Review: 3 Claveles Professional Horsehair Brush

What kind of shaving brush do you use? Tell us all about it!
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Review: 3 Claveles Professional Horsehair Brush

Post by brothers »

Brothers’ criteria for the 3 Claveles Professional Horsehair Brush Review

1. Quality 8
2. Balance 9
3. Luxury Factor 8
4. Ease of Lather 10
5. Price 10
6. Stiffness of tips 3
7. Softness of tips 9
8. Ergonomic 9


Quality: The handle is solid wood with a metal bolster which houses the knot. The brush has only shed 3 hairs during the initial break-in and the first three weeks of almost daily use. The horsehair is cut from longer hair fibers, so the tips of the hairs are going to be square on a new brush.

Balance: The heft is appropriate for a brush model called Professional by the manufacturer. In use, the large knot when loaded with lather and water is nicely offset by the length and weight of the handle.

Luxury Factor: The softness of the horsehair in this brush on the face is very similar to my Kent BK4, and painting the lather on the face is smooth and gentle.

Ease of Lather: This brush is a willing participant in the serious business of doing what it is intended to do. There’s no pampering or babying, no lore or mystery involved. It shows up, collects both of the two ingredients it needs to do what it does, and delivers the lather quickly and efficiently.

The horsehair works for me as easily on soap as with cream. I have used bowl lathering and face lathering with equal ease and success. I use distilled water for shaving. The non-tallow Trumper soaps begin to create lather within 3 to 5 swirls of the soaked and gently shaken horsehair brush on the surface of the soap. In moments the brush is loaded and begins doing what it does best. This is the basis for my satisfaction with my first horsehair brush.

The horsehair doesn’t hold water as well as badger, but it has a natural lathering ability. I have found that the horsehair will take whatever quantity of water you give it and it will create as fine a lather as your cream or soap is capable of providing. If you spare the water, the lather will be thicker. If you go to the water more often, the lather produced becomes more profuse, but I am very impressed by the fact that none of the lathers I have produced with my horsehair brush have been thin and wispy, or watery and weak. The horsehair’s nature is not to hold as much water within itself as the mighty badger brush.

The horsehair gets whatever amount of water it needs from the user. Someone new to the horsehair brush is probably going to find that he needs to dip more than just the tips into the water, and as the lather is created, the horsehair will use whatever water has been provided at a faster rate, since it isn’t “holding” water deep within the highly absorbent bristles, it appears to hold the water on the exterior, where it’s needed at the moment of the release of the lather onto the skin.

A few sentences above, you will recall I referred to a “natural lathering ability”. This may be the horsehair brush’s most important feature. Maybe this explains why horsehair was the dominant fiber used in shaving brushes in the past centuries.

The horsehair doesn’t hoard the massive quantities of lather it creates; it seems ready to release the excess lather about as promptly as it’s created. Painting the incredibly soft hair back and forth, up and down is the power that drives the lather-making engine.

Upon completion of the shave, the horsehair brush does have ample amounts of lather still stored within itself, but in my experience, not as much as a badger brushes. The horsehair makes great lather and gives up its lather more readily.

The process can be described as efficiently mixing water and soap/cream in very little time with very little effort, and delivering the desired consistency and quantity of finished product to the face. That’s what I call getting down to business.

Price: The total cost to me for the brush and the shipping from Spain was a bit over $44 based on the exchange rate for Euros vs. Dollars at the time. Shipping was more than half the total cost. There are few, if any, quality badger shaving brushes in that price range. This is the most expensive of the horsehair brushes I located. My son bought one for $10 plus shipping, and I bought my second horsehair brush for $23. This is undoubtedly due to the current factors of supply and demand.

Stiffness of tips: Not very stiff. The BK4 is not a very stiff brush, and the horsehair brush is very similar to the absence of stiffness inherent in the Kent Silvertip BK4 brush.

Softness of tips: Rated very high for this brush. The horsehair feels lush and luxurious as it creates the lather and deposits it on the face.

Ergonomic: This horsehair brush feels comfortable in my hand while I’m using it, due to the design and the weight.

Discussion: The horsehair rinses and dries rapidly. It aerates freely and easily. After about 7 latherings it loses all factory/manufacturing odors, and quickly takes on the soft pleasing fragrances of the shaving products used. This brush is different. It’s good. It doesn’t take too long to figure out how to use it, and what it’s going to do when you use it.
Image
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
User avatar
Aztecface
Posts: 2159
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:18 pm
Location: Sweden

Post by Aztecface »

Gary, very good work. Interesting, very interesting.
Regards,
Jani
95%
Posts: 1961
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 12:53 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by 95% »

Gary, it's not clear to me how the horsehair brush is "different." Are the hairs fine like a silvertip, or thick like an Omega boar in the Professional series? Does the knot remain perfectly symmetrical after use like a badger - you know how a badger knot always springs back to its original shape - or does it look somewhat ragged? Does it need to be soaked in hot water before the shave, like a boar?

