Three new brushes

[Oscroft]

I got these three new brushes in February, and now that I've used them all a few times, I thought I'd share my thoughts...

I got the Semogue 1305 really just because I thought I should have one - I already have a SOC boar and SOC badger, and the 1305 is pretty much a classic. And it's everything people say it is. It obviously hasn't got the density and backbone of the SOC, and the tips aren't as soft as well broken-in SOC tips (though it has only had about 5 shaves on it). But all in all it's a very nice brush and a very good face latherer. And I like that it feels smaller than the SOC on my face - I don't always want to disappear into a mass of brush. I got it from Traditional Shaving (run by shaving.ie) - £11.61 plus shipping, and it took just a couple of days to arrive.

The Vie-Long is a 13800M model in unbleached 65/35 horsehair. I already have a 13060M, which I really like, and I wanted something shorter and smaller for face lathering. So got this from Gifts & Care, and asked for it set at 48mm rather than the standard 51mm. My only fear was that it might be a bit too stiff. But it isn't, it's a real winner - firmness and softness are just about right, and it really doesn't have much scritch to it. As always, shipping from Gifts & Care was very quick. Cost - €19.90 plus shipping (which was very modest from Spain to the UK).

The New Forest 24mm 2-band badger is one I've been looking at for a while, and as I probably like 2-band hair better than anything else I've tried, I went for it. And I'm glad I did - it has beautifully soft tips, but plenty of backbone. For me the density is just about right - enough firmness, but not so dense it hogs lather. My nearest comparison is the SOC 2-band, and the New Forest has tips that I think are a bit softer, and it's probably of slightly lower density. So far, I like it better than the SOC - partly because I think I prefer bulb-shaped knots, and the SOC is more fan-shaped. It's possibly my favourite brush at the moment. £40 inc delivery, which took 24 hours.

All in all, February was a very good brush month :icon_smile:

Alan

 

[chrisbell]

Nice brush haul!

 

[ChopperHarris]

They are great. I love the New Forest in blue - it looks great, but I'm most interested in the vie-long. The natural bristle colour looks great. I've been thinking of a stiffer-than-badger brush for a while for whipping soaps into shape - would that one be right for the task?

 

[Oscroft]

Not sure how I'd rate the Vie-Long stiffness, to be honest. It doesn't have the stiffness of boar, but it's stiffer than silvertip badger. Generally, I find horsehair to be hard to describe - it's just different to both badger and boar, and I'm sorry I can't really do much better than that.

Having said that, it does work very well with hard soaps for me - though with my very soft water, I tend to find most brushes work well with soaps. So, for me at least, it's a good brush for face-lathering with hard soaps - but it's a bit small (especially the handle) for bowl lathering.