The Wanderer's Journey

[AimlessWanderer]

Brush Test #4

Maggards and Erasmic.

The cream took a little more time to "wake up" on this shaves, but there is a lot more bristles for the cream to work through. I should probably have started off massaging the bristles by hand, or even palm lathering, to get things started. Once it started though, it just kept on going, and there was ample for three passes.

The shave itself, was as least as good as yesterday's - maybe even slightly better. Not only have both brushes passed the cream test with flying colours, but I'm seeing Erasmic in a fresh light too. Excellent product for £1 per tube - once it's used with the right brush.

I got such a great shave yesterday, I had to leave it a little more that 24 hrs to have anything worth shaving today. With today's shave being of equal quality, and done just before 9pm, I may have to give the face a day of rest tomorrow. The closeness of these shave may in part be due to the fact I'm using a Gillette SharpEdge, which has been in the razor since Feb 23rd, and still feels wickedly sharp.

It should be the Omega Hi-Brush next with the Erasmic.

 

[Esox]

Any way you look at it, for $10USD, its a very good brush. You'll find it starts to perform better and you get more accustomed to using synthetics.

They do have a bit of a break in period. Mine has become slightly softer but I have been using it almost exclusively since I got it last May.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Any way you look at it, for $10USD, its a very good brush. You'll find it starts to perform better and you get more accustomed to using synthetics.

They do have a bit of a break in period. Mine has become slightly softer but I have been using it almost exclusively since I got it last May.

Oh, absolutely! Definitely money well spent, Mike!

The issue now is not whether either brush is good, they both are. The aim is to determine which gets used long term, where, and for what. Any one of these three would be good enough for daily shaves, but I don't want to be swapping and changing all the time, and building in inconsistencies again. I've actually been trying to work those inconsistencies out, and restore my base level shave, which has deteriorated a little since signing up here and trying loads of new stuff. I want that fixed.

Once I restore that datum shave, for want of a better term, I can afford to vary things a little more with the soap samples and such like, but keep reverting back to the base kit to re datum myself. That way I can have some fun or novelty shaves every so often, without messing up my technique with the baseline kit too much (again). A couple or three months with the right kit should hopefully reset things.

Essentially there's three questions:
1) Which is the best brush for my regular shaves with Mitchell's?
2) Which of the other two is to be dedicated to the travel washbag, for use with the Palmolive sticks?
3) What to do with brush #3?

Questions two and three are linked. If both work great with Palmolive, but one of them is specifically good at something, and might be wanted to be left out for occasional home use, the other will get put in the travel kit.

 

[Cal]

I sense a trickle of common sense seeping into this thread.

How dreadful... and SHOCKING!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Yes, there's still a bit of the old engineering brain still functional.

The exploration was always just to see what (if anything) I was missing out on. Swapping and changing in itself has proven detrimental to the shaves, but I think that's from being away from a base kit for too long, rather than a result of any change at all. Once I re-establish the datum, I'll be able to take the little occasional detours again, so long as I keep going back to the base kit for a while, before trying another sample.

Swapping blades is fine. It's lather and razor changes which muck up the handling. So long as I can be disciplined enough to return to the same brush, razor and soap after each change, I should be able to keep the operator in check

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I got such a great shave yesterday, I had to leave it a little more that 24 hrs to have anything worth shaving today. With today's shave being of equal quality, and done just before 9pm, I may have to give the face a day of rest tomorrow.

Meh! I decided to shave anyway

Brush Test #5
Omega Hi-Brush and Erasmic

The slowest of all three brushes to get started. Again, I should probably have started working the brush in the hand, but as I'd moved straight to painting with the other two, I wanted to keep it consistent.

This is another brush that needs painting with. It can be splayed, but has such a high loft, it will push lather into my goatee and into my ear at the same time! Lather and shave was on a par with yesterday's shave with the Maggards for the first two passes. On the third pass, there wasn't as much coming off the brush. It was hogging it.

I pulled the bristles through a fist, and released enough lather for that pass, and probably a couple more. It also came out of the bristles as densely as that stuff in a can we've all moved away from. After a little jiggery pokery, the third pass was good too, and the rest of the lather went down the drain.

After a very unscientific one shave each, I would say the Maggards had a very slight advantage over the Kent, in terms of the lather and shave. The Maggards has a more luxurious feels, but the Kent is more precise to use. The Hi-Brush was left bringing up the rear due to slow incorporation and hogging, but still handles cream far better than the boar did.

