- Joined
- Monday July 13, 2009
Many of you may have seen the Image shaving brush in the past- it's exclusivity and cost may have put you off... but someone has to take the plunge... so I opened the wallet and paid my 48p at Wilkinsons in Slough for this little monstrosity:
Here it is next to a 24mm Finest for size comparisons:
The details:
Knot: 18mm Boar Bristle
Handle: Wood (dipped in what appeared to be gloss paint.... there is even a little drip running down the side!)
Cost: 48p :mrgreen:
First impressions:
The packaging is an exercise in minimalism itself - bearing only a barcode on the rear and the logo on the front, and upon opening I am greeted with a smell that is best described as 'shoe polish'. The aroma seems to stem from the handle, which has been dipped in some gooey looking black paint and has the definite aroma of solvent. The brush is tiny, but the knot actually looks like a semi-reasonable effort - although in removing it from the box a few bristles did come loose! The handle is light - it might be balsa wood or pine under the gloop for all I know.
I proceeded to give the brush a good soak in very hot water and then dried it out for use later...
Lathering
After another hot water bath, I attempted a lather with a dab of palmolive in a shaving mug. The diminutive size of the brush is somewhat odd, but I do normally only make and use medium-large brushes, so I can't fault it purely on dimensions. Oddly enough the brush actually holds water better than my Wilkinson Sword boar, which was quite unexpected. The lather was in short supply but was actually quite reasonable - and when applied to the face the brush was small and scrubby, but quite nice feeling!
After loosing a few more bristles the brush provided a small amount of lather than would have been perfectly adequate for a 1-2 pass shave. Like all boar brushes it didn't hold the warmth of the lather for very long, but given the size I wouldn't have expected that!
Overall
Given the teeny tiny size and cheap cost of this brush I was expecting to be promptly binning it after the test, but it turns out the proportions (although small) make it a much better feeling brush than I thought. The handle is ugly - but comfortable for the size and gives an easy grip... but seriously .... ugly. Lathering was good and the feeling on the face wasn't unpleasant. Given the cost this would make an excellent travel brush, as you could buy 10 and still not care if you lost most of them!
One area that is yet to be confirmed though - it did lose a worrying amount of bristles during the first cleaning and a couple more on the first shave, but not a huge amount.
Closing comments
It's 48p. Why on earth would you not?
:lol:
Here it is next to a 24mm Finest for size comparisons:
The details:
Knot: 18mm Boar Bristle
Handle: Wood (dipped in what appeared to be gloss paint.... there is even a little drip running down the side!)
Cost: 48p :mrgreen:
First impressions:
The packaging is an exercise in minimalism itself - bearing only a barcode on the rear and the logo on the front, and upon opening I am greeted with a smell that is best described as 'shoe polish'. The aroma seems to stem from the handle, which has been dipped in some gooey looking black paint and has the definite aroma of solvent. The brush is tiny, but the knot actually looks like a semi-reasonable effort - although in removing it from the box a few bristles did come loose! The handle is light - it might be balsa wood or pine under the gloop for all I know.
I proceeded to give the brush a good soak in very hot water and then dried it out for use later...
Lathering
After another hot water bath, I attempted a lather with a dab of palmolive in a shaving mug. The diminutive size of the brush is somewhat odd, but I do normally only make and use medium-large brushes, so I can't fault it purely on dimensions. Oddly enough the brush actually holds water better than my Wilkinson Sword boar, which was quite unexpected. The lather was in short supply but was actually quite reasonable - and when applied to the face the brush was small and scrubby, but quite nice feeling!
After loosing a few more bristles the brush provided a small amount of lather than would have been perfectly adequate for a 1-2 pass shave. Like all boar brushes it didn't hold the warmth of the lather for very long, but given the size I wouldn't have expected that!
Overall
Given the teeny tiny size and cheap cost of this brush I was expecting to be promptly binning it after the test, but it turns out the proportions (although small) make it a much better feeling brush than I thought. The handle is ugly - but comfortable for the size and gives an easy grip... but seriously .... ugly. Lathering was good and the feeling on the face wasn't unpleasant. Given the cost this would make an excellent travel brush, as you could buy 10 and still not care if you lost most of them!
One area that is yet to be confirmed though - it did lose a worrying amount of bristles during the first cleaning and a couple more on the first shave, but not a huge amount.
Closing comments
It's 48p. Why on earth would you not?
:lol:
