beginish’s Eye on a Splintered Mind

[beginish]

This week’s brush:

 

[beginish]

I went on a little hunt for a Rooney brush tonight, and managed to find a new Rooney-made T&H 3/2 silver tip. Over the years, I had made the mistake of selling or donating virtually all of my Rooneys except the Beehive. I’m pretty happy!

 

[woodpusher]

I've only had one Rooney so far, I think a style-1, size-1? (but I could be wrong, it was many years ago).
I didn't appreciated luxury knots at the time and it found a new home.

 

[beginish]

On tap for next week.

 

[woodpusher]

Beautiful! You kept the smaller 50's! Did you hold on to the others as well?

 

[beginish]

Beautiful! You kept the smaller 50's! Did you hold on to the others as well?

Yep, I have the full set from 55-59. I even had a 60 at one time (completely different handle design). The 55 and 56 are both really nice little brushes, and I got them when the Best hair Simpson was using had pretty soft tips, so it's a scrubby face lathering experience and not uncomfortable at all.

 

[beginish]

With the Classic 1, 55 and 56, I've been using some nice little brushes this year. I'd forgotten how good they are. Loading the same amount of time as I do with the larger brushes and I get more soap on it.....even better lathers than usual. For a time early on, I had capped my brushes at about 23 mm knots, and somewhere along the line strayed. The bigger brushes are good too, but those little dynamos pack a heck of a punch, and are really cost effective in the grand scheme of things.

 

[beginish]

I’m very happy to have found what may be one of the last new Sabini-made Rooneys in the wild (for Truefitt & Hill). As you can see, the stamps labeling the brush (a style 3, medium size 2) are a bit wonky. That said, the faux ivory handle and dense silvertip badger knot are excellent. Thank God for the bad stock keeping in the Classic Shaving back room.

 

[beginish]

Two weeks with this brush and it’s fantastic. It’s a completely different lathering experience to Simpson. This Rooney has Silvertip hair, dense but with a high loft for a massaging face lathering experience. Absolutely wonderful.

 

[beginish]

Last week’s daily driver:



On tap for this week:

 

[woodpusher]

Like George Jefferson, you're moving on up!

 

[beginish]

The 59, man. Holy cow.

 

[August West]

The 59, man. Holy cow.

I really like “traditional” brushes.

 

[beginish]

Last week’s daily driver, the behemoth:



On tap this week, the rarely seen but very effective Simpson Beaufort 4 in Pure Badger:

 

[woodpusher]

The B4 looks so tiny compared to the 59.

 

[GearNoir]

Lookin good Bob! Hope you’re well!

 

[beginish]

The B4 looks so tiny compared to the 59.

The 59 is a seriously large brush. It’s like a baby Polo. Smaller than the Polo 8, but no slouch.

Lookin good Bob! Hope you’re well!

Busy as all get out, thanks. We’ve been down half of the staff for most of the pandemic so 3 people doing the job of 7 doesn’t make for much free time.

 

[beginish]

This puck of Windsor won’t give up. 5 months in and I still haven’t broken through, but I will not let it break me. With luck, it’s done before June. I’ve had better luck with my bottle of Lucky Tiger ASL. I dare say that it will be finished this week, which will leave me with a single AS in the den, a 1/3 finished bottle (400 ml) of Booster Polar Ice.

 

[woodpusher]

Booster is good stuff! ... but I found it can get sticky if you use too much.

 

[beginish]

Booster is good stuff! ... but I found it can get sticky if you use too much.

Agreed. If it's inspired by Floïd Blue, it doesn't measure up on this count. It also isn't cooling, despite the scent.