SHAVING WITH MASETO
Pre-Shave: Gillette Beard Oil (GER)
Soap: Musgo - Hard Soap (P)
Brush: Maseto Classic Extra Density Two Band Silvertip Badger (CHINA) - Called by some "The Chinese Chubby".
This is a 30 mm Knot with a Loft of 56 mm.
The difference is: one can buy six of these for the price of some Manchurian Chubby 3.
First impression when I got it some months ago was very positive. I got amazed with the overall quality. I don't know if it's less denser than a Simpson, which claims that can put 20000 hairs in a knot. But one thing I know it's almost as dense or equally as my 30 mm D01 TWO BAND SILVERTIP SHAVEMAC. As for backbone it pretty equals my Shavemac, as you can see by the picture below. And Shavemac builds some of the denser, if not the densest knots around.
There's also lots of talk about the glue bump in Maseto's brushes. Ok, it's not nice to feel it, it's a question of finish detail, but I don't care a damn as long as I don't see it, which I can't, nor nobodies. In terms of functionality what matters is the FREE LOFT - the lenght of hair from the roof of the glue until the top of the tips. So I measured it, rudimentarily, with a stick.
These are the measures for the Maseto and the Shavemac:
Shavemac Loft: 58 mm
Shavemac Free Loft: 52 mm
Loss: 6 mm
Maseto Loft: 56 mm
Maseto Free Loft: 51 mm
Loss: 5 mm
In Conclusion: Maseto has more Free Loft than Shavemac.
There's nothing like measuring an hypothesis.
As for the tips themselves:
It's obvious that they look overtreated for the colour they exhibit. They are very soft when wet and sort of gelish, yet they are not gel tips whatsoever I can guarantee.
This brush lathers extremely good in bowl making a very fast rich lather.
Its Loft is sort of a Continental Type or Bulb Loft, perhaps tending to be an hybrid one as Simpson's. Which means that has higher bristles in the centrum which decrease in size to the periphery.
This implies that the point of application on face is much more narrow than a typical face lathering brush as it is the case of a Fan Loft or "English Type".
No matter what, I face lathered with the classic "come and go" movements for bulb brushes and intercalated with some rotations as well. The result was very good.
In what concerns shedding, well I've broke in this guy some months ago and until now it sheded one or, perhaps, two hairs at most.
So for the bucks I paid for it I must give a really big thumb up to this guy and say that, as much as I love them, Simpsons are indeed overpriced.
Blade: Feather (JPN) - Fresh out of the packet. I choosed this blade to give more agressivity to the SR. Some tugging on the first strokes were felt which is typical from Feather's.
SR: Gillette Super Speed 1948-49 (US): Excellent vintage TTO razor which shaves in a mild to medium agression manner. Of course with a Feather its agressivness grew stronger. As I know very well this razor I risked some aerobatic techniques: Gillette Glide on some passes on face, J hookings under the jaw line and some blade buffing in a particular difficult area on my neck which tends to resist to shaving. Yet I stopped on time to avoid any serious razorburns.
Aftershave:
- 444 Alum-Block (P) - strong feedback in the first couple of minutes.
- Clarins Men Hydra-Sculpt (F)
Scent: Penhaligon's Savoy Steam Eau de Parfum (UK) - a wonderful long-lasting scent. Incredibly good.
The Shave: 9.5/10 bbs
A tiny tiny weeper on my chin.
The irritation from the Feather lasted for 3 or 4 hours. I know I also played a bit, but nevertheless Feather is definitely not my go to blade.
First Pass: WTG with some Gillette Glide on face.
Second Pass: XTG, East to West
Third Pass: ATG on Face and Neck and XTG (West to East) on mustache and chin areas.
Pickups: some blade buffing and J hookings on neck.
Pre-Shave: Gillette Beard Oil (GER)
Soap: Musgo - Hard Soap (P)
Brush: Maseto Classic Extra Density Two Band Silvertip Badger (CHINA) - Called by some "The Chinese Chubby".
This is a 30 mm Knot with a Loft of 56 mm.
The difference is: one can buy six of these for the price of some Manchurian Chubby 3.
First impression when I got it some months ago was very positive. I got amazed with the overall quality. I don't know if it's less denser than a Simpson, which claims that can put 20000 hairs in a knot. But one thing I know it's almost as dense or equally as my 30 mm D01 TWO BAND SILVERTIP SHAVEMAC. As for backbone it pretty equals my Shavemac, as you can see by the picture below. And Shavemac builds some of the denser, if not the densest knots around.
There's also lots of talk about the glue bump in Maseto's brushes. Ok, it's not nice to feel it, it's a question of finish detail, but I don't care a damn as long as I don't see it, which I can't, nor nobodies. In terms of functionality what matters is the FREE LOFT - the lenght of hair from the roof of the glue until the top of the tips. So I measured it, rudimentarily, with a stick.
These are the measures for the Maseto and the Shavemac:
Shavemac Loft: 58 mm
Shavemac Free Loft: 52 mm
Loss: 6 mm
Maseto Loft: 56 mm
Maseto Free Loft: 51 mm
Loss: 5 mm
In Conclusion: Maseto has more Free Loft than Shavemac.
There's nothing like measuring an hypothesis.
As for the tips themselves:
It's obvious that they look overtreated for the colour they exhibit. They are very soft when wet and sort of gelish, yet they are not gel tips whatsoever I can guarantee.
This brush lathers extremely good in bowl making a very fast rich lather.
Its Loft is sort of a Continental Type or Bulb Loft, perhaps tending to be an hybrid one as Simpson's. Which means that has higher bristles in the centrum which decrease in size to the periphery.
This implies that the point of application on face is much more narrow than a typical face lathering brush as it is the case of a Fan Loft or "English Type".
No matter what, I face lathered with the classic "come and go" movements for bulb brushes and intercalated with some rotations as well. The result was very good.
In what concerns shedding, well I've broke in this guy some months ago and until now it sheded one or, perhaps, two hairs at most.
So for the bucks I paid for it I must give a really big thumb up to this guy and say that, as much as I love them, Simpsons are indeed overpriced.
Blade: Feather (JPN) - Fresh out of the packet. I choosed this blade to give more agressivity to the SR. Some tugging on the first strokes were felt which is typical from Feather's.
SR: Gillette Super Speed 1948-49 (US): Excellent vintage TTO razor which shaves in a mild to medium agression manner. Of course with a Feather its agressivness grew stronger. As I know very well this razor I risked some aerobatic techniques: Gillette Glide on some passes on face, J hookings under the jaw line and some blade buffing in a particular difficult area on my neck which tends to resist to shaving. Yet I stopped on time to avoid any serious razorburns.
Aftershave:
- 444 Alum-Block (P) - strong feedback in the first couple of minutes.
- Clarins Men Hydra-Sculpt (F)
Scent: Penhaligon's Savoy Steam Eau de Parfum (UK) - a wonderful long-lasting scent. Incredibly good.
The Shave: 9.5/10 bbs
A tiny tiny weeper on my chin.
The irritation from the Feather lasted for 3 or 4 hours. I know I also played a bit, but nevertheless Feather is definitely not my go to blade.
First Pass: WTG with some Gillette Glide on face.
Second Pass: XTG, East to West
Third Pass: ATG on Face and Neck and XTG (West to East) on mustache and chin areas.
Pickups: some blade buffing and J hookings on neck.
