at 55mm which is on the higher side. It has medium-high softness with low scrub and low-mid backbone. I could definitely set it couple mm lower but I don't want to mess with this brush again. It is set at the lowest it's allowed without altering it. That said, I think I'll enjoy the brush once I set the hydration level correctly. I'm excited to try it out again tomorrow.
I had a good shave today. However, I made one mistake that almost destroyed the lather.
This Oumo SHD Handmaster knot holds way too much water. I squeezed out for a brief second and shook off some water. I started loading the soap and my tub was getting filled with water from the knot. I knew badgers hold a lot of water but boy, this kept going. Once I started lathering on my face, water started flying everywhere.
I had to load more soap on the second pass because I did not have enough lather. Still, I had too much water on the brush and this is without putting a single drop of extra water. Next shave for sure, I'm starting out with a much drier brush and adding water if necessary. I got a wet looking airy and thin lather that worked, only because of the slick properties off TASS soaps.
The feel of the knot itself if pretty nice. It's set at 55mm which is on the higher side. It has medium-high softness with low scrub and low-mid backbone. I could definitely set it couple mm lower but I don't want to mess with this brush again. It is set at the lowest it's allowed without altering it. That said, I think I'll enjoy the brush once I set the hydration level correctly. I'm excited to try it out again tomorrow.
The loft itself is actually more manageable than it might seem, I think with the extreme flat top nature of the loft I think the slight extra loft is needed as it can be a bit difficult to get to splay. If I was ordering again, I'd have gone for the standard bulb knot of theirs. Their quality of boar (unbleached) is very good though.
- Thread starter
- #28
Thanks. I am Tim Shaves on YT. Thought I'd try recording one video and that kept going.
The synthetic was stiff and scritchy for my skin. Although, they do have thinner bristle synthetics. I have one on the way so I'll be trying that out.
Yaqi definitely is the king for synthetics. No doubt.
Cool! Your reviews are good. Not too much talking/rambling.
I'll look forward to your new synthetic review.
- Thread starter
- #30
Haha, I do enjoy the YT shavers talking and rambling but I tend to just get through the shave. It still takes bloody 20+ minutes though.
It'll probably be close to DEC when I get the knot. It's the motherlode knot so you might have heard of it. I hear it's pretty floppy with little backbone so I'm planning to set it a bit deeper.
- Thread starter
- #31
Second time lathering with the CrvShv brush w/ Oumo knot.
The first lathering session went poorly. I loaded for about 30 seconds and started lathering onto the bowl. I got nothing. No lather at all. I was surprised because the shave today was pretty similar to this. One reason could have been that the cleaning solution (shampoo/conditioner) stayed on the bristles and mixed with the soap. Another reason could be that I'm loading too softly with the tips since it's so soft. It might be both so I gave it a thorough rinse and went for another lathering session.
It went much better as seen below.
The second time around, it actually built lather. It was a good amount albeit still a bit on the watery side. One thing that I realize with this loft setting is the bristles will not pick up soap unless I push it a bit. Soft loading will only get the tips loaded while the rest of the bristles will stay soaked with water. Especially because it's a SHD knot, it's very dense and needs all those wet bristles to be worked in with the soap. I used a bit more pressure and mixed in more of the bristles, the water, and the soaps together. That seems to work.
This Oumo 26mm SHD Handmaster knot is quite a interesting one. It did not explode from the start and it took me couple tries just to get a lather. Not an ideal experience but if I can get a great lather from now on, I could look over the first couple mistakes. That said, I'm excited to continue shaving with this brush and knot!
The first lathering session went poorly. I loaded for about 30 seconds and started lathering onto the bowl. I got nothing. No lather at all. I was surprised because the shave today was pretty similar to this. One reason could have been that the cleaning solution (shampoo/conditioner) stayed on the bristles and mixed with the soap. Another reason could be that I'm loading too softly with the tips since it's so soft. It might be both so I gave it a thorough rinse and went for another lathering session.
It went much better as seen below.
The second time around, it actually built lather. It was a good amount albeit still a bit on the watery side. One thing that I realize with this loft setting is the bristles will not pick up soap unless I push it a bit. Soft loading will only get the tips loaded while the rest of the bristles will stay soaked with water. Especially because it's a SHD knot, it's very dense and needs all those wet bristles to be worked in with the soap. I used a bit more pressure and mixed in more of the bristles, the water, and the soaps together. That seems to work.
This Oumo 26mm SHD Handmaster knot is quite a interesting one. It did not explode from the start and it took me couple tries just to get a lather. Not an ideal experience but if I can get a great lather from now on, I could look over the first couple mistakes. That said, I'm excited to continue shaving with this brush and knot!
Oh yes, I have the Yaqi version of the motherlode on the way. They call it the "mink" knot. Not sure why but it looks exactly the same as the motherlode.
I picked up both handle variants as I'll give the purple one to my wife.
I also picked up both their panda brushes cos...who doesn't like pandas?!
- Thread starter
- #33
- Thread starter
- #34
SOTD 18 NOV 2019
I learned my mistake last time and started lathering with a relatively dry brush. It loaded a bit too dry so I added couple drips of water while I was loading. As a result, I had an excellent lathering experience, having tons of lather to work with. The lather was still on the hydrated side and it never became pasty or glue-like. I do miss have the glue-like lather but I think I have to load a bit more to get that. I already loaded for about a minute and that seemed like enough for me.
