G'Day Gents,
I was a hardcore boar user for about 7 years until I changed over exclusively to synthetics since mid-2016. Since then, I've amassed 20 synthetic brushes and am extremely happy with how they all perform.
I've recently been getting back into badger brushes. The only 2 badger brushes that remained in my den since I off-loaded the rest in 2010, are the Simpson Commodore X2 and a DIY TGN two band finest in vintage handle. The X2 was my favourite out of the lot so that's the one I kept.
One thing that drove me away from badger brushes was their tendency to eat the lather or to hog the lather. This was very frustrating even though the face feel and overall experience was excellent.
I had used several Simpson brushes in Best and Super. Shavemac D01 and Finest. Rooney (I think it was called Finest), Whipped Dog, several TGN. I found that I didn't like the very low lofted badgers as they hogged the most lather. The Commodore is beautiful in that it doesn't eat nor hog the lather and the lather application is very easy as the flow through is great.
So, I recently got interested in trying some badgers but wanted to keep the budget sub-$80 as the badger market has changed from a few years ago in that high quality brushes are available to the consumer direct from the manufacturers/suppliers.
I got the Yaqi High Mountain and a Yaqi Silvertip.
Let's see some pics first, shall we?
I'll start by saying I am really surprised at how generously these are packed! They are very dense knots and perfectly tied. No shedding, no uneven hairs sticking out the top or sides. Very precision made, I'm impressed with the quality and especially impressive is the density.
Silvertip:
It is really very dense. It's a wall of badger on the face and feels great! The knot is 24mm and has a big bloom. The loft is 53mm, which I find great as at this loft, it doesn't hog the lather and allows for easy lather building and application on the face.
It's very soft tips combined with the density creates a very luxurious scrub! I load up the brush heavy (I really feel it's bigger than 24mm!) and face lather. Generating the lather is quick and easy (generally the case with badgers since they retain water deep in the knot).
The splay is great but due to the density, I did need to push down just a little bit, where it then enveloped my face very nicely (this is the best feature of a badger brush for me!).
It takes ages to dry out so may not be best for travelling. Even after 36 hours on the brush stand, it was still damp, though the tips had practically dried but past that, it was damp. This is not at all an issue for me as this is just the nature of badger brushes. I thought I'd mention it as I personally wouldn't take this for short trips where the brush would be packed away still wet.
High Mountain Badger:
Ok, right off the bat, this brush had the softest knot ever, even before touching water!
I did a couple of test lathers and it bloomed out beautifully.
You will notice in the pics that the tips are not "white". They are not even "silver tipped". In fact, they look much darker than the silvertip!
What I realised is that if I hold the brush up to the light at a certain angle, I could see the whitish/silvery tips of the hairs. This was very interesting!!
Given these are not treated/bleached, the tips retained their original state of being fairly dark with the white/silver tips.
Once thing I should mention is that when I pushed the brush a bit against my face, it was prickly for the first several shaves. This I guess is due to the tips being so fine that they scritch until they split a little, at which point, it's just luxurious softness!
The splay is wonderful and very natural. No need to really push down on the brush as the natural splay with contour your face and feel amazing!
The dry time is about 24 hours. Again, it's a 24mm knot with a big bloom. The handle is gorgeous and very substantial! The knot is very dense and very soft! It's a cloud against my face!
The handles on both the brushes are amazing. I love all my Yaqi brush handles. They are all very well designed and very substantial in the hand. They also have perfect QC as I've yet to receive any defective product from Yaqi.
I was a hardcore boar user for about 7 years until I changed over exclusively to synthetics since mid-2016. Since then, I've amassed 20 synthetic brushes and am extremely happy with how they all perform.
I've recently been getting back into badger brushes. The only 2 badger brushes that remained in my den since I off-loaded the rest in 2010, are the Simpson Commodore X2 and a DIY TGN two band finest in vintage handle. The X2 was my favourite out of the lot so that's the one I kept.
One thing that drove me away from badger brushes was their tendency to eat the lather or to hog the lather. This was very frustrating even though the face feel and overall experience was excellent.
I had used several Simpson brushes in Best and Super. Shavemac D01 and Finest. Rooney (I think it was called Finest), Whipped Dog, several TGN. I found that I didn't like the very low lofted badgers as they hogged the most lather. The Commodore is beautiful in that it doesn't eat nor hog the lather and the lather application is very easy as the flow through is great.
So, I recently got interested in trying some badgers but wanted to keep the budget sub-$80 as the badger market has changed from a few years ago in that high quality brushes are available to the consumer direct from the manufacturers/suppliers.
I got the Yaqi High Mountain and a Yaqi Silvertip.
Let's see some pics first, shall we?
I'll start by saying I am really surprised at how generously these are packed! They are very dense knots and perfectly tied. No shedding, no uneven hairs sticking out the top or sides. Very precision made, I'm impressed with the quality and especially impressive is the density.
Silvertip:
It is really very dense. It's a wall of badger on the face and feels great! The knot is 24mm and has a big bloom. The loft is 53mm, which I find great as at this loft, it doesn't hog the lather and allows for easy lather building and application on the face.
It's very soft tips combined with the density creates a very luxurious scrub! I load up the brush heavy (I really feel it's bigger than 24mm!) and face lather. Generating the lather is quick and easy (generally the case with badgers since they retain water deep in the knot).
The splay is great but due to the density, I did need to push down just a little bit, where it then enveloped my face very nicely (this is the best feature of a badger brush for me!).
It takes ages to dry out so may not be best for travelling. Even after 36 hours on the brush stand, it was still damp, though the tips had practically dried but past that, it was damp. This is not at all an issue for me as this is just the nature of badger brushes. I thought I'd mention it as I personally wouldn't take this for short trips where the brush would be packed away still wet.
High Mountain Badger:
Ok, right off the bat, this brush had the softest knot ever, even before touching water!
I did a couple of test lathers and it bloomed out beautifully.
You will notice in the pics that the tips are not "white". They are not even "silver tipped". In fact, they look much darker than the silvertip!
What I realised is that if I hold the brush up to the light at a certain angle, I could see the whitish/silvery tips of the hairs. This was very interesting!!
Given these are not treated/bleached, the tips retained their original state of being fairly dark with the white/silver tips.
Once thing I should mention is that when I pushed the brush a bit against my face, it was prickly for the first several shaves. This I guess is due to the tips being so fine that they scritch until they split a little, at which point, it's just luxurious softness!
The splay is wonderful and very natural. No need to really push down on the brush as the natural splay with contour your face and feel amazing!
The dry time is about 24 hours. Again, it's a 24mm knot with a big bloom. The handle is gorgeous and very substantial! The knot is very dense and very soft! It's a cloud against my face!
The handles on both the brushes are amazing. I love all my Yaqi brush handles. They are all very well designed and very substantial in the hand. They also have perfect QC as I've yet to receive any defective product from Yaqi.
