Review (3/5): Not quite my grandfather's shaving brush
My maternal grandfather passed away some 40 years ago. After my mother returned from her out-of-state trip to be with her mother and bury her father, she gave me a small box containing some of his personal belongings. Among them was his Ever Ready PBT300 shaving brush. I had no use for it at the time. As I unpacked after a recent move I rediscovered this item and decided to use it. It was really enjoyable, so after a few months I decided granddad's brush should be properly retired and I should get my own. Since they no longer manufacture Ever Ready's, I looked here at Amazon. This was the brush I decided upon. It's ok.
It is definitely NOT my grandfather's brush - quality-wise. Grand dad was a farmer, and not a gentleman farmer. So he would not have paid a lot for his. So I thought this one might be similar in quality. I was wrong. It's very stiff. It does not do a great job with the soap lather. It also arrived with a very strong, musky aroma in the bristles. This is probably what badgers smell like. But as I am a native of southern California and we don't need no stinkin' badgers here, I am not positive. This aroma was also transferred to my face as well, for the first month of use. Just prior to the musky animal aroma disappearing, I was frustrated enough with the smell on me all day to look for another brush. Since my grandfather's brush had no aroma I knew it was possible to have one that was aroma - free. But was it a matter of quality or simply a matter of time?
I purchased a $70 Vulfix brush, hand-made on the Isle of Man in the UK.
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It is much more like granddad's in color, feel, and use. It lathers very nicely. It's very soft on the face. It holds a lot of water. There was a slight smell (nothing at all like the SimplyBeautiful smell)that was gone after the 2nd use. If you are thinking about going with a shaving brush (and I LOVE mine and will only go back to the can for short travel trips), my advice is to spend the money and get one that will last for a few decades (like the Vulfix) and avoid the "badgery" smell - although it did eventually go away. I haven't made the decision to also go with the straight razor. I figure I will give the EMTs in the area a break and stick with the safety razor.....