Extremely nice shave today, though I did not previously rinse the new brush nor did I make a test lather with it. It’s a Frank Shaving pure badger and I bought it to experiment with: I want to see whether singeing the tips will reduce the prickliness.
I had an Omega black pure badger that had needle-sharp tips, very prickly indeed. This one is not nearly so bad and actually seems pretty good to me, though I did detect a little more prickliness than usual. But I would be perfectly happy to use it as is.
As seems common with new brushes that go directly to work, the lather died completely away by the third pass (and was already somewhat sparse on the second pass). I’m pretty sure that the next lather will stick around: with badger brushes, the break-in (which I think is probably just washing away the sizing from the manufacturing process) is quite rapid. My Rooney silvertip was much the same as this Frank Shaving brush on first use, but the second use was fine.
Dr Selby’s 3x Concentrated Shaving Cream works quite well and is generous with the lather. The lid becomes the base, on which the bowl in the photo is sitting.
With the iKon stainless slants the secret seems to be to exercise extremely light pressure—and, of course, to find a brand of blade that works for you with light pressure. I used Personna Lab Blue and remembered to use the light pressure, so I got a flawless BBS shave.
A good splash of Stetson Classic, and I surge into the day.
Filed under: Shaving
