This is my first shave brush. I purchased it for around $5 at HEB, my local grocery store. The price just can't be beat.



The quality seemed to match the price however. The plastic handle feels cheap and gets super slippery when wet so its hard to hold on to. I always drop it into the bowl or sink a couple of times while lathering. I will note that after a couple of "practice" lathers, there was absolutely no smell coming from the brush, so that's a plus.



Being a boar brush I wasn't expecting this thing to be soft. I like to face lather but with this brush my face can only take it every other day or so. I haven't had any problems actually making a lather though, and this thing holds enough to make several passes.



Aside from losing a few hairs this was a good brush to introduce me to the world of wet shaving.

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-spiffy-

Currently looking for: 1981 (B2) Gillette Super Adjustable

I just bought this as my first shave brush from RiteAid. I used it with Van Der Hagen select soap. I smelled a bit :9898:and shedd a few hairs, but it performed well for the purpose. I believe that it is very good for a begining brush. I was able to lather the soap rather well.

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B.O.B
Knowing is not knough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do. --Bruce Lee

You need to give boar a little time. I have an ancient Burma Shave boar that, while much stiffer than badger, is perfectly comfortable to use. I prefer it to my spiffy new Vulfix 660 in super badger for some things, and it's just as kind to my face. It picks up soaps better than the Vulfix.

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"Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons? "

This was my first brush and I was fond of it for only that reason. The plug fell out after 3 months of use so I bought another. I threw the second brush away after the first lather, it shed so much that it seemed that I was shaving more hairs from the brush than on my face. I glued the plug back into the handle. I then purchased a Burma shave brush from Wally-Mart and threw out the VDH. I still use the Burma shave brush for travel. I have a Tweezerman badger that I rarely use and my daily brush is the Omega boar I picked up at Target. For the money the VDH is better than no brush but not by much.

By the way pick up some of the shave soaps they offer. Excellent value.

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Brian

I have been using this brush for the last couple of months and really enjoy it. Granted I have never used a badger brush so I have not been seduced by it's supposed softness. I have lost a couple of hairs out of the VDH but it scrubs my face daily and comfortably. It lathers fine for both my soaps and creams alike. The handle is comfortable to hold and a decent size for my large hands. It's hard to beat the price and they are easy to find.

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Johnny Dale

i have been using the VDH boar for about 3 months now, my first brush, with a vulfix badger on the way, AND THE KNOT FELL OUT. its a trusty brush so rather than throw it away, i'm epoxying it back together

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John
"don't fear the living"

I have several of these. I keep one in the outdoor shower (the occasional spider doesn't seem to mind) with an old Schick injector, one stays in my shower for when I get the "I'm going to shave my legs, what do you want me to use" call and one for when I'm in a hurry and doubt I'll have proper clean-up time. They work rather well with soap, and the price-quality factor is great.

It's my first brush, but after buying another really cheap boar brush, I am more pleased with this one. I find that after a couple of months of use, it has softened a bit. I loose a few bristles now and then. It's not a bad starter brush and really good for the price. I find these available at Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and Super-D. Probably available at most drug stores.

The VDH brush was my first brush, purchased at a local Fred Meyer for about $5. After playing with different lathering methods, I have decided that I prefer face lathering and this brush works well for that. It does not produce the lather like my badger hair brush, but I have kept it to use on the days when I use one of my soaps. For the price, I would buy it again, especially if only for use as a travel brush!

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Justin

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Eccl. 12:13-14

I might have had one of these in the past (I never used to pay much attention to my brush, I just bought one when the current one wore out), but recently I've been using Burmas. To put it simply, this brush is superior to the Burma. If you have to go cheap, I would go with this one. It's produced better lather with every soap and cream I've used it with so far. This morning I gave it the Williams test and got a fantastic shave with lots of lather that did not disappear on my face (which seems to happen to many who use Williams). It holds the heat really well too. I think the bristles are softer and more dense than with the Burma brush. Also, the knot is just thicker.



It performs well with VDH Deluxe soap and Proraso cream too. I just feel like it's doing more to soften up my beard due to the thickness and density of the knot. It's just more substantial than the Burma. That being said, it's still a cheap brush, and it's a pretty good value in my opinion. Heck, I bought the little kit for $9.00 at Rite Aid. No I really didn't need a kit, but for a few bucks more you get a little ceramic bowl (nice for melting to soap into) and a puck of VDH Deluxe, which I'll always keep around. I never really had it on my wish list, but I just decided to have another brush in my rotation. I really didn't think it would be this much better than the Burma.



