Review: H.I.S. Bullet Brush

[GDCarrington]

This is an initial review of the H.I.S. Bullet Brush by FM Brush sold through Artist Brushstrokes. This is the same company that manufactures and sells the H.I.S. shaving brush. FM Brush has been in the brush manufacturing business since 1927. The company has two primary manufacturing facilities. One facility is in Thailand and the other is in Glendale, New York. The Glendale facility is the design and custom manufacturing facility as well as the company headquarters. This make FM Brush the only brush manufacturer with a operational manufacturing facility in the United States for any type of brush, shaving or otherwise. The H.I.S. brush was their first offering into the shaving brush arena and this is their second offering. The H.I.S. Bullet is manufactured in the FMT facility in Thailand. The initial price point is expected to be about $23.00.

With that being said, let's get to the photos and measurements.



In addition here is how it compares to some other well known brushes for comparison.



The brush handle is only slightly larger than the knot diameter, so do not expect to use this with a brush stand hanging down.

Now to the testing of the brush. This was accomplished over four days in which I alternated between bowl and face lathering and used different soaps and or creams to provide a greater variety of testing in a short amount of time.

First day testing - Bowl lathering with Dalan d'Men cream:

I soaked down the brush and when I removed it from the water, the brush showed the tell tale sign of a donut hole in the center. That is a bad sign for either a natural or a synthetic brush. Generally when that appears the brush will not have enough backbone and will flex at the void. The handle was slippery since it did not have a ridge or groove to get a better grip. It did caused some difficulty in holding the brush but a small piece of paper towel remedied that. I then dispensed some cream in the mug. Usually with a nickel sized dab of d'Men, I am able to easily generate lather in a mug. With the H.I.S. bullet it was difficult to generate lather but was able to produce enough in the bowl to perform 2 face passes and 1 head shave but this brush was excessively floppy. After completing my shave I stood the brush upward to dry.



Second day testing - Face lathering with Wilkinson Sword Shave Stick:

I proceeded to wet down my face and apply the stick only across my face which usually provides me with enough lather for my face and head for a complete shave I soaked down the brush and when I removed it from the water, the brush showed the tell tale sign of a donut hole in the center just as it did the first time. I began to lather and basically it was flopping all over the place. I was finally able to generate enough lather on the brush and my face to cover the first shave and then apply the lather for the head pass and a second face pass. I was able to complete the shave without reloading but it was a very difficult process. Due to the splaying of the brush, most of the lather was generated by the sides of the fibers and not the tips. After completing my shave I stood the brush upward to dry.

Third day testing - Bowl Lathering with C.O. Bigelow:

I soaked down the brush and when I removed it from the water, the brush again showed the tell tale sign of a donut hole in the center. I then dispensed some cream in the mug. The H.I.S. bullet encountered the same difficulty as with the d'Men cream. I was able to generate lather enough to produce enough in the bowl to perform 2 face passes and 1 head shave. After completing my shave I stood the brush upward to dry.

Fourth day testing - Face lathering with Palmolive Shave Stick:

I proceeded to wet down my face and apply the stick only across my face and soaked the brush and began to lather. I was finally able to generate enough lather on the brush and my face to cover the first shave and then apply the lather for the head pass and a second face pass. It handled exactly the way that it had for the second day testing. After completing my shave I stood the brush upward to dry.

Conclusions:

When I test any product, my starting out position is a desire to like the product. With this in mind the product has clearly disappoint me in performance to change my viewpoint. This is contrary to some others who come in planning to dislike a product before using it. That method, for the majority of testing. leads to negative bias and personal position to prevent the tester from being able to overcome.

I cannot recommend this brush for everyday use or even as a travel brush. I wanted to like it, but it clearly disappointed me. The handle is slick. That could be corrected by adding a neoprene sleeve with some small ridges, or even cutting some small grooves in the handle itself. For bowl lathering it is not usable in my opinion. Face lathering is somewhat usable. The knot does not have enough density. There needs to be a greater density of fibers to prevent the donut hole from occurring and making this brush so floppy. There are better brushes available for less money. The Franks Shaving is a far better brush at a much lower price. There could be some more brushes in the works from FM Brush, but as for this one, it needs to be revamped with a modified handle and better knot in order to change its handling and lathering characteristics.


GD Carrington
8-17-2012

[GDCarrington]

I have received an email from Laurent Pierre, Jr. - Senior Managing Partner at Artist Brushstrokes on the H.I.S. Bullet. It reads as follows.

