There is a Turkish vendor with a website where he sells all sorts of traditional shaving goodies at very good prices. On there he sells “Wooden Handled Shaving Brushes Made of horse hair” for just $2.45. He also sells them on eBay as “Shaving brush (There is no bristle. Is for Muslims.)” for $3.75.
Turkish and Spanish horse hair shaving brushes
I have eulogised on here before about horse hair brushes, they are said to have 85% of the good attributes of badger brushes and 85% of the good attributes of boar brushes. Certainly the ones made in Spain by Vie Long have a very enthusiastic following. And they have the advantage that the hair is the result of natural grooming, so no animals are harmed in their production. So all in all I had no hesitation in buying one of these brushes from Turkey.
Turkish horse hair and Chinese bristle shaving brushes
Wow, this brush is a bundle of fun. A whole world better than the Chinese boar brushes at this price point. It looks very similar in size to a Semogue Owners Club when sat next to one. Around a 24mm knot, 54 mm loft, 56mm handle height. The handle is varnished light wood and the horse hair is very light brown. Build quality is good but the detail finish is not there, varnish thickness etc. Still excellent for the price but nowhere near the presentation of, say, a Frank Shaving brush.
Turkish horse hair and Semogue Owners Club shaving brushes
Brand new you can tell it is horse hair by the smell. I lathered it up twice with Williams and washed it with dishwashing liquid and the smell was gone. During this process it shed half a dozen or so hairs. Then it was time to shave, it loaded up very nicely indeed with MWF and held enough for three passes. It was quite soft to the face but obviously not Silver Tip soft, though I have used badger brushes that are far more scritchy. And it certainly had enough backbone to handle MWF easily.
Turkish shaving brushes. Jaguar and horse hair
All in all this is an excellent brush and at the price it is just silly value for money. Easily the best value shaving brush on the market just now.
5 shaving brushes. Chinese bristle, Jaguar bristle, Turkish horse hair, Semogue Owners Club, Spanish horse hair
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4 comments ↓
As always, wonderful article, Bruce. How do you compare the two Turkish and Spanish horse hair brushes? Which do you prefer?
They are both excellent and very different to one another. They are so cheap that it is worth having both!
My local turkish supermarket has these brushes in at £3.00
will buy one tomorrow. I like the cheap is not so bad attitude towards shaving rather than the “look what i have just bought ££” attitude some people have !!
I’ve had the wooden handled version for a few months now. I like the natural appearance of the handle, but the brush is a lower quality sample, with the tips of most hairs curving in one direction, and uneven trimming of the hairs. There is also a gap between the ferrule at the base of the knot, and the opening of the handle, with potential for water seeping in to bare wood. That was sealed off with 2-part urethane mix.
I just received a plastic handled version, $0.10 more than the wooden handled. The ferrule fits the plastic handle with more precision, and the hairs are evenly trimmed, looking like the pictures on this site. In the process of cleaning before using, a couple of latherings with Williams show much better lathering capabilities, likely the kind which have people waxing on about this brush.
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