My Vie-Long Gonzalo Mixed Horse and Boar Brush - 1st Impressions

Price: Rating 9
Moderately priced at $18.00 plus shipping from Bull Goose Shaving.

Quality: Rating 8
It is altogether a very well made brush. It's design is a long handled brush with a long knot. Many members of our Forum have stated that horsehair brushes really stink and are hard to get the funk (animal), smell out, but after a few shampoo washes and break-in methods..it’s just fine. It’s a really cool looking brush with a combination wood and soft dull metal (although the pic in the attachment is shiny), handle combined with light horse & boar hair bristles.

Density: Rating 8
In my opinion, this brush is fairly ‘tight, coarse and dense’ with moderately fine mixed hair that hasn't shed many hairs thus far. Ideally, the best of all three (3), descriptions identified above.

Stiffness of Tips: Rating 7
These tips are ‘supple’ to the touch and the medium ’bloom’ neatly resembles a beautiful ‘bulb’. Compared to my other brushes, the tips are quite soft. Keep in mind; ‘stiff’ might be too strong a word, but I would classify this brush in a class in its self because it gives a great exfoliating and scratchier sensation which feels out of the ordinary (different would be a better word since I’ve only used either boar or badger brush), on my face which I find quite pleasing and look forward to every morning.

Softness of Tips: Rating 8
The bristles of both hairs are light in color and has a good balance between the luxuriousness of horse and the back bone of boar hair. The feeling on my face is very soft (albeit not as soft as my Silvertip brushes), but there is noteworthy body to the boar hair making it a pleasure to face lather.

Ergonomic: Rating 9
The Gonzalo is quite a bit taller and has more loft than my other brushes which is a good thing since I kind’da have bear claws

for hands . This large brush has a good sized knot and looks even better ‘in bloom’. In a word…it’s beautiful besides being distinctive and is some good weight to it too in view of my carpal tunnel disability in both wrists, I’ve noticed that certain brushes (and razors for that matter), are not very comfortable in my hands, but this brush is a 'dream' to use, but the I’ve found that when I lather vigorously, it's easy to strike the sides of my Sears Catalog Ceramic Shaving Mug with the metal of the wood & metal handle…which at times can be a nuisance (but please do be careful).

Knot: 21mm (1 inch)
Loft: 61mm (2 ½ inches)
Total Height: 117mm (4 ½ inches)

Latherability: Rating 9

OMG… this Brush really does generates a lot of lather. The combination boarand horse hair makes it very useful for lathering shaving soap (I use VDH Deluxe Soap), because of its ability to ‘work up’ the surface of the soap very easily. Water retention of this Brush a above par in producing a rich, creamy and dense 'stiff peak' lather even though I could not categorize this brush as ‘firm’ per se (maybe a 'painter' brush…after I gently exfoliate my face), but wow...what a feeling on my face .

In closing, in getting a fair amount of ‘stiffness’ of boar and ‘softness’ of hose hair, I’m really beginning to like this brush. While I do have other brushes, I do find myself using my Gonzalo more than ever...I guess it's now beginning to be my 'go-to' brush. Oh, before I forget, although this is my first impression, I will post a update in approximately five (5), months.

"Laughter is the [shaving] brush that sweeps awaythe cobwebs of your heart." Mort Walker

I bought the exact same brush maybe about 3 weeks ago and haven't used it all that much. My experience is pretty much the opposite of yours. Of course as with everything, YMMV.

I really wanted to like the brush, but I find it very prickly, much too prickly to use the tips on the face. I also find the loft so long with absolutely no backbone, that it's very difficult to work with. Using the tips only as suggested in other threads when loading from a hard puck of soap works, but just feels completely unatural and so far I just don't enjoy the experience. I've noticed that some hairs also started to curl instead of a splaying. I feel like I have to brush the hairs after every use so they don't get tangled. I perhaps didn't give it enough time, but in all honesty if this was the only brush available out there, I'd move to brushless creams at this point.

It's a very well made brush, with an excellent handle. Love that about it. I'm not sure what kind of metal the handle is made with, but it's quite soft as if you take your fingernail and press on it fairly hard, you can leave an impression. Soft like lead. Built to last, but will not win any beauty contests due to that metal piece having a dirty rustic look to it. If they would have Nickel or Chrome plated it nicely, it would've made a world of difference aesthetically imo.

I'm going to give this brush a few more chances before giving up on it. I'm hoping those of you who like this brush will shed some light on what made it work for you.

Denis:
Thanx for your reply, support and for sharing. I'll keep your thoughts and posting in mind when I repost later.

“Laughter is the [shaving] brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart”. Mort Walker

Awesome Christopher! I'll take any advice I can get as this brush is just too cool to give up on. Since this brush is made for Barbers to use multiple times daily, it's gotta be something good...I just haven't uncovered it's secret yet.

Sounds like a fun little brush. *adds to wishlist*