Latherwhip Shaving Brush - Best Badger Grade Hair, Rare 100% Black Badger Bristles, Resin Handle, 22mm Knot, 54mm Loft, Gift Box - Fits Most Shave Stands, For Men Who Use Safety, DE, and Mach 3 Razors

I purchased this brush in late August of 2015 (this last August), and have been regularly using it since then. The brush arrived and lost only a few hairs within the course of the first few shaves, which I though was great. It has performed well up until the past few weeks, in which the hair loss (from the brush that is) has been tremendous. I'll open up a brand new soap, and by the time my shave is through I have many (and I do mean many!) hairs in my new soap, in my sink, and on my face!! They're all over the place. It was a great brush up until this point, but now it's almost unusable. Incidentally, I've cared for the brush very well, following all the suggestions that were made in the post-purchase emails. It's now late December and Amazon says that it's too late to return the brush. So now I'm left wondering if the purchase price was worth the few months of service I got out of the brush. Any help?Update: Adam (Latherwhip) responded very quickly to my first review, and was quick to resolve my issues. I added 2 stars to my previous review because he was so eager to make things right. I'll add another if I'm well satisfied with the product.

This is my first shaving brush, which I selected because of all the great reviews on Amazon. I just started using it today, and I have to say I don't know if I can continue using it. The smell of this thing is right out of a barnyard, and a filthy one at that. The first time I washed it, the water was actually brown coming out of the brush. I washed and rinsed it about 4 times more before I used it and the smell remained. It's been drying all day and the smell still persists when it's dry. My partner has 2 shaving brushes from The Art of Shaving and neither one of them smells like an animal or its excrement the way this one does... I want to evaluate this for its functional merits, but I simply can't get past the smell!UPDATE 4/13/2016As many other reviewers have noted, this company has impeccable customer service. As soon as I posted my review above, I was contacted and had a new brush at my door a couple of days later. The new one wasn't as smelly as the first, and I again followed the directions on how to prep it. I use it every shave now. There's still a slight smell, which I can't tell is from the glue or the hair, but it's tolerable. I still have the original, smelly one, which I haven't spent much time working on, but I might see if I can get it to a point where it's smell is manageable as well. I can't give these guys 5 stars, even though the product is great and they have great customer service, because I can't help but believe a better QA process or cleaning process when producing these would reduce or even eliminate the need for prepping instructions and replacements.

Very nice brush seemed to shed a lot though hoping its just breaking in however. The brush is super soft and has a great backbone I payed 15 dollars for it and am more then satisfied.Edit after owning this brush for a week and a half I would advise not to buy the brush has almost shed out its entire knot seems to be poor quality control really sad too this brush was so soft and a good price.Second edit: I have been out traveling and and it seems as though the seller actually sent me a new brush and even followed up with me before the issue I was having started. This go's above and beyond good customer service. This guy cares about his customers and you do not see that much now days

I really like the overall look and feel of the brush. The emailed maintenance tips were a nice touch. I did prep the brush as per the email. No problems with a musty odor at all. I have lost a few bristles. but I would consider it well within the norm for a badger brush. No worries there.I have noticed that the brush does seem to be a bit soap hungry compared to my other (pure) badger brush. If I load sufficient soap, it will work up a nice lather, but takes a bit more work than what I’m used to. I’m hoping that as the brush continues to break in, lathering will be a bit easier.I’ve now had the brush for about a week, using it every day. Sadly, the LatherWhip logo has begun to wear off the handle. Obviously, that doesn’t affect the performance of the brush, but it does look sloppy. At this rate, within a few months, I may have no visible logo at all.

This is an update to the review that I posted yesterday (see below). I'm adding two more stars because of Adam. As I mentioned below, he's been receptive, positive, and helpful throughout the process. He posted a public comment to my review and also contacted me "offline", and going the extra mile to please his clients and being an upstanding guy is a very important thing, in my eyes. Kudos and thanks to Adam.Prior to buying this brush, I had used a brush that I bought at Taylor of Old Bond Street in London, more than ten years ago (maybe closer to fifteen). It was very well made, and held up well over the years, but it got to the point where it was time for a replacement. This brush was the replacement. I bought it in Jul 2015, and three months later I found myself contacting Adam about the brush. Every time I shaved, the brush was losing around ten bristles (stuck to the top of the shaving soap or floating around in the sink or stuck to my face). Adam was very friendly and professional, and offered to replace the brush at no charge, which he did. Now, three months into the replacement, the same thing is happening. While I was forgiving the first time around (that there may have been a bad production batch), having the same thing happen twice points to an inferior product. I'm giving one star for the brush, and adding one star because Adam was receptive, positive, and helpful through the process. But the product...he needs to go back to the drawing board, or get another producer.