The lather from the Mitchell's felt better with the two new acquisitions too, so for home use, the Kent and Maggards (as suspected) are better to have around, but the Omega Hi-Brush is perfectly adequate for the travel washbag. I used that with Palmolive sticks away from home a few times last year (one weekend break, and a couple of overnight stays with friends), and it didn't leave me wanting. I will use all three with Palmolive over the next few shaves though, just to see how the two new ones compare, as I do have a bowl with Palmolive moulded into it, as it is a very good soap for straight/shavette use. I'll be testing it with a face applied stick though, to see how it fares in that method.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Brush Test #6
Omega Hi-Brush and Palmolive stick

For the Palmolive stick test, I've decided on two-day stubble, prep with water only as usual, then "draw" one continuous line from one ear, down under the jawline, round the back of the goatee, and up to the other ear. I would normally do a little more "colouring in" than that. Next, grab whatever brush I'm testing, and lather up, adding water as needed. I will do however many passes that lightly laden brush can offer, up to a maximum of three. If there's only enough for two passes, so be it.

Today, the Hi-Brush was hogging lather again. It did the first pass fine, but was struggling for coverage on pass two. Pulling bristles released a lot of the hogged lather, allowing me to lather up properly. I had to do the same again, twice, for a third pass. It did manage enough for that third pass, but there was nothing left in the brush when I'd done.

The shave itself was fine, as I expected it to be. I've used this combo many times in the past, albeit with a slightly heavier load. It was worth refamiliarising myself with it before testing the two new ones though. A quick squirt of SV 70th aftershave, finished the job.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Brush Test #7
Kent Infinity and Palmolive

Same 48 hour shave, and same method of prep and soap application.

The brush picked up the soap and worked it quite well, albeit slower than the Hi-Brush. First pass was good, although the lather didn't seem quite up to the standard of yesterday's shave. Second pass gave much better coverage, so there's much less hogging with this brush, although I still had to give the bristles a squeeze with my off hand to get full coverage. Second pass shave was fine.

By the third pass, the brush was almost empty. I had to pull the brush through a fist three times to extract every last bit of lather, and barely had enough for that pass. While I did get full coverage, the amount of lather deposited was really rather lean, and I had to make sure I was really on top of my game with the razor. Finishing off with a splash of Boots Freshwood was sting free, so I did manage to do what was needed in terms of technique. This time.

The Infinity was not as good as the Hi-Brush in this application, not even close, so not ideal for me as a travel razor, unless I'm taking cream, which it did really well with. It did do much better with Mitchell's though. So far, my predictions/expectations were fairly accurate, with the only real shock being how well the Kent worked with cream. I think the Hi-Brush will certainly be going back in the travel washbag, but I have still yet to test Palmolive with the Maggards brush. If that works well, then at least I have one brush at home for using with shave sticks.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Final Brush Test
Maggards brush and Palmolive stick.

Same prep and soap application as the last two tests, just that one continuous line of soap, drawn from ear to ear. Whilst this brush has been runner up to the Kent Infinity on the Mitchell's, and roughly on a par with it with cream, it was easily the best of the three on face applied shave stick.

First pass lathered up quickly, and once I'd added more moisture I had a good feeling about that brush load lasting through the shave. The first pass shave glided great, and was over in seconds. The second pass lathered up full coverage with lather still left in the brush, which is better than the other two. Again, that pass was an effortless shave.

On the third pass, I had full but lean coverage. Full as in area, but lean as in the amount of soap at any point. Rather than struggle with just that, I pulled the brush through a fist, released the rest of the brush contents, and had a great third pass. A squirt of Wickham Citrus Musk finished the job.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Decision time...

While the Maggards gave the best shave on the Palmolive stick, which is what I'd be using for travel, it's too good a brush to be confined to the travel washbag. Although the Hi-Brush only came second on the Palmolive, it was bringing up the rear with the Mitchell's and with cream. Good enough to be used with anything, but the newer two are better with the primary soap and with cream.

The Omega Hi-Brush is going back in the Eagle Creek washbag.

As to the newer two, the Kent Infinity worked best with the Mitchell's. As Kent rebadges Mitchell's as their own soap, I'm not surprised they work well together. That's got to be the primary brush for the primary soap. It's too good a pairing to not stick with.

The Kent Infinity will be permanently residing in the bathroom.

This just leaves the Maggards. It laid the Mitchell's on a bit thick, pretty much matched the Kent on the cream, and excelled with the face applied soap.... but let's put that aside just for a second. In terms of face feel, particularly rigidity/backbone, the Maggards is towards the opposite end of the spectrum from the Kent. The Kent is all backbone, and easily the most rigid brush I've used. In the same respect, the Maggards is the softest, but without reaching the point of being floppy. The Hi-Brush lingers somewhere inbetween, but adds springiness and some hogging.

Where the Kent excelled, the Maggards couldn't quite offer the same performance, but where the Kent struggled, the Maggards shone. So while the Maggards will be relegated to the box of shaving stuff in the bedroom as a spare, there will be times when it's called upon, if the Kent doesn't perform well with a sample of something. If the Kent isn't compatible with something, it's a fairly safe bet that the Maggards will be. It'll also be nice to have that more luxurious "fluffy" shaving feeling occasionally. While the minimalist calling would rather I just use one at home, having a second very different brush to fall back on, makes an awful lot of sense.

So the Maggards will be the tag-partner to the Kent, but will be spending most of the time outside the ring (and no, I don't mean I'll be shaving my nethers with it..)

The Omega Hi-Brush will be put back away in the washbag today, and the Maggards will go in the box in the bedroom for now. I'll probably next use it whenever I decide to break from the Mitchell's and use one of the samples. From here on, "business as usual" will mean Kent and Mitchell's taking the lead and doing the bulk of the work. Whenever I get the itch for something different, there's 18 samples waiting to be used, and a soft brush to use with them.

All in all, I'm very happy with how it's all panned out.

 

[Esox]

(and no, I don't mean I'll be shaving my nethers with it..)

 

[AimlessWanderer]

 

[Esox]

Dont make me get my camera... lol

 

[AimlessWanderer]

 

[TinyT]

This is a Medlar fruit. Shakespeare and D.H. Lawrence both had a different name for it.

I have no idea what suddenly made me think of that.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I had a dogs... I mean medlar tree in a large tub in the garden when I was able to do gardening. I think it croaked last year.

Back to Kent Infinity and Mitchell's today. Blade feels like it might be tiring a bit, but otherwise, a great three pass shave, celebrated with a squirt of cheap EdT to finish off. Thanks again for the brush, Cal. I'm back to having a very stable and reliable baseline to work from.

 

[TinyT]

I had a dogs... I mean medlar tree in a large tub in the garden when I was able to do gardening. I think it croaked last year.

That's a shame. They make delicious jam.

 

[Esox]

 

[AimlessWanderer]

It's going to take me a while to get properly used to these new brushes.

I was somewhat absent minded in my shave today. With a head full of other issues, I picked up the Infinity and started loading like it was the boar. Obscene amount of lather! I didn't let it ruin the shave though. It was just rather wasteful.

The Gillette Sharpedge is noticeable fading. Still cutting, but not feeling as viciously sharp, and felt slightly prickly in a couple of areas. It might be getting ready for cleaning and flipping again. I'll probably check it with the light bounce test too, while I'm at it.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Blade was well and truly scummed up. The price for coming back to Mitchell's - a healthy coating of lanolin. Didn't take much effort to shift it though. The razor itself is a different matter.

The thread is certainly showing its age. At first, I thought is was just a build up of "stuff", but it seems to be some corrosion following chrome loss. The cap has gotten a few more tiny bumps on it too since last time I paid attention.

They're extremely difficult to photograph, but those little pin pricks of light are raised bumps, and there's dozens of them.

I'm not going to grumble after six or seven years of work though, especially when replacement caps are so cheap. I nearly bought a replacement cap last year, but didn't for some reason (I think it was because they were out of Mitchell's, so I shopped elsewhere). I seriously ought to consider getting a spare in now though. Of course, I'll keep on using this one until it disintegrates altogether

The question isn't so much "if" to get a spare, but "how many"? Do I just get one, and hope the company is still going strong and selling spares in another 5-7 years, or play it safe and have another up the sleeve too? I could of course "upgrade" to a stainless 3ONE6, but the same money would buy me a complete new DE3D14 razor like I have now, plus a complete spare head, plus four more spare caps - or in other words, one spare handle, two spare base plates, and six spare caps...

Decisions, decisions...