For those of you who are unaware, The Varlet is a new USA based brush maker who is attempting to do everything in house including tying of knots (the hairs, however, are sourced abroad from what I understand). This is the only brush manufacturer that I am aware of that is attempting truly hand making a brush at home. The brush has a FANTASTIC 2 year warranty on the knot and an unheard of 10 year warranty on the handle.
Since I got one of the brushes from the first commercially available batch, I wanted to take the time to recognize Aldo's commitment to his patrons and the pride he has in the brushes he produces; pride well deserved. This is the first time I've had an artisan proactively reach out to me to make sure I was satisfied with a creation and offered his support with anything I needed regarding the brush. Communication has been PROMPT and excellent and goes a long way in inspiring confidence in Aldo's professionalism and any subsequent support if, god-for-bid, needed. Other, artisans, take note!
The handle is actually more beautiful then the pictures allow. The 'grooves' run VERY deep, while still being so close enough that you don't feel a 'crater' between them and gives the handle a very elegant well balanced hand feel. Sometimes, with elegance, there is also a feeling of fragility. Fortunately, however, the resin choice (alumilite resin for those who are in the know) is also very solid and hefty and lends a sense of confidence in the durability of it.
Sorry for the blurry pic, but I wanted to get a close up so you guys can appreciate how refined the beehive is.
I am mainly a hard soap guy, but since this brush was designed with creams in mind first I decided to do an inaugural first lather with RR Santa Maria Del Fiore.
My main reason for picking the Beehive over the Mega was because I was looking for a LESS densely packed brush. As much as I LOVE my Chubby, sometimes it's TOO dense and as such hangs on to lather like a hog and when I finally pull the lather from the knot at the end at the end of my shave sometimes I'm greeted with a thinner foamy mess (while the main event worked out just fine). With my synethics I run into the opposite problem, they are all lathering MACHINES but all release to easily and if I'm going to fast, I end up using up all my lather and have to a reload to get the final pass and/or touch ups. For me the perfect middle ground has always been a good broken in boar brush, but who has time to soak a boar brush for the 10+ minutes they all seem to need?!
Beyond that I was also looking for a brush with good splay and a medium backbone. Again the synthetics splayed wonderfully, but sometimes the backbone was missing and I wanted a bit more scrub. The chubby has great scrubbyness, but has almost no natural splay and you really have to put some muscle into it to get it to open; perhaps I should try a super badger vs my manchurian chubby.....
So how did Aldo do? FANTASTICALLY. The brush has medium backbone and is not a floppy mess ala L'Occitane Plisson while not being overly tough like a manchurian Chubby. Tips of the hairs are super soft and 'hooked' without a hint of scrit (I HATE scrit). While the thickness of each individual hair is noticeably finer than my other non-manucharian badgers they still combine to give a medium firm backbone.
Loading and lather building was almost as fast as a synthetic, and the scrub was perfectly acceptable without having it feel like an arm wrestling match with my face. Lather build and release is well controlled and phenomenal. I was able to load it once and had more than enough soap in the knot for 4 passes + touch up. A nice amount of soap was left in the knot to use as final face wash.
Sorry, I'm not one for lather porn so no photos of that. I'm sure we have other folks who are more...exhibitionist and will be happy to show off.
Any other Varlet owners? What are your thoughts?
Since I got one of the brushes from the first commercially available batch, I wanted to take the time to recognize Aldo's commitment to his patrons and the pride he has in the brushes he produces; pride well deserved. This is the first time I've had an artisan proactively reach out to me to make sure I was satisfied with a creation and offered his support with anything I needed regarding the brush. Communication has been PROMPT and excellent and goes a long way in inspiring confidence in Aldo's professionalism and any subsequent support if, god-for-bid, needed. Other, artisans, take note!
The handle is actually more beautiful then the pictures allow. The 'grooves' run VERY deep, while still being so close enough that you don't feel a 'crater' between them and gives the handle a very elegant well balanced hand feel. Sometimes, with elegance, there is also a feeling of fragility. Fortunately, however, the resin choice (alumilite resin for those who are in the know) is also very solid and hefty and lends a sense of confidence in the durability of it.
Sorry for the blurry pic, but I wanted to get a close up so you guys can appreciate how refined the beehive is.
I am mainly a hard soap guy, but since this brush was designed with creams in mind first I decided to do an inaugural first lather with RR Santa Maria Del Fiore.
My main reason for picking the Beehive over the Mega was because I was looking for a LESS densely packed brush. As much as I LOVE my Chubby, sometimes it's TOO dense and as such hangs on to lather like a hog and when I finally pull the lather from the knot at the end at the end of my shave sometimes I'm greeted with a thinner foamy mess (while the main event worked out just fine). With my synethics I run into the opposite problem, they are all lathering MACHINES but all release to easily and if I'm going to fast, I end up using up all my lather and have to a reload to get the final pass and/or touch ups. For me the perfect middle ground has always been a good broken in boar brush, but who has time to soak a boar brush for the 10+ minutes they all seem to need?!
Beyond that I was also looking for a brush with good splay and a medium backbone. Again the synthetics splayed wonderfully, but sometimes the backbone was missing and I wanted a bit more scrub. The chubby has great scrubbyness, but has almost no natural splay and you really have to put some muscle into it to get it to open; perhaps I should try a super badger vs my manchurian chubby.....
So how did Aldo do? FANTASTICALLY. The brush has medium backbone and is not a floppy mess ala L'Occitane Plisson while not being overly tough like a manchurian Chubby. Tips of the hairs are super soft and 'hooked' without a hint of scrit (I HATE scrit). While the thickness of each individual hair is noticeably finer than my other non-manucharian badgers they still combine to give a medium firm backbone.
Loading and lather building was almost as fast as a synthetic, and the scrub was perfectly acceptable without having it feel like an arm wrestling match with my face. Lather build and release is well controlled and phenomenal. I was able to load it once and had more than enough soap in the knot for 4 passes + touch up. A nice amount of soap was left in the knot to use as final face wash.
Any other Varlet owners? What are your thoughts?
