I was not convinced there was a real difference in shaving brushes until I got this brush. There IS a difference.
I've been using a bargain boar and a pure badger brush to work through soap and cream samples. With the pure badger it was easier to get consistent results. The boar just did not give consistent results. Working with a Cella sample I just could not seem to get the results that many people seem to achieve that rate this soap highly.
I decided to take advantage of a 10% off promotion and got this Muhle Synthetic, after doing some serious blog searching. I did the initial cleaning of the Muhle by lathering several different samples. I agree with Adam, WOW. The difference was immediately apparent. Everything I threw at this brush made wonderful lather with a lot less effort than with either of the other brushes. Hard soaps like VDH; croaps like Cella, Barrister & Mann, Maggards house line, and creams like Derby & TOBS made wonderful lather with minimal effort. I palm lathered and bowl lathered with ease.
With the trouble I'd been having with Cella I thought it might be fluke so I whipped up a 2nd batch and found a very consistent, luxurious lather on both trials.
With the Cella 2nd batch I had to take it all the way through a 3 pass shave test. The brush held lather well and its soft bristles seemed to caress my face as it laid the lather on. 3 passes with no shortage of really good lather. There was even enough lather for another round that went down the drain. Clean up was a breeze, just a thorough rinsing under the faucet, done.
Many of the blogs recommend getting a good brush. Based on personal experience I agree. Get rid of the frustration and wear on the face of the other brushes and get a good one. THIS is a good one; no smell, no break in, super soft bristles with back bone for hard soaps, easy on the face, lathers like crazy, and cleans up easily. Oh yeah, dries quickly. The new synthetics are definitely worth trying.
