Review on Vie Long 13070 Horse Shaving Handle by Lauren Brown

This is the first shaving brush I have ever bought and I got it because unlike boar and badger shaving brushes you don't have to kill a horse to get your hair. Anyway, I'm very happy with it. It foams and distributes the shaving cream more evenly and sparingly than with your fingers. My only real complaint is that I have a typically male hand and find the grip so small that it was a little awkward to hold at first. If I get another brush I'll probably look for one with a larger diameter handle. I read reviews about it smelling bad but I wasn't worried. When I took it out of the box and my wife and I put our noses to it, we smelled a very faint horse scent. She thought the smell might intensify when she was wet, and she was right. I used it in the shower and right after dipping it in the hot shower spray I stuck my nose in it, took a deep breath and said "OH BABY!" Yes, it smelled like the essence of a sweaty horse. But I worked in a pretty harsh environment, and I'd say on a scale of 0 to 10 it was about a 2 (10 works outside next to a tannery in Texas during the summer). I lathered it up and washed it a few times with Dr. Bronner's mint soap and the smell was almost gone. I think it's a small price to pay for not killing an animal.