Would you describe your brush as densely packed, floppy, or in between?
Porter
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Post by brothers »

Ah, Porter. I've just always thought of it as being different. The horsehair is fine and not densely packed in this brush. It is much less thick and stiff (dense) than the Omega 48 I had for a while. I think this brush performs very similarly to a badger brush, and specifically, very similarly to my one year old Kent BK4.

I have always soaked my brushes, boar (when I had a couple) or badger. Can't imagine going at it with a dry brush. Maybe some guys like it that way too. Interesting question about some brushes being perfectly symmetrical, so I think that's why I wanted to post a picture of it. It kinda blooms out after it's been rinsed out, then after it's completely dry, it does tend to want to spring back to it's original profile.

Hope that helps! Thanks for reading and responding with some thoughtful questions. I enjoyed the challenge to try to write it up.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
95%
Posts: 1961
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 12:53 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by 95% »

You've answered my questions, Gary, and thanks. You've established that the horsehair knot performs splendidly, making lather without fuss and releasing it freely and comfortably onto the face. That's what a shaving brush is supposed to do. It also sounds as though it's esthetically pleasing.

You say horsehair was the dominant fiber used in shaving brushes in the past centuries. Do you have even anecdotal evidence for that? I wonder why horse rather than hog bristle - also an excellent performer - would have been the dominant fiber for so long. Both were easily obtainable in Europe and America.

Another puzzle, given its exemplary performance, is why horsehair has become so rare. Omega, VDH, Vulfix, etc. don't use it but do use boar. Perhaps the answer is that the industry was spooked by the anthrax scare of 75 years ago, when horses were affected, but apparently not pigs.
Porter
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Post by brothers »

I've read that horsehair was the most popular and was issued to the military, up until the time it was suddenly discontinued and replaced by badger and boar. There was an old newspaper or other written record that I had happened upon that talked about it. The virtual absence of any demand for horsehair shaving brushes is probably responsible for the fact that not many manufacturers are willing to hold them in the inventory.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
User avatar
gil3591
Posts: 3045
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:36 am
Location: ohio

Post by gil3591 »

horse hair wears like iron. they used to cover furniture with it and it looked like a silk covering. my sister had an antique horse hair loveseat that looked new after 150 years
Gil
futur/EJ357/ gillette redtip
iridium ,blue IP
thater, shavemac.anchorset/tgn,sr3226
dirty bird
and a prayer
95%
Posts: 1961
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 12:53 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by 95% »

I don't know that shaving brushes even existed before 1850 or thereabouts. Does anybody? Someone posted here - it may have been Squire - that he saw a "very ratty brush" in a collection of Civil War memorabilia, perhaps one that belonged to Grant. But did Washington or Napoleon, or their barbers, use shaving brushes? What about Louis XIV?

There's a death of information about the history of shaving, and the implements used, up until a few generations ago. The accounts on the Web usually start with Fred Flintstone, who shaved with rocks, and then fast forward to King Gillette.
Porter
divotmax
Posts: 924
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:52 pm
Location: West Texas

Post by divotmax »

Seems like I read that horsehair was discontinued for brush use because it was tied to the spread of anthrax; so boar bristle replaced it. I don't think it was ever a problem of efficiency or availability.
BobS

Life is too short not to use a sharp blade and a good brush.
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Post by brothers »

Exactly right. It was an externally mandated banishment, tied to the health care delivery/preventive care system or absence thereof, of the olden days. In my case, now I know why horsehair brushes were so popular. They work!
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
User avatar
gil3591
Posts: 3045
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:36 am
Location: ohio

Post by gil3591 »

gary, correct me if i'm wrong but if i read between the lines i get the impression that the brush has "wet rag" syndrome when wet?
Gil
futur/EJ357/ gillette redtip
iridium ,blue IP
thater, shavemac.anchorset/tgn,sr3226
dirty bird
and a prayer
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Post by brothers »

Gil, you have the advantage of me. What the heck is that?
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
CMur12
Posts: 7457
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Moses Lake, Washington, USA

Post by CMur12 »

Gary, thanks for the review. I have been looking forward to this.

