i received this set as a valentines day gift from my girlfriend. i am a huge fan of maggards, and im very glad they have a brush now. its a soft but has backbone, after my standard prep which is to wash the brush with some dish soap, then load the brush with my favorite shave soap, build lather, then let it sit over night. the next day rinse it out and it had a slight funk but not much. after rinsing, this bloomed, a lot. it was almost too large to get into my soaking mug. the handle is nice and flawless, however could be a bit taller as my hand cramps a little with more difficult soaps. surprisingly the smooth handle gave no issue in loading, building lather, or apply to my face. great brush in my rotation. now the razor, this was a bit disappointing. while the razor is nicely build, finish is flawless, and head being efficient, its very slippery. while on its first shave the razor slipped a few times. i had to finish with my gillette adjustable. the head seamed to be a bit different than the other heads i have, size is slightly smaller and lighter. no worse just different. the grip can definitely be improved on the razor, so now the razor is loaded with a blade and is used for minor touch ups if i spot them between shaves. by no means do i think its a bad razor, just a little slippery for my taste.
