I bought this Yaqi 24mm "High Mountain" badger a while back (when Wetshaving Co was Yaqi Shaving Australia) because I was curious about the whole "high mountain" aspect of it. Turns out, the badger hair wasn't great and doesn't look like Yaqi has produced any more brushes using that knot (now, it's their usual 2-band or silvertip knots on other brushes). The brush itself is fairly scritchy and uncomfortable to use for face lathering. It's not as dense as Oumo's SHD offerings and has the dual disadvantages of being floppy (low backbone) and stiff hair at the same time. I usually use it for bowl lathering and just painting lather on the face. Using it for a shave the other night, just went to show me the reason why it gets relegated to the back of my brush collection.
Anyhow, with the lockdown in Sydney and having some time on my hands, thought I'd try bleaching the tips to give a gel-tip effect. I had some hair bleaching products from a while back that are probably never going to be used and following that instructional video on youtube by the AP Shave Co guy, decided to give it a go.
Btw, as an aside, the Yaqi standard 2-band badger is much better than their High Mountain badger (to me).
So, getting the gear together. As mentioned in the video, make sure you don't use any metal. Not pictured is my gloves and safety glasses (safety first!)
Swirled the hair bleach into the brush and then activated it with a hairdryer for 10 minutes.
So, after 10 minutes, looks like the bleach has started to react (created volume by bubbles) to the heat and hair follicle. Thoroughly rinsed the brush and then washed it with baby shampoo and let it dry. Then give it a thorough combing with my dog comb to straighten it out. Lost around 20-30 hairs, which doesn't seem to bad considering what I put it though.
As for changes. It does 'look' lighter and maybe a bit softer, but that might be bias influence. It certainly 'bloomed' a lot more for a 24mm brush, even more bloomed than the 26mm Yaqi. But side by side comparisons doesn't really show that much difference. Will have to see how it lathers. Maybe it'll get more bleached over time.
Anyhow, with the lockdown in Sydney and having some time on my hands, thought I'd try bleaching the tips to give a gel-tip effect. I had some hair bleaching products from a while back that are probably never going to be used and following that instructional video on youtube by the AP Shave Co guy, decided to give it a go.
Btw, as an aside, the Yaqi standard 2-band badger is much better than their High Mountain badger (to me).
So, getting the gear together. As mentioned in the video, make sure you don't use any metal. Not pictured is my gloves and safety glasses (safety first!)
Swirled the hair bleach into the brush and then activated it with a hairdryer for 10 minutes.
So, after 10 minutes, looks like the bleach has started to react (created volume by bubbles) to the heat and hair follicle. Thoroughly rinsed the brush and then washed it with baby shampoo and let it dry. Then give it a thorough combing with my dog comb to straighten it out. Lost around 20-30 hairs, which doesn't seem to bad considering what I put it though.
As for changes. It does 'look' lighter and maybe a bit softer, but that might be bias influence. It certainly 'bloomed' a lot more for a 24mm brush, even more bloomed than the 26mm Yaqi. But side by side comparisons doesn't really show that much difference. Will have to see how it lathers. Maybe it'll get more bleached over time.