- Murray
User avatar
KAV
Posts: 2607
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:57 pm
Location: California, just above L.A. between the Reagan Library and Barbra Streisand's beach house

Post by KAV »

Better horsehair is obtained from the mane. The main,tail and 'feathers' found on some breed's legs just above the hooves are adaptations to shed water. If you look at one under a microscope they are very slick with the light refracting cells arranged differently which produces the coat colours. Owners of mares who's hygiene has been neglected can attest to how much stuff will wash out :oops: It can be so loaded an old trick is to SPRAY THEM with WD 40 to comb everything free and then wash.
User avatar
gil3591
Posts: 3045
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:36 am
Location: ohio

Post by gil3591 »

brothers wrote:Gil, you have the advantage of me. What the heck is that?
sorry, meant to say wet noodle :lol:
Gil
futur/EJ357/ gillette redtip
iridium ,blue IP
thater, shavemac.anchorset/tgn,sr3226
dirty bird
and a prayer
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Post by brothers »

Hi Gil. thanks for the clarification but I confess I don't know what the wet noodle syndrome is, and the only thing I can say is what I said in the review:

The horsehair doesn’t hold water as well as badger, but it has a natural lathering ability. I have found that the horsehair will take whatever quantity of water you give it and it will create as fine a lather as your cream or soap is capable of providing.

If you spare the water, the lather will be thicker. If you go to the water more often, the lather produced becomes more profuse, but I am very impressed by the fact that none of the lathers I have produced with my horsehair brush have been thin and wispy, or watery and weak. The horsehair’s nature is not to hold as much water within itself as the mighty badger brush.

The horsehair gets whatever amount of water it needs from the user. Someone new to the horsehair brush is probably going to find that he needs to dip more than just the tips into the water, and as the lather is created, the horsehair will use whatever water has been provided at a faster rate, since it isn’t “holding” water deep within the highly absorbent bristles, it appears to hold the water on the exterior, where it’s needed at the moment of the release of the lather onto the skin.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
95%
Posts: 1961
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 12:53 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by 95% »

Gary, to my mind the wet noodle syndrome is exemplified by the Omega 48. I would say wet mop, but that's a quibble. You've said that the 3 Claveles is much less stiff and dense than the 48, which puzzles me because my 48 is the floppiest, least dense brush I own. (I'm referring to the brush when wet, of course. When dry, the 48's bristles are as brittle as uncooked spaghetti.) I would expect to find, therefore, that the 3 Claveles is an extremely floppy brush that collapses agaainst the face.

Descriptions can only go so far, however, and you have described the horsehair as thoroughly as anyone could. We'll need to experience it for ourselves to know exactly how it behaves, but you've made it clear that it's a darned good lathering brush.
Porter
brothers
Posts: 21507
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Post by brothers »

Thanks Gil and Porter, and others. I've only reviewed one single brush, the one that I have and currently use in combination with 3 badger brushes.

As with every other product we use, the next person might get their own horsehair brush and have a totally different experience than mine.

An example of what I'm talking about is the boar brush. Some guys love the way they perform, but for whatever reason(s) they didn't and don't work for me. I am just puzzled by them. That doesn't reflect negatively on boar brushes, or on my shaving habits and practices, it just illustrates the fact that what works for one isn't required or expected to work the same way for others.

That's what I love so much about this whole shaving experience we're all enjoying together.

I was curious about everything we've discussed here at one time or another, one of which was the legend of armies of young soldiers fighting in the Big War getting up every day and shaving with their horsehair brushes.

I was fascinated by that, and when I located a modern-made brand new professional horsehair brush, then I was like a kid on Christmas morning. (Still am, if you haven't already figured that out!)

Wes, my wife's grandfather at age 16 ran away from home to join the US Army during WWI so he could go fight in Europe with his older brother (older brother got badly and permanently hurt by exposure to enemy-administered mustard gas, by the way).

Wes was a great guy, and my grown kids still remember sitting on his lap and interacting with him when they were just babies.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
User avatar
Teiste
Posts: 1247
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:25 pm
Location: Utah

Post by Teiste »

Gary thanks for the review!Here in Spain theyre cheap and avaible (for 8 euros you can get a Vie Long or 3 claveles) and also the mixed with badger cost around 12 euros.I myself dont like it but one one of my grandpas loved them.
User avatar
Janus
Posts: 560
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:14 am
Location: Finland

Post by Janus »

Teiste, do you know if the 3 claveles brushes are also made in Spain? Apparently they do make cutlery items and scissors there, but I don't see any mention of shaving brushes on their web site:
http://www.buenohermanos.com/espanol/inicio.shtm
Janus
Post Reply