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your review of the Bullet Shaving brush. I have forwarded your note to the FM team and will be meeting w/ them to determine how they want to proceed. Based on your review, from an Artist Brushstrokes perspective, I will hold off distributing/selling this model until the product is at a point where its performance will fair well on the marketplace. Keeping our customer base happy and satisfied is our primary objective, and I definitely want to keep Artist Brushstrokes' reputation for delivering quality high performance products in tact.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide your insight, testing and feedback on this new product. I will keep you posted on next steps and/or new shaving brush models as the prototypes come out from FM Brush.

Best Regards,

Laurent

So the earlier release date of August will more than likely slip on this brush.

Thanks to Laurent for his response on this matter.

[MarcV]

This is an initial review of the H.I.S. Bullet Brush by FM Brush sold through Artist Brushstrokes. The knot does not have enough density. There needs to be a greater density of fibers to prevent the donut hole from occurring and making this brush so floppy. There are better brushes available for less money. The Franks Shaving is a far better brush at a much lower price. There could be some more brushes in the works from FM Brush, but as for this one, it needs to be revamped with a modified handle and better knot in order to change its handling and lathering characteristics.


GD Carrington
8-17-2012

Thank you so much for this careful review. This, on the face of it, was exactly the brush I hoped H.I.S. would come out with next. But they clearly need to go back and try shaving with it themselves, just as they should have with their first -- too large -- entry.

I'm still waiting for their answer to the Omega and Vulfix travel brushes. Their fibers have the potential, but do their designers?

[BrookR1]

It looks like a cosmetics brush.

[eizan70]

Thanks for the review. I was considering recommending the H.I.S. to a friend who wants to begin wet shaving and is a vegetarian (too bad, no arko for him). In our discussions I was recommending either Horse Hair (Horses are not harmed if you didn't know) or synthetic, and H. I. S was one of the options we were discussing, maybe we will go with the Franks shaving since he is trying to keep cost down until he knows he wants to invest in costlier goods.

[Dr Roadrash]

The current HIS that I have is a wonderful brush. I think significant improvements could be made by making the handle much smaller and shorter as well as shortening the loft to something like 45-50mm. It has the most soft tips I have ever felt yet it still has backbone. Just currently feels like I am painting my face from afar with the current brush. I am tempted to pull the knot and reknot it into a smaller handle at 50mm just to see if this is the perfect brush!! I could be, it has lots of potential.
GD is artist brushstrokes working on this, I would be glad to be a test guinea pig.

Aaron

[GDCarrington]

Thanks for the review. I was considering recommending the H.I.S. to a friend who wants to begin wet shaving and is a vegetarian (too bad, no arko for him). In our discussions I was recommending either Horse Hair (Horses are not harmed if you didn't know) or synthetic, and H. I. S was one of the options we were discussing, maybe we will go with the Franks shaving since he is trying to keep cost down until he knows he wants to invest in costlier goods.

Remember that this is not the H.I.S. brush but a much smaller brush. The H.I.S. is an excellent value at $33 but the Franks is a good one too at around $20.

The current HIS that I have is a wonderful brush. I think significant improvements could be made by making the handle much smaller and shorter as well as shortening the loft to something like 45-50mm. It has the most soft tips I have ever felt yet it still has backbone. Just currently feels like I am painting my face from afar with the current brush. I am tempted to pull the knot and reknot it into a smaller handle at 50mm just to see if this is the perfect brush!! I could be, it has lots of potential.
GD is artist brushstrokes working on this, I would be glad to be a test guinea pig.

Aaron

Laurent at Artist Brushstrokes is working with the manufacturer FMT on these and other issues I have brought up. I have discussed the potential of selling just the knot. I have told both Laurent and Jeff Mink that people are beginning to seriously considering breaking down a H.I.S. brush to get to the knot to do some of the shorting of loft and handle revisions. We shall see what waits in store.

[StuMcB]

A good review and WOW! a company listening to their customer base, into days times.

[Samjax]

This company obviously has the resources and ability to set new standards in the synthetic shaving brush arena. I hope they listen to Gary and others and produce a brush that truly sets a new paradigm in brush design.

[rockviper]

I found the H.I.S. knot to be a wonderful creation..... except it's just way too large for little old me.
A brush roughly similar in size of a Duke-2 in both handle and knot while keeping the feel and performance of the H.I.S. knot would be a home run!

[Scott0079]

This may well be the UGLIEST brush I've ever seen!......I'm sticking with Muhle.

[StuMcB]

I found the H.I.S. knot to be a wonderful creation..... except it's just way too large for little old me.
A brush roughly similar in size of a Duke-2 in both handle and knot while keeping the feel and performance of the H.I.S. knot would be a home run!

Check out the 26/55 horn chubby synth from FS. Mines a winner. It eats ARKO!

[celestino]

Great review and very useful information.