Morris & Forndran Heritage II Blonde Badger reviews

Could anyone compare the new heritage II legacy vs M&F finest? I love my finest but would love to know the differences vs heritage II

You'll get different opinions on what M&F Finest is like compared to the new Heritage II Legacy hair. That comes down to batch variation. I have a few M&F Finests I can think of at the moment, probably a few I'm forgetting about, and a few I had that I'm forgetting about. The two I can think of at the moment one is a 1/3 like clone with some slight difference at the bottom of the handle to make it a slight deviation from a 1/3 that comes quite close to the old Finest of old. Not as close as Blonde Badger did when it was first introduced, but still not bad. Another M&F Finest has hair that I would swear is a 2-band Heritage equivalent. Most M&F Finests I've seen just haven't been for me, but they do pop up. Even Blonde Badger has been subject to this.

Even Rooney Finest had variation within it that I didn't experience until later years. I mostly attributed Rooney Finest as being quite dense, heavy backbone, and a scritchy feeling in the tips that I liked. Most of what I have now is softer. A recent 1/1 comes close to my old memories of a 3/1 Ebony and a 1/2 Horn Finest, but even that is a bit softer than I expected. 2-band Heritage had later batches that didn't have as heavy of gelling as when it was first introduced that I didn't experience until later. I have a 1XL that reminds me exactly of the old 2-band Heritage hair close to when it first came out, and a 2XL that I still recognize as 2-band Heritage, but the gelling isn't as pronounced which I like more to be honest.

The hair in my Heritage II is sort of an amalgamation of 3-band Heritage, 2-band Heritage, and Blonde Badger. Hair almost as thin as 3-band heritage but slightly thicker, but thinner than either 2-band Heritage or Blonde, tips with a slight gel presence that is even less than that of the later batches of 2-band Heritage while having tip presence feel close to that of Blonde badger. Knot density and splay is more akin to that from 2-band Heritage, with backbone between that of 2-band Heritage and Blonde. What surprises me the most on it is how the tips maintain some presence of feeling them while yet having some feeling of gel tips. It's possible the gel tip feeling will get more pronounced with time. For me it is a great balance.

You'll get different opinions on what M&F Finest is like compared to the new Heritage II Legacy hair. That comes down to batch variation. I have a few M&F Finests I can think of at the moment, probably a few I'm forgetting about, and a few I had that I'm forgetting about. The two I can think of at the moment one is a 1/3 like clone with some slight difference at the bottom of the handle to make it a slight deviation from a 1/3 that comes quite close to the old Finest of old. Not as close as Blonde Badger did when it was first introduced, but still not bad. Another M&F Finest has hair that I would swear is a 2-band Heritage equivalent. Most M&F Finests I've seen just haven't been for me, but they do pop up. Even Blonde Badger has been subject to this.

Even Rooney Finest had variation within it that I didn't experience until later years. I mostly attributed Rooney Finest as being quite dense, heavy backbone, and a scritchy feeling in the tips that I liked. Most of what I have now is softer. A recent 1/1 comes close to my old memories of a 3/1 Ebony and a 1/2 Horn Finest, but even that is a bit softer than I expected. 2-band Heritage had later batches that didn't have as heavy of gelling as when it was first introduced that I didn't experience until later. I have a 1XL that reminds me exactly of the old 2-band Heritage hair close to when it first came out, and a 2XL that I still recognize as 2-band Heritage, but the gelling isn't as pronounced which I like more to be honest.

The hair in my Heritage II is sort of an amalgamation of 3-band Heritage, 2-band Heritage, and Blonde Badger. Hair almost as thin as 3-band heritage but slightly thicker, but thinner than either 2-band Heritage or Blonde, tips with a slight gel presence that is even less than that of the later batches of 2-band Heritage while having tip presence feel close to that of Blonde badger. Knot density and splay is more akin to that from 2-band Heritage, with backbone between that of 2-band Heritage and Blonde. What surprises me the most on it is how the tips maintain some presence of feeling them while yet having some feeling of gel tips. It's possible the gel tip feeling will get more pronounced with time. For me it is a great balance.

Thanks for such a detailed comparison! Appreciate it!

Gave it another run today. Didn’t feel the tips as much for either pass but it the tips were still present. So unique to have both slight gel tip presence and a tiny touch of scritch. The brush already feels great and like a brush that has already had 50 uses on it. Just open feeling and a great pleasure to use!

i'm only on my third use with my TH but this has been my experience so far as well. there's a little bit of a gel feel, but it isn't excessive and it's somewhat balanced by raw, individual tip presence. i've found excessively gelly knots to feel kind of slimy, and my face seems to itch for a little more scrub most of the time. they're kind of like razors with zero blade feel in that i find them a little boring in use. the scritch of Heritage II adds, in my opinion, much needed tactile feedback without feeling harsh. it's really only there to give the gel tips some "traction" on the face. it's definitely a nice feeling and i hope use of the word scritch isn't a deterrent, especially since these were advertised as having little to no scritch. maybe there's a better word but it isn't coming to mind right now. it's entirely possible these characteristics will change with more uses too.

the closest feeling knot i have to it is another m&f in blonde, though that was also a somewhat recent pickup so perhaps there was some overlap in hair. that blonde knot is not as dense though, and being more bulbous it's a little more focused and intense feeling on the face anyway. it also doesn't open up nearly as much as this heritage knot does, which along with the density is probably thanks to thinner hair. 

mine is almost identical to yours, but lapis in place of malachite. it's a good looking handle, and i was pleasantly surprised by how large it is. i was expecting a vertically extended chubby 2, but this is a little larger in diameter and it's very comfortable.

