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

Hi folks,

I've more or less decided to buy a new horse hair brush and am at a bit of an impasse. I ask for people thoughts fully realizing that personal preference will always be the deciding factor here and also knowing that probably no matter what I get I'll likely be happy with it anyhow. Still, if anyone has any of the brushes in consideration I'd very much value their experiences with them.

I already have one horse hair brush, the Vie-Long Cachurro (21mm knot, 61mm loft, 25% mane/75% tail), which was actually my very first shave brush. I've always liked it a lot, but since my Mühle STF and APShave Co synthetics it hasn't gotten a lot of love. In general, I'm a face latherer and the Cachurro is a fairly floppy brush, so I decided pretty early on that my next horse hair brush needed to have a bit more backbone to it. I've basically spend the last 2 evening reading and watching reviews of these brushes and so have narrowed it down to three brushes, each with their own pros and cons.

First, the Vie-Long Peleón with at 11.50€ is easily the best bang for the buck of the bunch I'm considering. It has a 24mm knot is a combination of 35% mane/65% tail brown hair set at a 50mm loft. The shorter loft and larger knot should give it substantially more backbone and people seem to really like this brush.

Second, one of the Vie-Long White Hair brushes, such as the 13071B (at 29.95€) or the 13061B (at 31.50€). These also have a 24mm knot but the hair is white (which people say tends to be softer) and the hair combination is 50% mane/50% tail, something that should also make it softer on the face, though with approximately the same backbone (according to reviews).

Finally, the Epsilon White Hair which at 43.75€ is the most expensive. It too has a 50mm loft and is 50% mane/50% tail. The larger knot should give this one the most backbone and lots of people who have this absolutely love it, but the downside is first the price and it's sheer size.

Initially, I thought the decision was easy and I'd be buying the Epsilon, but as I thought about it more, all of my brushes are 21mm and 22mm and even though I'm a fairly big guy I can easily get 4 passes from them; indeed, one of the critiques of the Epsilon is that it is a "lather hog" and basically presents you with a "wall of hair".

Of course there is also the question of fan vs bulb shape, but the difference in these brushes isn't so extreme so I'm not too worried about it (still, if you have thoughts on the matter I'd love to hear them. So, that's where I'm at. All very similar, but different enough that I feel like there is a decision to be made. I'm really, really trying to avoid succumbing to BAD and just accepting that I'll buy all three at some point.

Thanks for reading!

I'm not the biggest fan of horse knots for face-lathering as the tips can be a bit prickly, but between the brown and the white knots I would say that the white knots (the banded knots too) are a bit softer. Personally, I like the older bulb-style, longer-loft offerings that Vie-Long used put out. The Epsilon offerings seem like they are trying to cater to Anglo-American tastes for thicker waists and shorter lofts, and this has turned me off to trying them. I have the older 13071 with the banded knot and it's a nice all-around brush with enough backbone or me, although I would want something a little bit smaller for face-lathering.

I have given up on horse hair brushes, even though I still may have one or two survivors in my drawers.
I found that horse hair brushes tangle easily and tend to shed.

The only exceptions, surviving to this day, were the white hair variants as these were the only ones who did not tangle or shed.

Hence my only choice would be either the Vie-Long or Epsilon white hair one that both come from the same stable anyway.


B.

Thank you both for your replies. Even just narrowing things down to the white hair brushes is really helpful. A friend of mine just offered to lend me his 24mm Vie-Long white hair brush so that should give me the sense as the whether I want to go with it or the larger 26mm knot. In general I tend to think that 26mm is too large for face lathering (though I know there are people who face lather with even larger brushes), but I suspect that a horse hair brush will feel smaller than it's equivalent in synthetic or badger.

I have a Vie Long. Love it. Really scritchy. Works well. Great for something different on occasion, not as nice as other things but really makes you appreciate them!
If mine got gone, I would buy another. Even IF mine was a gift!
Only pics handy..

Just curious. What interests you so much about horse hair as a brush?

Because they exist for some apparent reason. Have for a few centurys.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Just curious. What interests you so much about horse hair as a brush?

Well, I'm a fairly active and adamant vegetarian, the reasons for which are complicated and probably not so relevant just here and now; still, it remains that I try to avoid or minimize my use of animals as much as possible. For this reason I've always used synthetic brushes, with the exception of the the one horse hair brush I already have, and avoided boar and badger. Basically, I'm looking to add some variance to my shaving routine and think that horse hair can give me something far different than I could get with a synthetic. Not to mention, as sharptonn so eloquently put

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Because they exist for some apparent reason. Have for a few centurys.

Well....JMO....I had rather push a horsehair brush than drive a synthetic. Lots closer to the Earth.
It's a cool brush! After a few Oxyclean baths to get the stank out...

Originally Posted by ppetresen

Well, I'm a fairly active and adamant vegetarian, the reasons for which are complicated and probably not so relevant just here and now; still, it remains that I try to avoid or minimize my use of animals as much as possible. For this reason I've always used synthetic brushes, with the exception of the the one horse hair brush I already have, and avoided boar and badger. Basically, I'm looking to add some variance to my shaving routine and think that horse hair can give me something far different than I could get with a synthetic. Not to mention, as sharptonn so eloquently put

That makes perfect sense.

I've always wondered if the horsehair brushes used back in the 19th century are the same as the ones they are selling these days. Being so popular back then and kind of rediscovered more recently you wonder if they had it down to a science then and have they had to re-engineer them these days.