This Vie Long horse hair brush and the cheap ebay horse hair brush are on my 'to get' list. I'm excited to review and compare the two for my blog.
I look forward to reading that. There were a few different Vie-Long horse hair models, some cheaper, but the $32 has the biggest knot.
I think I read that the 50/50 mix had the bigger Knot, it maybe that its just denser. that reviewer also states that it has no backbone.
The 13601 is 23mm, while the other cheaper horse hair brushes are 20mm. It's a pity, because I actually prefer the handle styles on the cheaper brushes. The horse/badger mix is 23mm (bestgroomingtools.com does have that one available).
I am unsure when I will have them back in stock. I reordered in November and Vie-Long shipped on December 2nd. I wish I had more information for you.
Thanks for the info. There was a lot of bad weather in Europe around then. That probably held the shipment up.
I have this one too and I like it very much. You need to use it a few times to get away from the horsey smell (I used a bit of shampoo on mine after unpackaging). I got it from Bullgoose too. Phil is great to deal with. I'm not sure if I'd choose over badger but it is nice.
I would not recommend getting the ebay horse hair brush. I made the mistake of getting two of them -- one for myself and one for my son. The brushes looked nice enough, but they lost a lot of hair with every shave. Furthermore, the finish of the handle did not last beyond a couple of shaves. I consider them to be a waste of money.
I, too, have a 13061. Phil's description at Bullgoose is spot on. This brush is best for creams. It has a pretty decent loft, and when thoroughly soaked is soft, almost floppy. I find it works best for bowl lathering creams, then "painting" them on my face. It loads very well, and keeps enough lather for a 3 pass shave, easily. I use a number of soaps and have successfully lathered MWF with the 13061, but I prefer my two band badgers for soaps. In retrospect, I think the 13800 might have been a better choice for me. There's no doubt that the 13061 is a handsome brush, though.
I don't have the specific brush in question, but I do have several other horse hairs. I used to think the tall ones were too soft and floppy, but I eventually figured out that they just don't need much pressure to do their job. Even on hard soaps, there's some property that makes lather quickly, say about half the swirls of my badgers, and with less pressure.
He's talking about the ebay seller Bestshave out of Turkey , that brush is sold on ebay as well as on their website. Bruce of Bruceonshaving blog made this brush famous , he called it one of the biggest wetshave bargains. There is a comprehensive review on Shave Den by one member.
I wrote that review. Odd that our experiences are so different. The more I use mine, the more I like it, and the finish looks fine. Sffone, how about posting a couple pics?
I have one of these and really like the knot. It has more back bone and density than my Vie Long horse hairs and a shorter loft - better for face lathering. The handle and finish look like something my 12 year old would get a "C" for in shop class, but for just a couple of bucks you can't have everything...
This is the horsehair brush I got off ebay -- it proved to be very unsatisfactory primarily because of the loss of hair.
OOOPs , I thought you were talking about the Bestshave brush on ebay and that one is not it. I misled Oblio on that , apologies for the confusion everyone.
Got mine in last week and have been very pleased with it! To me it's the bridge between badger & boar; boar performance with badger softness. Used it today actually..
