The Simpson Wee Scot is a brush that is as likely to inspire snickers and jokes as it is respect and SBAD. This Simpson brush has a 14 mm knot and 31 mm loft, and at first glance, can be hard to take seriously. After all, it is barely as long as the ring finger of the average man.
Compared to the Chubby, arguably the king of Simpson brushes, the Wee Scot is positively tiny.
Even next to the diminutive Simpson Case, whose small, portable nature even merits its own travel tube, the Wee Scot struggles to measure up.
But are looks deceiving? If the Wee Scot is a toy, why would it merit a knot made out of Best grade hair? Why would the A.E. Simpson Company stamp every Wee Scot with the signature of its founder, Alexander Simpson? Why would the company originally not only offer the Wee Scot in the specifications offered today, but also in a smaller version, sometimes referred to here at B&B as the "Nano Scot"?
Moreover, why would the founder of the company and his family offer a "joke" brush that besmirched their Scottish heritage? Gary Young has kindly filled in some of the blanks about the Wee Scot, and it turns out that one of the final tests of any Simpson brush maker was the ability to make a Wee Scot. The big brushes that we know and love are easier to make, and the TRUE test of the brush maker's skill was being able to make this brush. If you could make a Wee Scot, you could be trusted to make any Simpson brush.
If you do a search of the Shaving Brush Forum for Wee Scot, something like 400 threads will be returned. The brush obviously gets mentioned a lot by fans and detractors alike. It even inspired a tongue-in-cheek boycott thread.
So let's stop talking about the Wee Scot as if it's not in the room. Let's give it its due. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, four intrepid B&Bers (dpflaum, zamanakhan, mdevine and jpdyson) have all agreed to share their experiences with the brush. In at least three cases, they know it and love it. The fourth just got one, and is putting it through its paces. Most important, all four know their way around shaving brushes and lathering. So let's see what this brush can do! Everyone is welcome to join in.
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