Yesterday I found myself in a position of having a razor but no brush or soap (long story)
I grabbed the VDH "kit" that is commonly available at drug stores;
View attachment $3094.jpg
Upon using the brush and soap in the kit, I was very disappointed in the thin, lackluster lather provided by these tools.
I have recommended this kit before to newer members as a cheap entry level kit. If someone had recommended this kit to me, and got the results that I got yesterday, I would have been put off wetshaving immediately.
I was determind to get to the bottom of the issue and see who was the culprit - the VDH soap or the VDH boar brush.
Today, I took out the VDH soap and my trusty soap buster brush - the B&B Essential Boar. In my experience, there is no soap that this brush cannot master.
I loaded up with the VDH and was rewarded with an adequate lather for the first pass, a lather that was a little sub-par for the second, and needed to reload for the third.
Still, the soap seemed to do ok if you used enough product.
Next part of the experiment - I used the VDH boar brush on two separate sure fire lather soaps;
Arko and Tabac.
Say what you will about the scent of these two, what there's no denying is that they are capable of making MOUNDS of lather with very little effort.
The VDH boar brush with both Arko and Tabac was capable of making a lather that was barely adequate for the job.
My conclusion - The VDH boar brush is a very poor choice for anyone, experienced or not, and could potentially put someone off of wetshaving if used by a newer wetshaver.
The VDH soap, while adequate for the job, is substandard to almost every other soap I've ever used, but it will work just fine if you have a decent brush and load the heck out of it. The biggest thing that the VDH soap has going for it is that it is generally available in just about every drug store you could look in.
To those who have followed my advice on picking up this kit as an entry level starter kit - my sincere apologies.
I grabbed the VDH "kit" that is commonly available at drug stores;
View attachment $3094.jpg
Upon using the brush and soap in the kit, I was very disappointed in the thin, lackluster lather provided by these tools.
I have recommended this kit before to newer members as a cheap entry level kit. If someone had recommended this kit to me, and got the results that I got yesterday, I would have been put off wetshaving immediately.
I was determind to get to the bottom of the issue and see who was the culprit - the VDH soap or the VDH boar brush.
Today, I took out the VDH soap and my trusty soap buster brush - the B&B Essential Boar. In my experience, there is no soap that this brush cannot master.
I loaded up with the VDH and was rewarded with an adequate lather for the first pass, a lather that was a little sub-par for the second, and needed to reload for the third.
Still, the soap seemed to do ok if you used enough product.
Next part of the experiment - I used the VDH boar brush on two separate sure fire lather soaps;
Arko and Tabac.
Say what you will about the scent of these two, what there's no denying is that they are capable of making MOUNDS of lather with very little effort.
The VDH boar brush with both Arko and Tabac was capable of making a lather that was barely adequate for the job.
My conclusion - The VDH boar brush is a very poor choice for anyone, experienced or not, and could potentially put someone off of wetshaving if used by a newer wetshaver.
The VDH soap, while adequate for the job, is substandard to almost every other soap I've ever used, but it will work just fine if you have a decent brush and load the heck out of it. The biggest thing that the VDH soap has going for it is that it is generally available in just about every drug store you could look in.
To those who have followed my advice on picking up this kit as an entry level starter kit - my sincere apologies.
