I have been downsizing my shaving kit for a couple of years now. Down to 10 razors and about the same number of brushes. I also use a small rotation of soaps and creams, maybe 8. Over time I tried about 100 brushes including some very long lead time and expensive bespoke items. The conclusions were that while I generally prefer the precision of modern razors, I definitely prefer the qualities of older brushes. Vintage Rooney finest and Plisson HMW are unmatched by anything around today IMO. The very dense, stubby, near gel tip knots that are state of the art now just don’t work for me.
Them Oumo caught my attention. They offer an “unsullied” (much less chemical treatment) knot. It’s also advertised as being lower density fill than some of their “premium” knots. For about $60 and a 10 day wait, a 23 mm bulb in unsullied was installed into a discounted fortress Earth handle at about 50 mm loft, boxed up and shipped to my door.
It‘s quite a handle. The knot is a stiff 2 band, black at the base and light tan tips. A pretty well made knot, one or two slightly tall hairs but as good as any production brush ever is and no shedding. No glue plug. Good spring back and flow through. I washed the brush out by lathering it 3 or 4 times and leaving charged with Tabac overnight. Then washed it out thoroughly and lathered up some Sebum Gold Gardd Rhosyn. It lathered well. The first couple of uses the stiffness and tips were almost too much - very scratchy! I stuck at it. After a dozen or so uses (2 passes each) it has tempered nicely. A smooth latherer, a decent amount of scritch but not excessive. The closest I can think of was the occasional 2 band bests that would come out of the Simpsons Somerset factory. Good to know that there are still some gems out there. Also at 10-20% of the price of an overstuffed gel tip unicorn!
Them Oumo caught my attention. They offer an “unsullied” (much less chemical treatment) knot. It’s also advertised as being lower density fill than some of their “premium” knots. For about $60 and a 10 day wait, a 23 mm bulb in unsullied was installed into a discounted fortress Earth handle at about 50 mm loft, boxed up and shipped to my door.
It‘s quite a handle. The knot is a stiff 2 band, black at the base and light tan tips. A pretty well made knot, one or two slightly tall hairs but as good as any production brush ever is and no shedding. No glue plug. Good spring back and flow through. I washed the brush out by lathering it 3 or 4 times and leaving charged with Tabac overnight. Then washed it out thoroughly and lathered up some Sebum Gold Gardd Rhosyn. It lathered well. The first couple of uses the stiffness and tips were almost too much - very scratchy! I stuck at it. After a dozen or so uses (2 passes each) it has tempered nicely. A smooth latherer, a decent amount of scritch but not excessive. The closest I can think of was the occasional 2 band bests that would come out of the Simpsons Somerset factory. Good to know that there are still some gems out there. Also at 10-20% of the price of an overstuffed gel tip unicorn!