Gave it another run today. Didn’t feel the tips as much for either pass but it the tips were still present. So unique to have both slight gel tip presence and a tiny touch of scritch. The brush already feels great and like a brush that has already had 50 uses on it. Just open feeling and a great pleasure to use!

i'm only on my third use with my TH but this has been my experience so far as well. there's a little bit of a gel feel, but it isn't excessive and it's somewhat balanced by raw, individual tip presence. i've found excessively gelly knots to feel kind of slimy, and my face seems to itch for a little more scrub most of the time. they're kind of like razors with zero blade feel in that i find them a little boring in use. the scritch of Heritage II adds, in my opinion, much needed tactile feedback without feeling harsh. it's really only there to give the gel tips some "traction" on the face. it's definitely a nice feeling and i hope use of the word scritch isn't a deterrent, especially since these were advertised as having little to no scritch. maybe there's a better word but it isn't coming to mind right now. it's entirely possible these characteristics will change with more uses too.

the closest feeling knot i have to it is another m&f in blonde, though that was also a somewhat recent pickup so perhaps there was some overlap in hair. that blonde knot is not as dense though, and being more bulbous it's a little more focused and intense feeling on the face anyway. it also doesn't open up nearly as much as this heritage knot does, which along with the density is probably thanks to thinner hair. 

mine is almost identical to yours, but lapis in place of malachite. it's a good looking handle, and i was pleasantly surprised by how large it is. i was expecting a vertically extended chubby 2, but this is a little larger in diameter and it's very comfortable.

That's a nice looking brush! I considered Lapis Lazuli as well when ordering my brush, but decided to go with Malachite in the end. All sorts of wonderful combinations to be had!

kooshman7  Very nice looking brush. I am very interested in buying one when M&F can get some more heritage hair. Is the density and backbone good? My 2 favorite brush makers for comparison are Declaration and Paladin. 

Thank you sir!

kooshman7  Very nice looking brush. I am very interested in buying one when M&F can get some more heritage hair. Is the density and backbone good? My 2 favorite brush makers for comparison are Declaration and Paladin. 

Thank you sir!

Compared to those two I would say they compare quite favorably and would for most intents and purposes be quite equal to one another. Density is probably a bit better on the M&F due to thinner hairs than the Declaration, and a bit more than Paladin. In terms of how they lather I would consider them quite equal and all generate lather quite nicely. Other grades such as Shavemac D01 2-band and Simpson Manchurian and 2-band Silvertip offer more backbone than the M&F does. I consider this M&F well done and well balanced in all areas. Density is just right, backbone is neither excessive or lacking, just really overall a Goldilocks brush. I consider my B1 Franklin quite well balanced too as it is my only Declaration. In terms of the hair I like out of the three the best it would be the M&F first, and with a slight win to Paladin, but it is close enough you can call it a tie between Declaration and Paladin. Sorry it took me a few days to reply, I was busy with other things!

Bit of an update after a few additional uses of the brush since my last post. My brush is now approaching the "silkiness" that Brad has mentioned. The knot has opened up a little more and perhaps as a result of that the tip clumping I initially noticed has lessened. The groups of hair that form are smaller and more hairs seem to be flying solo. I don't think the tips themselves have changed much but the feeling they now provide is a little different thanks to easier splay of the knot. I can definitely feel their presence, but it's more of a homogeneous scrub vs. the gel/clumpy + slightly scritchy heterogeneous mix in the first few uses.

Thanks kooshman7 I believe you have sold me on it. Hopefully they get some more Heritage hair in the near future. Happy Shaves!

Thank you for your feedback on the Heritage II hair, Gentlemen.  I appreciate the observations about observed scritch.  I do not feel any and Lee says he does not either, but that's just us.  I always have some concern about describing knot/hair characteristics because they are so subjective.  That's why I value your thoughts so highly.  

Looking for another description, I recently used the term, "tip presence" to describe the face feel of some extra-dense Finests Lee tied on special request.  Might that be a more fitting description?  Thoughts?

Regarding Heritage II hair supplies, Lee tells me another batch is supposed to be en route; however the coronavirus situation keeps making hash out of international shipping.  So, any attempt to predict an ETA would be speculative at best.  Also, once the hair arrives in the UK, Lee will need to examine it to ensure that it passes muster.  We have high hopes, but don't want to over-promise. (For comparison, Lee tells me he's already received--and rejected--two batches of what was hoped to be the successor to the old Rooney Finest.  So again....)

But it's all good even though I have less hair now than I had four months ago   .

Stay well, Men.