beginish’s Eye on a Splintered Mind

[beginish]

The autocorrect works lightyears better than before for me at least

It does for me too, though I wish it wouldn't remember names and odd spellings and offer to put them in when I least need them.

 

[beginish]

Back to Arlington this morning. I had missed it, and it rewarded me with the best lather it’s delivered in weeks.

 

[beginish]

Working with Arlington since the beginning of the year, I've had real challenges getting consistent lather when I used natural fiber boar or badger brushes. Don't ask me how, but a boar lathering was like a Penn and Teller act -- Look at all of the soap you loaded and watch it disappear. I had to reload for the second pass, using my most reliable boars, the Semogue 1470 and 1305. The badgers let me down too, giving me thin second passes. All of the synthetics lathered like champs, including the L'Occitane Plisson and custom Rudy Vey with a Mühle synthetic knot.

I have been feeling a bit of nostalgia lately for some reason, so I got out my Simpson Eagle G3 in Best. Some of you have been on the forums long enough to recall that our friends at B&B ran a group buy for this brush almost 10 years ago and tied it into a fundraiser for Operation Smile. The brush itself is one of the best I have ever used, and features a Chubby 1 Best badger knot in the Eagle handle. It's always been a great performer, and the camaraderie around the buy itself was wonderful.

Using the brush this morning, consider the nostalgia itch scratched. As far as performance goes, I was once again disappointed in Arlington. Don't get me wrong, I got a good lather out of the Eagle, but it was simply not the caliber of what the synthetics have given me. When I went through a recent brush purge from the den, I deliberately kept all of the later model synthetics because at this point, they just perform the best (including my favorite badgers like the Eagle, Simpson 57 and Rooney Beehive and the boars I mentioned). If any new wet shaver asked me for a brush recommendation, I would have to recommend a synth since the learning curve is not hard. It ain't like lathering is difficult, but with such an obvious qualitative difference (at least to me), I couldn't say "get a boar, break it in over a month, and then you'll be great." The synths are rocking right out of the box.

 

[Dave in KY]

Nice thoughts and read

 

[NurseDave]

So one has to ask. There are a gajillion soaps out there. If you're having such an issue with this one, why not just switch to something that doesn't send you around the bend?

 

[GearNoir]

Synths are so easy!

I’ve only run into problems with one natural hair brush so far, also a disappearing lather case. Seemed like any soap I used with it would just not build well and disappear faster than a poorly whipped modern Williams. I have no clue what the issue was to this day.

 

[beginish]

So one has to ask. There are a gajillion soaps out there. If you're having such an issue with this one, why not just switch to something that doesn't send you around the bend?

Good question, and there are 2 reasons.

1. It was a Christmas gift, and I didn't even ask for it, so I feel obligated to use it all up.
2. I'm insane.

 

[NurseDave]

Well, that clears that up.

 

[woodpusher]

Synths are so easy!

I’ve only run into problems with one natural hair brush so far, also a disappearing lather case. Seemed like any soap I used with it would just not build well and disappear faster than a poorly whipped modern Williams. I have no clue what the issue was to this day.

Hmmmm, has anyone given modern Williams a go with a synth?

 

[beginish]

Hmmmm, has anyone given modern Williams a go with a synth?

Mind. Blown.

 

[GearNoir]

Hmmmm, has anyone given modern Williams a go with a synth?

Yes

 

[woodpusher]

Yes

 

[beginish]

I will say this for natural fiber brushes. They retain scent far better than the synths. I got a much better reward this morning from a quick brush sniff.

 

[dangerousdon]

I will say this for natural fiber brushes. They retain scent far better than the synths. I got a much better reward this morning from a quick brush sniff.

Interesting you say this...I have been know to just smell my natural hair brushes because they retain so much scent from the soaps!

 

[beginish]

Interesting you say this...I have been know to just smell my natural hair brushes because they retain so much scent from the soaps!

When I use the same soap day after day after day, the residual scent of that soap really gets in there, and gives the actual scent of the soap, as opposed to what I pick up by just smelling the soap itself. There's something about the lathering that sort of makes it just let loose.

 

[NurseDave]

 

[beginish]

View attachment 2586

That’s me with a tub of Vick’s Vaporub.

 

[dkeester]

All caught up on your journal, Bob. It was a great read.

I also find that my 3017s go much better with synthetic brushes. I am really in love with my TSC Anniversary brush with the Cashmere knot. It is giving me great results with multiple soaps right now. Everything seems to lather better with modern synthetics. I can't wait to finish going through all of the soaps that I got from @Dagwoodz PIF so that I can kill a few soaps.

I also get wanting to see a soap to the end, even if it is not giving great results. I feel like a failure if I can't finish a 3017 that I started.

 

[beginish]

I’m inspired and have pulled out the Chubby 2 synthetic.

 

[beginish]

I am on the verge of making a pronouncement. It involves a change in my most deeply held ranking of all of my hardware. There is a new brush at the top of the heap.