I just had my first shave with one of the new Vielong Bleached Boar brushes and thought I would share my initial thoughts.
The brush comes in a 26mm by 55mm knot and seems to only be available on yourshaving.com (I can't even find it on the Vielong website).
It comes in three different handles (a Butterscotch Tulip, a Black and white/cream American Barber style and one they refer to as a "seven" black handle which looks almost identical to the Tulip). I went for the Butterscotch Tulip and was impressed with the handle. It's a solid resin handle and feels nice in the hand (YMMV)
After soaking for three days, lathering up and leaving overnight and then rinsing and drying the brush was fairly well broken in, tips still need to split more and it's still eating lather but there's no funk and the tips have begun to split.
This is where the brush gets a bit funky...after soaking it takes on a bit of a cowlick appearance and doesn't bloom like you would expect a brush to bloom. The only other brush I have that does this is my Zenith 80B Bleached Boar but not to this extent.
In terms of performance it probably has a density similar to a Semogue (it's not as dense as a Mondial or a Zenith but denser than an Omega). The backbone is also quite good (although that could also be down to the cowlick) and it doesn't feel floppy at all. It had no issues loading and building a lather and although I bowl lather it seemed like it would easily hold enough for 3 passes if you face lather. I am more of a painter and it works well with this method, however, when I tried to mash/scrub in circular motions it didn't splay like you would expect due to the cowlick and it felt a bit strange.
Overall it's a welcome additional to my den and another quality boar knot on the market, however, due to the cowlick it might not be to everyone's taste (although this might just be a quirk of my brush!).
The brush comes in a 26mm by 55mm knot and seems to only be available on yourshaving.com (I can't even find it on the Vielong website).
It comes in three different handles (a Butterscotch Tulip, a Black and white/cream American Barber style and one they refer to as a "seven" black handle which looks almost identical to the Tulip). I went for the Butterscotch Tulip and was impressed with the handle. It's a solid resin handle and feels nice in the hand (YMMV)
After soaking for three days, lathering up and leaving overnight and then rinsing and drying the brush was fairly well broken in, tips still need to split more and it's still eating lather but there's no funk and the tips have begun to split.
This is where the brush gets a bit funky...after soaking it takes on a bit of a cowlick appearance and doesn't bloom like you would expect a brush to bloom. The only other brush I have that does this is my Zenith 80B Bleached Boar but not to this extent.
In terms of performance it probably has a density similar to a Semogue (it's not as dense as a Mondial or a Zenith but denser than an Omega). The backbone is also quite good (although that could also be down to the cowlick) and it doesn't feel floppy at all. It had no issues loading and building a lather and although I bowl lather it seemed like it would easily hold enough for 3 passes if you face lather. I am more of a painter and it works well with this method, however, when I tried to mash/scrub in circular motions it didn't splay like you would expect due to the cowlick and it felt a bit strange.
Overall it's a welcome additional to my den and another quality boar knot on the market, however, due to the cowlick it might not be to everyone's taste (although this might just be a quirk of my brush!).