Reviews
Product summary
General thoughts
I have a thread ongoing in the "Brushes" section. PLEASE , PLEASE read my thread and any of the plethora of Romera complaint threads for that matter before deciding whether or not to buy from Artesania Romera in the future. Click the link to take you there. Thanks
https://damnfineshave.com/showthread.php...#pid126894
https://damnfineshave.com/showthread.php...#pid126894
Density
The knot has good density for a 26mm but I cannot give it a higher rating as the overwhelming problems with the handle made it unusable hence the minimum rating.
Backbone
The backbone for this knot was close to perfect for me, were it not for the handle practically disintegrating after a few uses hence the minimum rating.
Softness
The softness of the tips allied to the great density and just enough backbone make these knots great but again the problems with the handle renders this point moot , hence the minimum rating.
Latherability
Superb latherability , makes , maintains and distributes lather well but as stated the rapid deterioration of the handle makes the knot unusable hence the minimum rating.
Handle Comfort
The handle is not uncomfortable but a bit on the small side for my hands. The brush is let down badly by the quality of the handle and it's finish. I also doubt that the wood paid for to be used (Briar) is the wood actually used to make the brush. The finish peeled off after a few uses (see pic) and the black top part of the brush lost its stain and transferred it onto my fingers and bathroom sink.
Value
Zero value for me in the end with my horrendous experience with this vendor both in product quality and and customer service ranging from non - existent to dishonest. I was promised a replacement 9 months ago now after the first repair resulted in the exact same problem but it never materialised and the vendor ignores my emails and has blocked me on social media for attempting to make contact with him to resolve the situation.
Quality
The quality of the knot was of a good standard , everything else wasn't. Let down badly by the quality of the handle material and it's finish. The "Romera" logo on the base of the brush was also off centre and scratched badly.
I had to sand the brush back and apply 3 layers of a 50/50 Yacht Varnish/White Spirit mix to waterproof it and make it usable and to stop any water ingress into the wood. This was only after it had been repaired and the same problem immediately reared it's head again and the vendor ignored me and did not replace the brush. In other words , no replacement brush arrived as promised and no subsequent requests for a refund have been answered by the merchant.
I had to sand the brush back and apply 3 layers of a 50/50 Yacht Varnish/White Spirit mix to waterproof it and make it usable and to stop any water ingress into the wood. This was only after it had been repaired and the same problem immediately reared it's head again and the vendor ignored me and did not replace the brush. In other words , no replacement brush arrived as promised and no subsequent requests for a refund have been answered by the merchant.
Packaging
Arrived in a well protected cardboard box with an inner cardboard box. No problems on this front.
Comments
Perhaps it is time to just chuck the Artesania Romera products in the bin or donate them to the thrift store, and then go enjoy your other brushes and shaving products. If you want to hold Artesania Romera truly accountable, the best way going forward is by posting reviews of competing products that you find excellent. Continuing to mention Artesania Romera and Gustavo will only give them additional publicity, which might not be in anyone's best interest. Posting future reviews here of brushes that you find outstanding, on the other hand, would benefit deserving products and vendors. Knowing which products suck is important, and knowing which products to buy instead equally so.
I look forward to reading your future brush reviews!
All in my humble opinion.
As for the man and the company , I have moved on and not contacted him for quite some time but I felt it appropriate to cover all bases to help avoid others from going through the experience I did. While I would like to upload more reviews I have limited time to spend on the forum so I have to pick and choose when i can contribute and how important what I have to say is. Thanks for reading the review.
Will
I feel when it is read the review is fairly positive about everything about the brush except the handle and the subsequent value (even the packaging) which I'm sure most will agree is pretty important when using a brush. If I could have altered the overall rating I would not have given each section relating to the knot essentially such a low score.
I understand the points being made regarding my review but I just can't discount something as central as the brush handle when scoring the knot and how it performs that's why I quantified my thoughts in each section with the caveat of the handle bringing down the overall experience regardless of how good the knots density , flow or softness etc was or was not.
I suppose the best example of my thinking is my review of the packaging. You'll notice I gave the packaging 4 stars as the packaging was good and had no issues. Obviously the packaging bares no relation to how the handle or knot performs individually or together so there was no conflicting arguments on that. if I was just wanting to burn everything about the brush and the vendor that would have extended to the packaging as well but that's not the case. As the packaging has no influence on how the knot or handle performs it was reviewed as such on its singular and very separate merit. . Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts.