Turkish Horse

[LBussy]

As have a good many people I am sure, I purchased a "Wooden Handled Shaving Brushes no:6" from BestShave in Turkey. Again like a lot of people I read about it on Bruce Everiss' blog and thought I would give it a try. Since ordering it I have gone through a bunch of other brushes so while I thought this would be a good starter brush for the price, it's turned out that I can actually look with a somewhat critical eye upon this piece.

I can't be the only one that's noticed this is not horse. I searched here and found some vague references to this "might not be horse" or some other things; but if I can tell, anyone can tell. There's no "might" about it. I'm kinda amazed that Bruce has not gone back and at least put in an addendum to the original post.

The good news is I found a pic of the handsome steed from which this hair came:



So what did I get? It's a cheap yet perfectly serviceable boar brush. It's small, calling it a 25 is being very generous. I don't have a caliper here but that's not important - I got what I paid for.

For $2.45, two months wait, and some other things I purchased from them anyway, it's not a bad deal. It would be nice if they represented it correctly, and even nicer if those folks re-selling them from the US would not market them as Horse. I think even nicer would be if those people who write about them on blogs would represent them correctly as well, or at least look at them before they write.

I tried to leave a comment on Bruce's article page but I'm not leaving my personal info anywhere I don't have to - the buyer will continue to need to beware.

So ... a boar brush for $2.45, good deal. The rest is frustrating but one lives and one learns.

 

[GDCarrington]

They just don't make horses like they used to!

 

[LBussy]

They just don't make horses like they used to!

Ya, must have been the steroids.

 

[Gone Gray]

You're right. Plus, it's the poorest quality brush on the world market...IMHO.

 

[LBussy]

You're right. Plus, it's the poorest quality brush on the world market...IMHO.

I wanted to stay away from saying that ... I guess the point is of you can find a better one for the price I would be amazed. However, once you try something else you'll see where spending the money might be worth it.

 

[johns777]

Thanks for pointing out its not horse hair. I was considering trying this brush as a cheap intro into horse hair.

 

[malocchio]

My money says these bottom of the barrel brushes are rebranded or unbranded Turkish Jaguar brand hog hair brushes...

 

[bjh618]

I got one on a whim, along with a few shave sticks. Completely agree it's not horse, and not too sure why they are marketing it as such? The brush is so damn cheap, I dont see why calling it a horse would make it more desirable...

BTW I've had my faux horse (forse?) for over a year and use it as a travel brush. For a few bucks I think it is well worth it!

 

[Oscroft]

I actually think it's a very good brush - mine needed a few of the stiffer bristles clipped shorter, and it needed some breaking in, but now the tips have softened it's very nice.

 

[Elder Scrolls]

First thing that came to my mind when I got this brush was this aint no horse hair....

 

[Daiku]

You can get a Vie Long 12601 for less than $13 on Amazon, or for a couple more bucks elsewhere, and that brush definitely is horse. For religious reasons, I don't use boar, and don't want to take a chance.

 

[LBussy]

The religious reasons are why a horse brush would be desirable in Turkey and other countries. What I don't get is quite frankly the unscrupulous nature in which these are marketed there. I mean it's Muslims being exploited by Muslims, I think it's called Halla? The purity laws?. I would guess that the same sort of purity laws govern Jews as well? It just feels likes a "go straight to hell" sort of stunt.

Anyone who has ever had a thing with a stripper will recognize real horse hair. I suppose you can learn the same lesson from the other side by buying a cheap bristle "chip brush"; that way is a lot cheaper and safer than the former method but it cuts way down on interesting stories.

Anyway, if you can get it cheaply then I'd say buy it for what it is - a cheap shaving brush. I will not cry if i leave this one in a hotel room. If you are looking to dip your toe into the horse hair market, look elsewhere.

 

[cryhavoc]

I love the #6 and #7 brushes and have had years of service from mine. I've got two #6's and one IMHO is all boar but the other seems to be a mixture of boar and maybe horse. For $2.45 think its a good brush

 

[MSstrahan]

I recently got the #6 and the #1, which is the big "Professional" brush. They say that the #6 has been redone per user requests, but I couldn't tell you if that's true. What I can say is that I like the little #6 well enough, but it's not very dense at all. The big #1 is great, though. It looks nice, feels nice, and performs well. Both brushes are very soft, with good backbone. It's just that the big one holds tons more lather, while the little one barely holds enough for 3 passes.

As for the horse question, they both look and feel like my cheapo Omega boar, although they are both softer than the Omega, and I like them both better than the Omega. When new, both smelled pretty bad, much worse than the Omega did when it was new. I assume Omega cleans their hair better.

Here's what the brushes are good for:

1) Travel or other activity where you might lose your brush
2) Gifts to new wet shavers.
3) The big one would make a good brush for leg shaving. It's one of the bigger brushes you can get.

Shipping time from Turkey was 2 weeks. If you are buying other stuff from Bestshave.net, throw in these brushes. They're too cheap to pass up. The other stuff I bought from them was some blades, some wooden bowls, that copper colored bowl and Arko and Derby shave sticks. The wood bowls are nice. One of my two copper bowls has a bad finish on it in spots, while the other one is pretty nice. I like the Derby shave stick a lot. The Arko is Arko. I'm still forming an opinion of it.

 

[GDCarrington]

The Arko is Arko.

Yes, it is!

 

[MSstrahan]

I sliced up half a stick of Arko and pressed it into the acacia wooden bowl from Bestshave.net and then lathered it up with the #6 brush. Total cost of this was $6.90. The Arko loses most of its urinal cake smell when you press it into a bowl like this, and becomes somewhat pleasant. Pair this up with a Gillette Tech or a Schick Krona, and a box of Astra SP blades, and you have a nice gift package for a newbie for less than $20.

 

[jcwit]

I've been using my #6 brush for almost 2 years now with complete satisfaction, it is the one I daily use out of a collection of 12 brushes. Say what you will but I like the # 6 brush no matter what its bristles are from.

 

[LBussy]

Whether you like it or not, if you wanted a horse hair brush you did not get one. There is a huge difference in the hair and frankly I'm dumbfounded people are not more upset about this, and even more incredulous that someone would not be able to tell the difference. It's is a decent BOAR brush and should be sold as such.

They should have the common decency not to **** on me and tell me it's rain.

 

[johns777]

Not trying to flame the fire at all here but I am curious if you tried contacting them to change the description on their site? Sounds like you are pretty passionate about this issue.

 

[Red Lather]

Are you absolutely sure they are boar? Because if so, then I'll have to throw all mine away. I bought all the brushes from bestshave.net except the #5.

Lying bastard should stop selling them as horse.

Would be awesome if someone could send samples to a lab to verify...