The Clear Handled H.I.S. Up Close And Personal

For some time I have been discussing the upcoming clear handled H.I.S. Synthetic Brush. Well now it is here and we can look at it up close and personal.

My review for the original black handled H.I.S. Synthetic Brush is available at:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/287195-H-I-S-Synthetic-Brush?highlight=

This brush has the same dimensions as the original brush but with a clear handle instead of ebony. However the pictures do bear out one change that does not effect the great performance. It affects the look of the knot. The banding has now been made to be less uniform which allows the brush to look more natural than before. The brush is extremely thick and soft and as the original brush would create a large amount of lather. The ends of the fibers are as soft as my Silvertip Badger brushes.

Here are the photos.







Now this brush (clear or ebony) is in my top three along with the MÜHLE 35 K 252 25mm and my custom Silvertip Badger. Along with the MÜHLE 35 K 252, I have come around on the larger brush in the area of synthetics based on using a variety of sizes in that class.

Another thing that stands out on this brush is the price and ease of ordering. It is available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Stroke...39193045&sr=8-2&keywords=h.i.s.+shaving+brush

With shipping inside the U.S. it totals up to $32.40 at the current time. This is a high quality brush at a price most users can afford.

I hope that this provides additional insight into this both wonderful looking and performing brush.

Thanks for posting this Gary. As you know, I've tried a half-dozen or more synthetic brushes during the past eight months. I like large knot brushes, and my favorites so far have been the Mühle 23mm and 25mm Classics.

You make a compelling case for the H.I.S., and I'll be ordering one soon. The fact that you rate it up there with Mühle speaks volumes, given your base of knowledge. The price is certainly right, and I do think the clear base is attractive and a change from my usual Henry Ford black. Thanks again for the excellent and informative reviews you've done.

One of the nice things is where they have used silver for their knot base sides, they have left the bottom clear so you can see the base of the knot which is in good and solid. Now I know why I did not lose any fibers using the black handled model.

Well, I changed my approach this morning to see if I could make an extremely dense lather with the H.I.S. brush. Much denser than I normally make.

I prepared as normal and used Vintage Williams and a mug of warm water. I dunked the knot one quarter of the way into the mug of water and began to pick up soap. I began to lather and added one more teaspoon of water for the first round. I made a full brush of extra thick lather (much more thick than my liking) and so I applied the lather and shaved. With each attempt to clean the razor the clumps of lather remained in the bottom of the sink. I completed the first pass and lathered again with the same super thick lather. Again the same results occurred, thick lather on the face and clumps in the sink when quick rinsing the razor. The clumps would not leave the bottom of the sink until they were rinsed long enough with warm water.

At that point I added another teaspoon of water to the mixing mug (no soap puck in this mug) and whirled the brush again and generated more thick lather for my head without any additional soap. At the end of the shave, here was what was left in the brush. Enough for an additional face pass.



What is in the photo was the last of the available lather and only one application of soap was made to the brush with no additional soap required. The mug of water is not seen in this photo but is off to the side. The mug seen is the one used to generate the lather along with the one holding the soap.

So the H.I.S. shaving brush can be used to make extra thick clump like lather along with more hydrated lather as the user desires. It is a mere change of technique that can achieve this result of almost soap solid lather. I had to spend a couple of minutes cleaning out the remainder of soap out of the brush it was so thick.

So the H.I.S. brush can produce a mountain of super thick lather or any other thickness you so desire.

Today I went back to my normal lather of the consistency of slightly runny yogurt and finished my lather on my face for each pass.
Wonderful shave and enough lather for three face passes plus a head pass with extra left over.

Yesterday's shave was so nice I had to do it again today!

Oh and here is another great combo lather shave with the H.I.S.



Another review of this brush is available here:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/296864-H-I-S-Brush-Wow!!!



One last note: This is the dirty little secret brush that you use and then discuss other brushes on the forums.

So Gary, have you done any face lathering with it? It's got a pretty high loft, so just curious how it might do in that capacity. I don't mind a bit of flop really, so if it's got at least some backbone, I'd probably be happy with one of these. Thanks for the review.... I admit I've not really taken these synthetic brushes too seriously .

jamesspo said:

So Gary, have you done any face lathering with it? It's got a pretty high loft, so just curious how it might do in that capacity. I don't mind a bit of flop really, so if it's got at least some backbone, I'd probably be happy with one of these. Thanks for the review.... I admit I've not really taken these synthetic brushes too seriously .

