Simpson M6 TSN Limited Edition Manchurian Badger - A Review
That’s an awfully lengthy title, so for the purposes of this review, I’ll simply refer to this brush as the Simpson M6. This was a Limited Edition reproduction of the discontinued M6 handle for The Shave Nook, intended as a tribute to a community with longstanding support for the Simpson brand. A limited run of 200 brushes was constructed and purchasers were required to be members of TSN to be able to purchase.
One of the key concepts in the inception of this brush was to provide an opportunity to members of the community to purchase a Manchurian Badger brush at an ‘affordable’ price. Affordable it was not, but I have little doubt that hell will freeze over before Simpson Manchurian hair can be had this cheap again. I hope now that this is the most expensive brush that I ever buy, but I’m glad that I purchased it. I wanted to own something that was (arguably) the most premium product of its type in the world, at the time of purchase. I hope that it will always motivate me to be successful enough that I might be privileged to own other items of equal quality and value. Bit wanky, but there you go.
The brush itself is solid and well balanced in the hand. It has a nice, even distribution of weight and is comfortable in the hand. It’s got enough length to it that getting lather on your fingers isn’t a problem while either face or bowl lathering. From other M6s that I’ve seen, the colouring of the handle has some variation. It ranges from quite a light ‘slate’ kind of colour to quite a deep earthy brown. I quite like the mix of light and dark on mine.
The knot itself is 22mm with a 48mm loft. This is quite a tall loft for a small and not hugely dense knot, but I believe the expertise of Simpson in understanding the characteristics of the Manchurian hair shows here. Backbone is surprisingly firm, and there’s a good amount of ‘resistance’ from the knot while lathering. The tips are very soft, but the hair itself doesn’t really yield to pressure like the Simpsons Best. It retains a moderate amount of water in the knot, but also much less than the densely packed Duke.
Over the 5-10 shaves I’ve now had with the M6, it’s bloomed quite nicely and softened up somewhat. A slight prickliness was evident at first arrival, and this has dissipated as the knot has relaxed. Some of the tips look like they’re beginning to hook slightly, so I’ll be interested to see if the fabled ‘cloud-like’ softness develops over time. It’s loaded very easily from the variety of soaps and creams that I’ve subjected it too so far, but a favourite was last night’s shave with Panna Crema. Harder soaps like Tabac or La Toja stick also performed very well.
One final note. There was a slight delay beyond what I expected for the delivery of this brush, and word reached TSN that some of the rod stock had some blemishes and required some additional work. I don't know, but I suspect that my order was among these. The Simpson Aftershave Balm shown above was a gift with this brush, and very much appreciated, particularly if it was a small token of apology for the delay. Then again, maybe Mark is just generous and likes Australians. Either way, it was a nice guesture and I'm grateful to Simmo.
All in all, I'm happy with this purchase. It was pricy, but it will hopefully retain some sentimental value and is a nice (and different) addition to my small stable of brushes. While I can in no way recommend Simpson Manchurian hair as value for money, it's characteristics are certainly remarkably different from most of the more readily available offerings and I'll enjoy having a brush like this in my rotation.
That’s an awfully lengthy title, so for the purposes of this review, I’ll simply refer to this brush as the Simpson M6. This was a Limited Edition reproduction of the discontinued M6 handle for The Shave Nook, intended as a tribute to a community with longstanding support for the Simpson brand. A limited run of 200 brushes was constructed and purchasers were required to be members of TSN to be able to purchase.
One of the key concepts in the inception of this brush was to provide an opportunity to members of the community to purchase a Manchurian Badger brush at an ‘affordable’ price. Affordable it was not, but I have little doubt that hell will freeze over before Simpson Manchurian hair can be had this cheap again. I hope now that this is the most expensive brush that I ever buy, but I’m glad that I purchased it. I wanted to own something that was (arguably) the most premium product of its type in the world, at the time of purchase. I hope that it will always motivate me to be successful enough that I might be privileged to own other items of equal quality and value. Bit wanky, but there you go.
The brush itself is solid and well balanced in the hand. It has a nice, even distribution of weight and is comfortable in the hand. It’s got enough length to it that getting lather on your fingers isn’t a problem while either face or bowl lathering. From other M6s that I’ve seen, the colouring of the handle has some variation. It ranges from quite a light ‘slate’ kind of colour to quite a deep earthy brown. I quite like the mix of light and dark on mine.
The knot itself is 22mm with a 48mm loft. This is quite a tall loft for a small and not hugely dense knot, but I believe the expertise of Simpson in understanding the characteristics of the Manchurian hair shows here. Backbone is surprisingly firm, and there’s a good amount of ‘resistance’ from the knot while lathering. The tips are very soft, but the hair itself doesn’t really yield to pressure like the Simpsons Best. It retains a moderate amount of water in the knot, but also much less than the densely packed Duke.
Over the 5-10 shaves I’ve now had with the M6, it’s bloomed quite nicely and softened up somewhat. A slight prickliness was evident at first arrival, and this has dissipated as the knot has relaxed. Some of the tips look like they’re beginning to hook slightly, so I’ll be interested to see if the fabled ‘cloud-like’ softness develops over time. It’s loaded very easily from the variety of soaps and creams that I’ve subjected it too so far, but a favourite was last night’s shave with Panna Crema. Harder soaps like Tabac or La Toja stick also performed very well.
One final note. There was a slight delay beyond what I expected for the delivery of this brush, and word reached TSN that some of the rod stock had some blemishes and required some additional work. I don't know, but I suspect that my order was among these. The Simpson Aftershave Balm shown above was a gift with this brush, and very much appreciated, particularly if it was a small token of apology for the delay. Then again, maybe Mark is just generous and likes Australians. Either way, it was a nice guesture and I'm grateful to Simmo.
All in all, I'm happy with this purchase. It was pricy, but it will hopefully retain some sentimental value and is a nice (and different) addition to my small stable of brushes. While I can in no way recommend Simpson Manchurian hair as value for money, it's characteristics are certainly remarkably different from most of the more readily available offerings and I'll enjoy having a brush like this in my rotation.
