Educate me on horse hair brushes

[jpipes3]

Might i also suggest the BGS2012 dyed horse hair from Phil over at Bullgoose. My wife got me one as an early b-day present and it is amazing. I like the beehive handle which comfortably fits in my hand and the soft tips coupled with good backbone. Comparing the BGS2012 and the Zurito, it appears that the hair is the same but the BGS2012 knot is a bit larger with a shorter loft.

I have the horse/badger version of this brush. It has turned out to be EXACTLY what I was hoping for - soft with just the absolute smallest little bit of scritch, tons of backbone, perfect size (hair and handle), and the price was right. FTR I'm pretty much a 100% face latherer. I will admit that the handle on the 13061 is damn sexy though.

[Haggises]

I picked up a small vie-long (12705?) today.

Whipped up test lathers from new cream and from bog-standard VDH soap.
It startled me how easy it was to lather up compared to my VDH boar. The difference was night and day. Suddenly I have lathers like wot I seen in all dem videos!

[Red-Leg]

Here are mine

[GDCarrington]

If you want a picture of one that is currently being broken in, from both side and top down view, here is mine after the early break in process.

[cryhavoc]

I have the #6 and #7 horse hair brushes from Bestshave.net and love them. They are pushing my boars out of the rotation

[brother cavefish]

i got 3, sweet

[Perrito-Incognito]

So much for my brush sabbatical. Recently added an extra silvertip to my two boars, but I don't have a horse hair. Neigh, I shan't be able to resist. Hope SWMBO, Winnie, doesn't nag me.

[oakeshott]

There's an old saying that goes "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.". Now it may be true that the outside of a horse is also good for the outside of a man.

[jazzguy]

I don't know if he does. I went with what he had in stock which I think was 58 loft. I don't have any brushes with that high a loft so it should be a nice addition. I was mostly seduced by that handle!

Congrats jazzguy! Does bullgoose offer loft adjustments? Either way, it'll be a winner!

[LeftyT]

Great call! I can't help but think the backbone from the tail will help make it a good soap brush, but I guarantee it'll kill creams and soft soaps like nobody's business!

[oakeshott]

You guys talked me into it. Just bought the Vie Long Dyed Horse Hair Beehive brush from Bullgoose.

[Brandon P K]

Man, I ordered the Vie-Long 14831M a couple weeks back from giftsandcare, but didn't customize the loft! Now I'm kicking myself thinking that lowering the knot would have been ideal - plus I wish I'd have ordered some cream(s) and gotten the faster shipping... oh well, hope I end up loving the brush "stock."

[mftoms59]

Man, I ordered the Vie-Long 14831M a couple weeks back from giftsandcare, but didn't customize the loft! Now I'm kicking myself thinking that lowering the knot would have been ideal - plus I wish I'd have ordered some cream(s) and gotten the faster shipping... oh well, hope I end up loving the brush "stock."

There are many variations you could try and you realistically could have four or five different Brushes by changing Hair Ratio, Knot Size and/or Loft Height. You could always order a second if this is too floppy or stiff/rough for Face Lathering and use this for Creams, Soaps & Bowl Lathers or B/S/T it.

Use this Brush as a Base-line for a loft more suited to your liking, or for a second one with some different Characteristics, which can be done simply by changing the Hair Mix, Banded vs Natural Brown. Keep in mind, if you switch your Hair Choice to the Banded, you'll sacrifice some stiffness. This would mean you'd need ~2mm more reduction for a Banded vs the Nat. Brown to have comparable Backbone Characteristics utilizing the same knot size, or you could go in a different direction using a smaller knot and/or adjusting your loft.

[LeftyT]

It's incredible how much difference there is between my 50/50 mix brushes. One is 23x48mm an the other is 20x50mm. Seems like little difference, but in reality, they are worlds apart!

[Brandon P K]

You all aren't helping! I guess I was just accepting that the way the manufactured the brush would more or less be spot on... :/ But the 23/55 is now sounding quite "tall."

And I can't really be affording to "try out" multiple $50 brushes with varying lofts. I guess if it really doesn't suit me, I can try to pass it on via BST and give another shot at a lower knot.

Grrr, wish I'd had more knowledge before placing the order! (How is it I'm regretting a purchase that hasn't even been delivered yet...?)

[LeftyT]

Don't regret it yet! I'm sure you're going to love it. Are you a mug or face latherer? Soft soaps/creams or hard soaps?

[Brandon P K]

Don't regret it yet! I'm sure you're going to love it. Are you a mug or face latherer? Soft soaps/creams or hard soaps?

Face lather, was doing soaps, now moving to mostly creams - unless I can figure out how to get my soaps to lather as well as my creams do...

[LeftyT]

I'd imagine the 23x55mm In the natural horse hair (which you got) should be a great face latherer. My 20x50mm in leached is likely fairly similar in "flop" and it handles face lathering very nicely, but man is it a whiz in a mug!
I'm thinking you will be really pleased with yours.

[Brandon P K]

It arrived today! =) But not what I was hoping for. =(

Guess I just have to accept the fact that I've gone over to the dark side. I just love my Semogue Boars too much! I really love a stiff scritchy scrubby brush, oh yeah!

Gonna have to find a new home for this one...

[Kinsofboo]

Got my 13061 yesterday from bullgoose. Fast shipping, ordered Monday and got it Wednesday. It definitely has a horse pasture smell to it, kind of what it smelled like for old cowboys I'm assuming. This brush is awesome. Great feel to it and whipped up a bowl of Williams in no time. What I liked about it was the actual artistic feel of a paintbrush it had to it. Felt like I was using a purdy paint brush or something.