Thread: Considering WSP Monarch. Thoughts?

I came to an epiphany with yesterday mornings shave. The Best Badger (doesn't look like best badger hair) brush from K-Mart that I've been using for almost a year, isn't doing too good of a job lately. I constantly need to mash the brush against my face to squeeze the lather out, and from time to time, by my third pass, I need to reload my brush a bit to finish up. After a bit of reading, I am thinking I would like a dense, more firm brush. I believe I would like to feel a bit more of the brush on my face, so a fan would be preferable to a bulb tip. The WSP Monarch is advertized as a High Density Premium Silvertip Badger Brush" It's not fan shaped, but I think I can live with that. The price on Amazon right now is $69. Is there someone here that has some experience with this brush, and would this brush be good with a simi soft or hard soap?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Slurryer

I came to an epiphany with yesterday mornings shave. The Best Badger (doesn't look like best badger hair) brush from K-Mart that I've been using for almost a year, isn't doing too good of a job lately. I constantly need to mash the brush against my face to squeeze the lather out, and from time to time, by my third pass, I need to reload my brush a bit to finish up. After a bit of reading, I am thinking I would like a dense, more firm brush. I believe I would like to feel a bit more of the brush on my face, so a fan would be preferable to a bulb tip. The WSP Monarch is advertized as a High Density Premium Silvertip Badger Brush" It's not fan shaped, but I think I can live with that. The price on Amazon right now is $69. Is there someone here that has some experience with this brush, and would this brush be good with a simi soft or hard soap?

Thanks

Not to put down WSP you might try looking here Whipped Dog Straight Razor Shaving Equipment
Larry does a great job, and is inexpensive.

I'm not familiar with it however I'd be wary of a "premium high density" piece for $69.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I'm not familiar with it however I'd be wary of a "premium high density" piece for $69.

I have to agree with the above post.

My gut was saying the same thing, but wanted to check anyway. So along with Whippeddog, what other affordable options fit my need. Fairly firm dense badger above pure. I would love Silvertip but not sure my wallet would agree. I also like the feel of the brush, so I think fan shaped would be nice, though I don't see many like that. The soap I use mostly is Simi soft if it matters at all, with a standard size puck. I'd like a large brush, but I'm not sure how difficult loading a large brush on that size puck would be. I'd appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

I am almost sure you can get a WD Silver Tip from Larry for less than $50.00 . I have a Whipped Dog 30/65mm Silver Tip Badger Black&White Marbled Resin Handle
it cost me $44.00 total.

If you settle for a smaller brush the main outfits have brushes in your price range. If you want big then you need the smaller makers we discuss all the time on this forum.

After a ton of reading, I decided to go with the Omega 49 Pro. I think what I wanted mostly was a brush with a bit more backbone. As a temporary fix, I put a rubber band around the base of my pure badger brush, and that gave me a very nice feel, but left me with not much brush to work with. The Omega 49 Pro is a boar bristle brush that is a tad smaller than the 48, from what I hear. I have always been worried about boar, because my impression was that it would be scratchy. This brush is far, far from scratchy. Out of the box, it's just as soft as the pure badger brush that I've had for about a year. As this brush is broken in, I'm hoping it keeps that nice backbone, and continues to become softer at the ends. My only issue with this brush is the cheep looking stick on Omega logo label stuck to the side. But for a $10 brush, I can live with it. There is a slight learning curve using this brush if you're accustomed to badger. The brush doesn't hold as much water, so if you face lather, you need to be very conservative about the amount of water you apply to the brush. I could add a pretty good bit of water to my badger brush, and it would hold it all as I face lathered. I did the same thing with this brush, and when I held it to my face, a good bit of that water ran down my arm. A few drops at a time, and then incorporate that water into the lather in the brush and on your face is the better approach with the Omega, and really any brush I suppose. I've only been using this brush for a few days, so the verdict is still out, but so far, so good. The stink subsided fairly quickly using Mystic Water soap (Lilly Of The Valley), the brush is far softer than I expected, it has a very good deal of backbone, and it loads and releases lather very well. Thanks all for the tips and suggestions. Still interested in a Silver Tip from Larry when they are available.