Hey everybody, hope all is well. As the title suggest I got myself a 2xl after many of your recommendations, so I figured I'd take a chance and just buy one, and boy am I glad I did. Where to start were to start??? Well lets start with some pics of the brush after my first shave with it, which will allow you to also see the some "bloom shots" and kinda give you an idea to the actual size. Anways, here we go. So there we have it, the new brush. This is one serious player in the shaving game. I like the larger overall height, which I was looking for, which allows me to make lather quickly in my bowl without smacking it around the edges to much. Handling and grip, well for me there perfect, very ergonomically designed in my mind. Fits perfect in my hand and the shape allows for a more comfortable grip than my previous brush, its also I heck of a lot lighter as well. As for the hair, well its definitely has a shorter loft and a tighter knot than my old one, but my god is it soft against the skin, I love it. Who knew that combo could be achieved. Lather build up is extremely easy and so is application to the face. Paints on a nice even coat and again the hair, its so soft!!! Now for funzzzes I decided to do some lather building experiments with the 2xl, covering the 3 basic types of shaving products, hard soaps, soft soaps, and creams, or at least the three types I have. I did them all in a the same bowl, one right after another, and of course rinsing the bowl and brush each time. First Contender: Hard Soap - Edwin Jagger Aloe Shaving Soap -to me hard soap seem to be a little tricky to build a good lather, and I have also heard people say EJ soap are even harder, so challenge accepted, lets see what this brush can do.. The pictures speak for themselves, while it did take a little longer and was a little more thirsty than the others, I was still able to build a nice lather within a min. or so, which was alost impossible with my old brush. Here are the results: Second Contender - Soft Soap - Proraso Shave Cream (White Lid) -I call it a soft soap, cause its not really a cream or soap, kinda of a hybrid, in the middle, just my opinion. Anyways, took about 30 second to build a nice lather with just the water in the brush. Really love this stuff. Third Contender - Cream -TOBS Sandlwood -This has to be one of my favorite scents, completely different than say EJ Sandlwood, and makes a very nice lather quickly. Results were about the same as the Proraso, little time and minimal effort. In the end there's no two ways around it, this brush can handle anything you throw at it, a must have in anyone's brush arsenal, worth every penny, trust me, if your on the fence in buying a brush, check this one out. Thanks for watching, hope this helps any. Feel free to comment or ask questions.
Thanks for the nice photos and clear descriptions. Everyone seems to speak highly of the Simpson brush. I plan to join the ranks.
Update: 3/25/12 I just wanted to update this post with a little more review. Its been probably a month or so since I got this brush and after many uses this brush continues to impress. I thought for the longest time my lather problems were due to using the wrong type of lather bowl, but the 2xl has proved that it can build a luxurious lather in anything. It has yet to let me down and seems to get better with each shave. Still so unbelievably soft, but still holding its shaped perfectly. It has help cut my shaving time down too do to its ability to make a mountain of lather in a matter of seconds, and again its so dang soft on the face. Anyone looking for a new brush should give this one a try, but if you prefer a shorter brush definately give anyone of the other Simpson brushes a try, I have no doubt they are and will be just as amazing as the 2xl.
Is this the brush nicknamed the 'Ehsan', or is that a different one? Also, where can you buy this new from someone who supports this forum?
The two band super badger is the Ehsan, I believe. Not sure who carries it though, many many people around here opt for Simpsons in best badger.
Yep! Aaron recommended this one to me and it's my favorite! (so far) Anxiously waiting for my F&S tortoise shell to arrive from Lee.
For those playing at home, this is what I consider great lather. No bubbles, thick, stiff and notice the high sheen in the lather from the light reflection. Nice job, Ryan.
Thanks for the comment. Glad to hear Im doing it right, like I had mentioned in my update, I thought it was the bowl preventing me from making good lather, but the 2xl changed everything. I will say this lather using the EJ in the pic did take a little longer than the other pics I posted with the creams, but achieving this was almost impossible with my old brush. The 2xl also seems to be very forgiving, and by that I mean no matter how you swirl it around the bowl, no matter how much pressure you use while swirling, doesn't matter if you open the loft to much during the process, your still going to get a heaping helping of lather. Actually, I have found, or at least for me, pressing the brush fairly hard against the bottom of the bowl and spreading the hairs open while swirling makes great lather. I have been doing this for a while now and the brush hasn't lost any form or stiffness or softness.
