Frank Shaving Finest

An initial impression of the Chinese-made Frank Shaving finest badger brush

Frank Shaving Finest - 'Berwick' model

Straight from China and fresh out-of the box is my first brush from Frank Shaving (ebay seller: iantang19821024). I was surprised when I received a call from the concierge that I had a packing waiting for me. To be honest I wasn't expecting this to arrive til sometime after the holiday. Like all new shaving goodies I was excited to take it on a test run. 

My excitement quickly started to subside upon a closer look at the brush. You can see in the photo that the 'FS' logo is of poor quality and already starting to wear away. I suppose for slightly under $21 USD ($13.99 + 6.99 shipping) I should take this into account and lower my expectations slightly. Hopefully it performs as well as others have raved about. I broke out my puck of C&E Sienna and put the bristles to work.

there's gotta be over 20 hairs there!

My Initial impression: a cheap shedder. After a moderate lathering I was plucking hairs out one by one. Again, I tried my best to accommodate my expectations based on price and the words of others and gave it a second lathering. And again I'm removing hairs from my lather with every-other swirl of the brush. For this, I'll let the picture speak for itself. Another letdown - after 2 uses the logo has already rubbed away (though I now prefer the sans-logo look).

left- Frank Shaving finest l right- C&E best

Here is where I will offer some praise, when compared to my C&E best badger (post-use), the bloom is just as full and gorgeous.

For now though - with no 'official' use, and after only two test lathers - I won't totally dismiss this brush but I'm not showering it with praise either, time and use will decide that.