Van der Hagen Premium 4 Piece Shave Gift Set

The brush is absolutely terrible, which is unfortunate because it’s the reason I bought this kit. A ton of bristles fell out the first use. They stuck to my face and had to be plucked off while shaving. The boar hair is low quality, very course, and doesn’t feel good at all on the skin. Really disappointed by this. Don’t recommend it at all.

Every couple years or so I buy one of these to see if it has improved. It hasn't. The soap for what it is is fairly ok. It takes a bit more work than some artisan nicer products to get going, or even a lot of classic hard soaps for that matter. The brush is pretty bad as it always has been. It is stiff, rough, and about the lowest quality boar hair you can get. It will rip your face up until it gets broken in if you like to face lather. Even then it might not survive getting broken in because you lose so much hair out of the knot. That is coming from someone who likes boar brushes. The mug is well, a mug and probably the only redeeming quality out of this kit as well as the cheap brush and razor stand which can be useful if you have another brush that fits it. Overall i'm very sad as someone who has been wet shaving for almost 17 years that this is what most people will find for their first experience and think that this is what you should expect from a traditional shave.

Make sure you only use it with the soap it came with

My husband wanted an authentic, quality at home shave experience. This kit was perfect for just that! The shave bowl is heavy and sturdy and the brush is full and the bristles are in tact after multiple uses. The razor stand is okay and effective,!but pales in comparison to the quality of the rest of the kit.

My husband absolutely loved it! Great gift for the men in your life!

I love it ! The only downside is that the brush hairs will fall out sometimes as time goes by more and more

Worth the price. I'm giving it to my husband for Father's Day because it's what he wanted.

Perfect gift for the perfect guy

3 stars for the stand, mug and shaving bar. The mug is very nice and heavy, the soap suds very easily and well, the stand is aesthetically nice and works great. The brush will begin falling apart the moment you begin using it. The brush fibers are very stiff and rough on the face and doesn’t allow a good lather. I suggest spending a little more on a higher quality real badger hair brush if you want to experience a comfortable shave. This one will irritate your skin. I was lucky to find it half off. The mug, soap n stand is very good quality for the price.

Primo quality and price.

These brushes have their knots falling out because the whole handle is hollow, so the base of the knot is only glued in on the sides, not the bottom. I had to fill in most of the handle and glue the knot back in, and now it's okay. The stand is sturdy acrylic, and it's the only acrylic stand I've seen that holds a brush and a razor. However, I think it's really made by Hans Baier and they try to make them fit either a straight or safety razor. There is a divot on the bottom of the stand where the razor goes, which is for a straight razor. That's probably why these stands don't fit both the brush and razor at the same time very well. They're trying to do double-duty with the razor portion of the stand, and the acrylic has no loops or up-turned hooks like you might have on a metal stand, and it's not big enough to fit the razor in next to the brush. I only use the stand for a straight razor, and keep the Van der Hagen safety razor elsewhere.

So far my husband seems to like it.

Great product. It is so great to shave with this and I never have skin irritation like I had when using cartridges.

Great product at a great price. Very happy

At Target this Van Der Hagen kit is less expensive than anywhere else I looked. Though it was ordered online it came within a week; excellent. The black bowl is a good size, opening 4 1/4”, base is 3 3/8”, outside height 3 3/8”, inside depth 2 3/4”. For my preference I would like the same dimensions but 1” shorter; I like shallow shave mugs. The included brush/razor holder is okay, it does its job. The brush is Boar, most folks, myself as well, use Badger brushes. Surprise, after conditioning the Boar brush now like it more than my Badger brush. The included shave soap is their Luxury style. It is very nice soap producing very good lather, when on the face it does not dry out. Both the Luxury and Deluxe soap are as good as many of the higher priced shave soaps. Now a Boar brush tip: Boar brushes are more stiff than Badger, the one that comes in the box is quite stiff; many folk do not like that stiffness. Here is how to condition a Boar brush making its use extremely comfortable, 1: Put it in cold water leave it in the refrigerator twenty four hours, then briskly rub it on a towel for ten minutes, 2: Return the Boar brush to the cold water then into refrigerator another twenty four hours, again briskly rub the brush on a towel for ten minutes. You may want to do that process a third time, I did. After performing that process your Boar brush is conditioned it will serve you quite well, it will be much softer and more spread out. Hope this review helps others looking at the Van Der Hagen kit.

Perfect gift for my Dad

Nice shave set. I wanted to get the close feel of shaving soap and brush, so I bought this one. I also like the acrylic stand that holds the brush and my razor (not included in this set). Altogether, a neat package.

After shaving for almost 50 years with the canned foams, I thought I would give this a try. I'm still trying to get a real good lather out of the soap, but it certainly is neater and easier to apply with a brush. Also, If you worry about being environmentally friendly, there's no cans to dispose of. It's a nice looking set and the price at Target was the cheapest I have seen anywhere. It turned out to be a $15 experiment that I may just stick with.

Great cup and stand. This is the Boar Brush and not as good as the Badger Brush. If it was the Badger Brush I would have given it 5 Starts.

I checked allover bricks and mortat and etores on the internet. This set at Target was by far the best value. And with a Target card, shipping was free and a 5% discount was added. Got htis set for my grandson for his 16th birthday. High quality look and feel. Excellent buy.