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Yes. This brush is good at face lathering. It has a lot of backbone, in my opinion the most of any synthetic. The only thing I will mention is that it holds a lot of water so how I approach the face lathering is to dip the brush 1/2 way into the water and then lather on my soapy face. That way there is not too much water in the lather. I simply do another small dunk in water as needed and then the complete the build up. When I last face lathered it was able to lather 3 face passes and produce a thick head shave coating when I applied Palmolive all over my face to build the lather. At the end I was still be able to wring out enough lather at the end to surround my index finger and thumb so there was plenty left to go.

Here is a good rule of thumb for synthetic sizing compared to Badger. Since the synthetic does not bloom and needs a slightly longer loft needs to be compared in the following fashion.

24 - 28 mm Synthetic knot is roughly equivalent to a 21 - 24 mm Badger knot.

55 - 60 mm Synthetic loft is roughly equivalent to a 52 - 56 mm Badger loft.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the review, very nicely done! The clear handle is right in my wheelhouse as well.

A very insightful and great review Gary, you are a true asset to the entire shaving community.

Daniel Plainview said:

A very insightful and great review Gary, you are a true asset to the entire shaving community.

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Thank you Arley! I appreciate the kind words.

One more for the end of the week and then I must be moving on to other projects.

Here is another review from BrookR1 on the following thread:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/296864-H-I-S-Brush-Wow!!!

BrookR1 said:

I purchased mine on a whim after reading this thread and all I can say is that I was completely blown away by this brush when I received it.

The first thing I noticed was its size. This thing is huge. It's about the same size as my Rooney 3/3.

The second thing I noticed was how soft it felt. It was absolutely luxurious. Despite its softness, it has a ton of backbone. Maybe too much backbone. It requires a bit of manhandling to get it to splay when face lathering.

Speaking of lathering, I did something really stupid with this brush. My wife is going to have a field day with this...as I'm sure the rest of you will too...

I decided to give the brush a test lather. I squirted out two almond-size dabs of Spieck and began to bowl lather. I worked at it for about one minute and it was glorious (sorry no pics). Out of curiosity, I lathered up my face. The brush did very well. The only complaint I have is that the backbone can be tough to overcome, so you have to mash the brush on your face to get good coverage.

I set the brush down, rinsed off my face, and saw how much lather was still in the brush. Tons. So after rinsing off my face, I decided to give it another go. And again, and again, and again...12 times over! Yes, I practically lathered my face raw trying to figure out how much that brush would hold with one good load. After 12 times, my face was burning! I stopped and squeezed out the rest...enough for two more passes. But now my face is injured and I have all of the red spots. Luckily, my Vostok ASB arrived today, and now I feel much better, but the spots are still there, so I probably won't be able to shave for a couple of days.

So there you go...this brush can hold enough lather for about 14 passes....and I have the red spots on my face to prove it!

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GDCarrington said:

You have to back off the amount of product you use to about 1/3 of what you are accustomed to with the same sized Badger because the solid fibers will not absorb product like natural hairs do. It is the most efficient brush in my stable and I have a Muhle 35K series 25 mm synthetic that is almost that efficient.

As to the splaying, it will give a little as time goes on but not much. It is a brush with a very strong backbone. That is why I like it so well along with you don't have to baby this brush. It will stand up to hot water, and will dry much faster than equal sized natural brushes.

Glad to see the good report and I hope you continue to enjoy it.

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14 passes with one application of product must be some kind of record.

My H.I.S brush came today, and this thing is HUGE! Which is perfect for me, because I'm 6'6" and have fairly large hands. It is also super soft, the only silvertip I've felt was at the AOS store at the mall and this brush puts them to shame. I never thought I would be able (or willing) to spend the money to have a brush like this, it is an amazing value. I've only done one test lather so far, and it's true, this thing is a lather monster. My SO came in and smiled at me because i was laughing giddily in the bathroom coating my face and arms with proraso lather. Seriously, buy this brush!

A note on current availability:

BladeDE40 said:

For all those looking for this fantastic brush, I received word from the company that they are currently in the process of moving these brushes into Amazon.com warehouses v. shipping them out from their facility, this will allow for faster processing and shipping. Once they are set up there they will be back up on Amazon.

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The operations is changing distribution as demand grows. This was discussed some time ago by the company along with beginning distribution to the U.K. in the second half of this year.
Excellent news for those who wish faster and more global availability.