Thread: In the Market for New Horse Hair Brush -- Anyone with Experience?

Originally Posted by ppetresen

How long have you had it for? The one I had probably took 4 or 5 uses before the smell wasn't overwhelming. I agree with you in that it (or at least mine) lathers really well.

I've had it for three years, I've used it maybe a couple o dozen times. I finally shelved it.

They are BAD. A coffee cup of water up to the handle bristles-down, a bit before. A heaping tablespoon of Oxyclean tossed in and then the brush, bristles down.
Let it fizz until it stops fizzing. Check the water as you pour it down the sink......Likely nasty! Lots of rinsing.
Give it the nose test. Have had to do some twice, but never 3 times.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

They are BAD. A coffee cup of water up to the handle bristles-down, a bit before. A heaping tablespoon of Oxyclean tossed in and then the brush, bristles down.
Let it fizz until it stops fizzing. Check the water as you pour it down the sink......Likely nasty! Lots of rinsing.
Give it the nose test. Have had to do some twice, but never 3 times.

Agree, nothing I couldn’t get under control with shampoo.

What was more vexing was the constant shedding and tangling.
I wondered sometimes whether I might have overdone the shampooing bit early on, but doubt that.
Be that as it may, the (natural) white ones did not have such problems and are the only survivors.

After reading this tread, I brough out my two survivors and used them for the last few days and they produced a nice lather with no shedding.
More prickly feeling than the synthetics, Silvertips or Super Badgers that I normally use, but not bad.


B.

My Vie-Long Cachurro had a slight smell, but nothing to horrible. I still haven't picked one to buy (the guy I work with keeps forgetting to bring his 24mm white horse hair brush in for me to try). At this point, my curiosity is so piqued that I'm certain I'm going to go ahead and buy something at the very least.

Given how soft the synthetics are, the bit of scritch that comes with a horse hair brush is something I'm maybe even craving a bit.

Well, after all that I finally managed to borrow a friend's Vie-Long 12705B, a 24mm white horse hair knot in a fan shape, and... I really did not like it! It took hard soap really well produced good lather, but it also was very reluctant to let that lather go. At one point despite there being lots of lather left in the brush I still couldn't get enough for another pass. The feel of the bristles was fine but overall I was very surprised that I strongly preferred my cachurro horse hair. At this point, even if the Epsilon brushes are better, I can't imagine them being so much better that I really want one. If I found myself with one I think it would be ok and find occasional use but at this point the illusion is somewhat dispelled and don't think I'll go and buy one.

Thanks again to everyone who shared their knowledge and thoughts about these brushes -- much appreciated.

My understanding is that Epsilon brushes are made by Vie-Long, although the latter has recently been acquired by another company who's name I do not know.

As for the horse-hair knot hogging the lather, this has not been my experience. Particularly with bowl-lathering, I prefer both a horse-hair knot and a boar knot to badger as the former two shed the lather back into the bowl more. With horse-hair knots, I only soak them for 30 seconds prior to loading or lathering, as a longer soak causes the bristles to clump together.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

My understanding is that Epsilon brushes are made by Vie-Long, although the latter has recently been acquired by another company who's name I do not know.

As for the horse-hair knot hogging the lather, this has not been my experience. Particularly with bowl-lathering, I prefer both a horse-hair knot and a boar knot to badger as the former two shed the lather back into the bowl more. With horse-hair knots, I only soak them for 30 seconds prior to loading or lathering, as a longer soak causes the bristles to clump together.

Interesting. Maybe the problem is simply that I'm a face latherer for the most part. I know horse brushes are typically associated with bowl lathering, but I had really hoped that the shorter loft and larger knot would facilitate face lathering. I wonder if, like the Cachurro, I am more drawn to the brown hairs instead of the white ones.