Thread: Horse-hair Brush Experience

I just finished my first shave with a horse-hair brush, and thought I would muse out loud about the experience.

Of course, I didn't like my face smelling like a horse corral. But, that will get better, and I fully expected the olfactory assault. But, from there on, it was better. Maybe, even nice.

I do well making lather, sometimes on my face, usually in a lather bowl. I was surprised that the lather on my face was the thickest ever for me. That was surprising to me as I always thought I got good lather before. But, this time the lather lay more thickly on my face than usual. Almost like foamy aerosol lather.

Here's my theory...

Badger hair fills with lather to the point that it almost looks like a pregnant mouse. In my opinion, boar hair doesn't hold lather enough. Even though I didn't think about it till now, this brush makes me think that badger brushes hold onto lather too tightly. And, this reluctance to turn loose of their load results in a thinner lather on my face. On first blush, horse hair holds onto lather half between boar and badger.

An overall nice experience that I expect to improve after the brush is broken in more.

The only other downside, and it was a very small downside, was that the tips of the hair sometimes felt very slightly bristly. Even mentioning will leave the wrong impression as the effect was so slight. I don't use boar often. But, a new boar brush feels much the same way. So, I suspect this will disappear also.

Kudos to the horse who surrendered his mane for me!!

Hello, LarryAndro:

Thank you for your thoughts and observations on the horse hair shave brush. I have never used such brushes, but have seen and read about them with some interest.

Regards,

Obie

Back in the 19th century horse hair was widely used. probably it was the type used by most people. Boar was rarely seen then. After the Anthrax scares horse disappeared replaced by Boar which is far inferior to horse.

Thanks for your musings about your new horse hair shaving brush.

Vie-Long (Spain) makes a combination horse & badger hair brush in different handle styles. I wonder what those are like?

https://bestgroomingtools.com/index.php

Originally Posted by jhenry

Vie-Long (Spain) makes a combination horse & badger hair brush ...

After today, I can see why they are combined. Interesting, and tempting...