-Mason

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..doin' the Badger's work. twitter: @masonjarjar

I now have to admit that I’m a pedestrian when it comes to a lot of my shaving gear. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the good stuff…I do. But I also find a lot of the cheap stuff perfectly acceptable. I’m at the age when drip coffee (instead of pressed) and domestic (rather than imported) is fine too.



I have some very good badger brushes and I do like them but I find that I prefer the middle of the road ones to the very expensive ones as the premium ones are just too big and floppy for me.



With that said I have resisted trying out a VHD brush because I have heard so many negative comments about them here and on various other sites. I then tried their soap and it was actually pretty good. Finally, after reading some of these posts I thought I would take the plunge and spent a little over $10 and bought the VHD “premium” shave set. For very little money I got their boar brush, a puck of soap and a nice little two tone ceramic bowl. I thought that it was a deal even if I tossed the brush.



The brush’s handle is inexpensive plastic. Mine was in a black/green color. The handle was a bit rough making it less slippery when wet. The boar hairs had a (dyed?) pattern on them making the brush reasonably attractive. This is not a display item, it is a working brush. Surprisingly, the brush was less prickly dry than even my favorite Omega Professional Boar (OPB) brush. Water retention was on par with a boar brush (less then my OPB) which is “ok” but not great. Today I used it with a dollop of TOBS Shaving Cream in a Col. Conk bowl (it is what I had in the bathroom at the time) and it did a very decent job at making lather. No, not as good as a badger brush and not even as good as my OPB, but not bad. I would say it took a little more work to get the lather where I wanted it. The brush held enough later for a couple of passes and held onto the heat reasonably well too. The hot/soapy brush felt fine on my face, of course not as luxurious as a badger brush. Here is the amazing part, no hairs in the bowl!



The bottom line is that there are better brushes out there, but this one isn’t bad. When you consider that I got a brush, bowl and soap for a little over $10 I think it is a tremendous bargain and a perfect place to start for a person who wants to try wet shaving or someone who is truly looking at the economy of wet shaving. It also could be a good choice as a travel brush as losing it isn’t a big deal. As I say in many of my posts…I’m not getting rid of my badger brushes but I’m not getting rid of this one either.

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My daughter bought me one. After a couple of weeks the knot fell out. I glued it back in, and it has worked fine since.

Purchased at a local Wal Mart for around $5 in July 08.



Used every day using both soaps and creams. Unable to compare to other brand or types since it is the only brush I ever used for wet shaving.



Keep wondering when this brush falls apart in order to upgrade to higher priced boar and badger brushes.



Granted a few hairs are lost infrequently the brush is holding up well. Hairs soften over time and easily lathers the face. Could last longer than expected.



For budget newbies I strongly suggest.

This was my first brush. Considering that I bought it at the grocery store for $4.86 along with a puck of VDH Soap and some Personna blades and a bottle of AV, I had a complete shaving setup for around $11. Not bad.

A lot of people have negative things to say about this brush, which I don't think is entirely fair. At its price point, it's a bargain and offers a lot of quality. True, you can buy a much better boar brush for around $20, but not everyone knows what to buy starting out and this brush is good place to start. When you upgrade to a nicer brush, keep this one for travel and you'll do just fine.

Mine lasted a year of daily service before a chunk of hair fell out of the center and I could no longer use it.

This is currently my only brush. So far I only use creams, so keep that in mind.



I think my ratings are in line with everyone else. I gave it a 7 for quality because while it does feel cheap, hey, it IS cheap! Mine shed a lot of hairs initially, and if that had continued I would have thrown it out before they were all gone. Since it stopped bulk shedding I now lose a hair maybe every 5 days on average. For the price, I can't really complain too much. If the knot falls out I won't be gluing it back in though, I'll just move on to a better brush.



I downrated this brush a lot for latherability. That's a bit deceptive, in that it CAN make a lot of lather, and good lather with proper water ratio; I lather in a bowl. BUT ... when I go to apply to my face, by far the majority of the lather is near the bottom of the brush. IOW, the tips hold very little lather, so applying the lather to the face requires more work than necessary.



I suppose this could be due to my technique or the fact that that my bowl is somewhat small. However, I don't really think so.

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"Before Badger & Blade, I was just scraping by."
38C/Feather Portable/'40s SS/Krona - Stainless/VDH Brush/Cremo/Palmolive Sensitive/C.O. Bigelow-Proraso/Nivea-Florena/Omega/Williams