Well, it's been about a month since my last post and I switched to VDH and also got a horsehair brush #7 from bestshave.net.

The horse hair brush lathers like a dream. I was going to take it back to WMS to see how it did there, but I just got in some Colonel Conk Lime, and some basic CC soap in a travel kit that are soaking for me to try them in the morning.

That said, I struggled with the same problems you've listed HC. The biggest help for me was doubling my brush loading time. It seems to take a lot more WMS to get a good lather...or maybe just more work to get the WMS from the puck. Soaking it for 24hrs helped a lot too.

I've got a webcam...I'll see if I can make a vid...been thinking about it anyway.

Peace,