Horse Hair Brush - Test Drive

I'd heard about the horse hair brushes, but never tried one.
Just for fun, I ordered one.  Got to try it out today.
It's a Vie-Long 00159 horse bristle shaving brush with a wooden handle.
It's a relatively small brush... 21mm knot size.
Maybe it's a Pony model.
I like smaller brushes.
Besides, big horses are scary.


It's got an "elegant wooden handle" that " makes for supremely easy maneuvering."
The ad said so.
It must be a well-trained pony if it maneuvers well.



It was a LOT stiffer than I'm used to from my badger and well-used boar brushes.  The stiffness was great for whipping up a lather.  Not so great for applying it to my tender cheeks, though.  Rather than smooshing it around like a soft badger or whirling it in circles (while yodeling) like I do with my Boar, this one was more like a "paint it on" sort of motion.  It wasn't comfortable doing the badger smoosh or the boar whirl.  Not sure I'd like to face-lather with this one.  Then again, it might soften up over time like my Semogue boar brush did.  Regardless, it was GREAT on a hard soap puck and bowl-lathering.

The Vielong didn't stink like most of the natural bristles I've tried.  The very faint smell was not a deterrent at all, so I used it right out of the box.  Any hint of New Brush Smell was easily overcome by the Bay Rum scent of the Viking Revolution soap.  (Dunno why, but the Viking Revolution pucks perform better for me than some of the fancy artisan soaps).

Here's my Vie-Long with lather I quickly whipped up for a shave this morning.  This may be the fastest I've ever produced great lather!  Not that I really care how long it takes, but I noticed.  The lather with the Vielong was a lot quicker to whip up than normal, which is (I believe) due to the stiffness of the brush.  I had enough lather for multiple passes (I did 2 passes with a fluff 'n' buff, but the rest of the lather went down the drain). 

My Cella after-shave splash was bashful and hid behind the brush for the photo... while giggling. 
Sheesh... kids. 

The Viking Revolution gave me a predictable lather and protective layer of protection for my masculine cheek dimples and superhero cleft in my chin as I raced the Slim around my facial track.  "They're off!" as the razor raced down my jaw-line, around the far corner of my chin, and edged out the whiskers by a nose.  By MY nose, to be precise.  Narrating the Kentucky Derby while shaving was half the fun!

Derby!  Drat!  I used the wrong blade! 
Should've used a Derby today!
Oh well... next time.

CONCLUSION:  For all you neigh-sayers who wouldn't consider a horse-hair brush, I'd recommend you gallop right out and pick one up!  Pull the Trigger and spend some Silver on one and see for yourself!  While it's sometimes hard to rein-in my enthusiasm, the horse-hair brush really was a Triple Crown shaving experience!  It will be jockeying for (barber) pole position on my shaving shelf for sure. 

I'll have to give the horse hair brush from Vie-Long two thumbs up, even though horses don't have thumbs.  It's unlike either the Badger or Boar, but is still effective and fun.  It'll surely have a place in my stable of brushes for the foreseeable future.
  :-)
- Bax

Horse hair brushes are my favorite.  For me, they are the perfect combination of soft and backbone.  I've never had issues with tangling and I don't treat any them different than my other brushes.  I exclusively face lather with all of my brushes using lateral scrubbing and painting strokes.  

I was kinda bummed that my brush didn't say "Vie-Long" on it anywhere like yours do... except on the box. 
Mine's totally blank.  Looks generic on the shelf.
Maybe I'll jot "Vie Long" on there with a crayon.
Or borrow my son's wood-burning kit and brand it VL.
  :-)
- Bax

I just realized how beat up my brown hair brush is.  I might need to take a Sharpie to it and touch it up.  Lol

Meh.  It's just getting a tad grey, Danny.  
Like all of us.  ;-)
- Bax

I think horse hair brushes are underrated and deserve more attention.  I'd like to see more of them with nicer handle options.

I tried a Vie-Long horse hair brush several years ago, but never came to terms with it.  It was a 50/50 mix of mane/tail hair, which I believe is gentler on ones skin than a mix with a higher proportion of tail hair.j. As much as I tried, I couldn’t like the brush and there are just too many badger and boar brush that I like to continue to struggle with it.

I'd like to maybe make my own DIY horsehair brush like Stefan Vincent did on his "theholyblack.com" blog:

Search "hand tied horse hair shaving brush knot, start to finish" for his approach.  It might be fun using our horses for something OTHER THAN feeding the darned things and shoveling their crap (you think a wife is expensive?  How about a wife who ALSO loves horses?  Ugh.)

Maybe I'll try it sometime...
 - Bax

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CONCLUSION:  For all you neigh-sayers who wouldn't consider a horse-hair brush, I'd recommend you gallop right out and pick one up!  Pull the Trigger and spend some Silver on one and see for yourself!  While it's sometimes hard to rein-in my enthusiasm, the horse-hair brush really was a Triple Crown shaving experience!  It will be jockeying for (barber) pole position on my shaving shelf for sure. 


[/quote]

I see what you did there.  

I'm not a fan of horse hair brushes - but as the saying goes -  horses for courses.

Horse hair brushes are underrated, but used to be very common before the big anthrax scare around the end of the Great War.

I got a few, and found that the stiffness depends on the mix of tail and mane - the more tail, the stiffer it is.

Horse hair is also animal friendly - the hair is collected as part of the horse grooming, and not after death as with boar and badger - and for some that is important too. But to me the most important bit about horse hair brushes is how nice they are to use

I find them prickly.