I'm thinking of continuing the use of this brush. It's set a taller loft so it's very comfortable. It looks beautiful and it performs nicely. I'm lucky to be able to shave with great gears and have the option to do so.
I learned my mistake last time and started lathering with a relatively dry brush. It loaded a bit too dry so I added couple drips of water while I was loading. As a result, I had an excellent lathering experience, having tons of lather to work with. The lather was still on the hydrated side and it never became pasty or glue-like. I do miss have the glue-like lather but I think I have to load a bit more to get that. I already loaded for about a minute and that seemed like enough for me.
I'm thinking of continuing the use of this brush. It's set a taller loft so it's very comfortable. It looks beautiful and it performs nicely. I'm lucky to be able to shave with great gears and have the option to do so.
- Thread starter
- #35
I hand lathered with this brush one more time to break in the brush and test it out again. Here are couple points that I got out of it.
1. The SHD knot can be a lather hog. Especially with the taller loft.
- I have a 50mm SHD knot and that is not a lather hog. However, my CrvShv brush is set at 55mm and it's leaning towards being a lather hog. My theory is that the taller loft gives it more room to retain the lather and does not release it as well as a shorter loft. Also, it could be that the bleached tips hold on and absorb the lather more than the natural tips.
2. The SHD knots does not load soap as well as natural tips.
- This could be a combination of things but I noticed that I need to load for longer with SHD knots. I think natural tips have more pointed shape and therefore is a bit more scritchier than bleached tips. SHD knots have a softer tip and it curls in when it hits the soap rather than digging in.
These points can lead to a sub-optimal lathering experience. I definitely felt it during my first couple shaves. As for my latest lathering session, it worked well but not quite what I wanted. I'm still experimenting with this knot and I hope I can continue to learn more about it and improves my shaves with it.
Couple solutions that I'll try out are, loading more soap (although I already am loading almost a minute...) and controlling the hydration of the bristles. Right now, I'm starting out relatively dry and it's working a lot better. I haven't been dripping any water after the loading so I might mess around with that process a bit. Still, the knot feels great on the face and I can't wait to try it out more!
1. The SHD knot can be a lather hog. Especially with the taller loft.
- I have a 50mm SHD knot and that is not a lather hog. However, my CrvShv brush is set at 55mm and it's leaning towards being a lather hog. My theory is that the taller loft gives it more room to retain the lather and does not release it as well as a shorter loft. Also, it could be that the bleached tips hold on and absorb the lather more than the natural tips.
2. The SHD knots does not load soap as well as natural tips.
- This could be a combination of things but I noticed that I need to load for longer with SHD knots. I think natural tips have more pointed shape and therefore is a bit more scritchier than bleached tips. SHD knots have a softer tip and it curls in when it hits the soap rather than digging in.
These points can lead to a sub-optimal lathering experience. I definitely felt it during my first couple shaves. As for my latest lathering session, it worked well but not quite what I wanted. I'm still experimenting with this knot and I hope I can continue to learn more about it and improves my shaves with it.
Couple solutions that I'll try out are, loading more soap (although I already am loading almost a minute...) and controlling the hydration of the bristles. Right now, I'm starting out relatively dry and it's working a lot better. I haven't been dripping any water after the loading so I might mess around with that process a bit. Still, the knot feels great on the face and I can't wait to try it out more!
I am very much enjoying reading your reviews on theses knots. I have some of the shd knots myself and for me 55mm on a 26mm knot fan would be too high. I would definitely suggest you load the brush longer, if you are like me you have plenty of soap. I had loading the tips knot the first few times but then I started loading more because like you said the tips are so soft that you do have to use a little more pressure. I would really like to get one of the shd Manchurian bulb knots.
Happy shaves
Smurf
Happy shaves
Smurf
- Thread starter
- #37
Thanks for the kind words. What loft do you prefer for your SHD knot brushes? I set mine at 55mm because that was the lowest I could go for the handle. I have another brush that I can set either at 50mm or 51mm. I'm still contemplating because 50mm seems like too small knot compared to the large handle that I have. Also, I agree on the loading heavier part. Still learning and going through my big collection of soaps
I saw some people set their knot at 48 on DFS. Max Sprecher (makes the nicest straight razors in the world) said that 48 was ideal for backbone and others agreed.Thanks for the kind words. What loft do you prefer for your SHD knot brushes? I set mine at 55mm because that was the lowest I could go for the handle. I have another brush that I can set either at 50mm or 51mm. I'm still contemplating because 50mm seems like too small knot compared to the large handle that I have. Also, I agree on the loading heavier part. Still learning and going through my big collection of soaps
I have 2 fan manchuria's set at 48 on the way, so I'll let you guys know how I like it.
- Thread starter
- #39
Hmmm. I've heard anywhere from 48 - 52mm was decent. My Fan Manchuria is set at 50mm and it's awesome. I thought it'd be too rough because of the shorter loft but I was wrong. Soft and good backbone.
I'm having doubt about my 55mm lofted brush. It feels nice but it's hard to work with. Still trying to figure out ways to maximize the pros and minimize the cons. It always seems like the middle of the knot is empty with no lather and only the side of the bristles are packed with lather. I wonder if it'll break in with more uses.
@Timeclo I have shd knots set at 48mm up to 52mm that are all great. I do have a apshaveco gelousy 28mm that is set at 54mm but it is a bulb and for me that makes a difference. The apshaveco gelousy is awesome by the way.
Happy shaves
Smurf
Happy shaves
Smurf
