Does anyone use horse hair brushes?

Dipesh

Dipesh

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Afternoon gents,

I was just wondering if anyone on here uses horse hair brushes? If so, what do they feel like in use compared to a badger and boar?

I'm just having a look on Gifts and care and they have some nice looking vie long ones. I'd just like to know what the characteristics of this type of hair are.

They also have some badger/horse mixed ones too.

Yet more to try!!
 
Same here. I have 3 horses (4 if the turk really is a horse). I liked badgers better for cream and horses better for soapp. Neeps verderer changed that
I just love that knot

So my adp brush for cream, merkur for soft soap and neep for hard soap.

The horses are fine brushes, dont get me wrong. The bagers i compare them with are a lot more expensive.

They dry quicker than the badger, hold ampple water and forme, a good backbone without the prickliness of a boar. For me, they are the better allrounder. But since i have my 3 badgers, they do not get the use anymore.

I recommend them to vegetarians.

/m
 
My first, and last. Not that it had no merit, it's just not the type of hair I prefer. But at least I've tried one.


http://fidosshavingbrushblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/latest-vie-long-custom-horse-hair.html
 
I have a Vie Long with olive wood handle and one of the cheaper ones with metal and wood handles. I think these are an acquired taste. Lacking the simple luxury of for example silvertip badger they do make a decent lather and aren't too scratchy if you paint on the lather rather than swirling the brush. If you have objections to synthetic or badger then don't hesitate. Not too expensive to add to the collection for the sake of curiosity either.
 
Yes. I use horsehair brushes. In general they are about the equivalent of a 'pure/best' ranked badger in my opinion. That having been said, there are some that are more like boars, and some that are more soft, and not 'heavily-backboned', which make fine enough 'painters' for creams.

I have only had shedding problems with Heavenhorse sourced knots, which are also the more-painter type knots. Vie Long knots have been fine and at this point a Vie Long 12705 is my 'Go to' brush. The 3 Carnations' brushes, the 'Barber' brushes on gifts&care.com's site, are also nice but might seem too floppy to start, but in reality,, they have more than enough spine for most soaps and faces.

... but ... YMMV.
 
Urban Hermit said:
...the 'Barber' brushes on gifts&care.com's site, are also nice but might seem too floppy to start, but in reality,, they have more than enough spine for most soaps and faces...
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'm looking forward checking that out, there's one 'Barber' style Vie-Long coming to this end next week from G&C...
 
Is it just me, but the idea of horse hair makes we, well, a little bit queasy. I mean i have problem swirling badger fur all over my face, but there's just something 'wrong' with the idea of using horse hair...
 
I think it might be just you ...
  • (and a bunch of others like you).
:icon_razz:

Personally, I think it's a lot less 'EWWWW' to use the groomed hair, harvested from an animal we've domesticated for use for thousands of years, than it is to have to kill an animal for it's pelt, just in order to harvest arse-hair from much closer to the skin (and musk glands) than from the tips of manes and ponytails.
  • ... not that equines have actual musk glands, unlike badgers, and other mustelids.
 
Just bought a barbers style Horse hair brush from a hairdressing/barbers stockist in Nerja Spain which I was going to try tonight but left in the car. It was only 10 euros so seemed worth a punt. It has no maker so assume it is not Vie Long but it is good and weighty and the bristles feel like a cross between badger and boar.

Will report once I have tried it.
 
I have got a Vie Long horse hair brush, ( my 'oss 'air brush! )
It makes a good lather, especially with MWF but it seems to shed a little more hair than my other brushes. For softness it is between my badger brush and my boar brushes. As someone else has commented though, it does feel a bit "scratchy", more so than any of my other brushes.

So to sum up, not my best brush, not my worst brush............
 
I have got a Vie Long horse hair brush. It does not absorb like a badger, the lather stays on top of the bristles. The brush is more like my synthetic brush in that respect.
But it feels more "real" than my synthetic brush.
All in all, I really like this horse hair brush.
 
I have 4 Turkish horse hair shaving brushes that I use all the time. I personally find them better than badger or boar hair brushes. I use hard soap exclusively now and I find that these large brushes get the best and easiest lather going for me.

I have only had problems with them shedding right at the beginning after a few rather smelly shaves, they have all stopped shedding and all now smell of whatever soap I'm using at the time.

I always soak the brush and add a little bit of water to the soap before I go into the shower
 
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