Yaqi Shaving Barber Brush – A Tribute to the Barbershop
For the better part of the last years I have been favoring one or two shaving brushes almost without exception. I had initially started my wet shaving adventure with a traditional bore hair brush. Then I tried a synthetic hair brush and was impressed by the silkiness of the experience. Of course a synthetic brush has its downfall, the main one being limited water retention when compared to animal hairs, but I have adjusted my technique to work with that as the overall smoothness was the dominating quality to me.
That being said, I almost refused to try new brushes. I know! Considering that I am trying every imaginable flavour of everything else – What’s going on here!?! This all changed this week as I tried the absolutely stunning Barber Shaving Brush by Yaqui Shaving. Being a fan of all things “Barbershop”, this brush stood out to me with its barber pole colours.
Check out our other Yaqi Shaving reviews.
The brush I had been favouring thus far was a very equal design: 4.5 cm of synthetic hair and 4.5 cm of handle with a total weight of 54 gr. A humble design with a slight rubbery grip. The Barber brush by Yaqi presents a different ratio where there is more handle and a shorter and stubbier hair portion. Wouldn’t you know it, this was an incredibly comfortable instrument to hold and work with. It actually woke me up from my blind favoritism to a delightful experience.
The brush clocks in at 103 gr with 8 cm of handle and 5 cm of hair. The handle is shaped like an hour glass where your fingers will grip to the waist of the handle while your palm will cup a nice round shape. It feels very comfortable and secure.
It would be obvious to say that the handle is just has important as the hair on the brush, but perhaps like many wet shavers I was using the brush I had and not looking any further. By now I have a rather large collection of safety razors, but only a few brushes. Let’s just say, that this is something that will change. Oh goodie – another passion!
The craftsmanship of this brush is top notch and the red and blue stripes are not painted on, but rather molded into the handle itself. This will ensure that the brush won’t lose its originality any time soon. The head of the brush is further stamped with the Yaqi branding adding another classic touch.
I normally run hot water on the hair and then work up the lather. Once the job is done, I thoroughly rinse the brush out and squeeze any left over water. Finally I leave it to dry in my razor caddy so that it is ready for the next shave.
Concerning water retention, my reference points are limited. What I will say is that it is similar to my other synthetic hair brushes and it required a shake before applying to my face otherwise the water within the brush starts to drip during application.
The beauty of a synthetic hair brush is that it requires no real special attention like a curing period where you might need to soak it as is the case with animal hair. From my understanding, it will last a good number of years. Although I have been shaving for over 30 years, I have only stared using brushes about 6 – 7 years ago and the brushes I have are still in great shape.
In short, the Barber Brush by Yaqi is moving up to my favorite brush: beautiful barber pole colours, great ergonomic shape for my large hand and velvet feeling hair. What more could I want?! – Another!