Your favourite simpsons badger

[Roy]

I've never looked at Simpsons site in detail before. There was always a problem with it. Fixed now.
What a choice. Its like looking into a large sweet shop!
I have SV badger and chubby 2 synthetic, but thought I'd treat myself to an early Christmas present l! No budget in mind but not synthetic.
What's simpsons owners favourite brush and why .. I both bowl and face lather.

 

[cvac]

Very broad question and the answer is...YMMV.

If you're looking for a clear consensus, there isn't one. Get that out of your head now.

It really depends on what kind of handle you prefer. Long? short? a particular shape that's attractive to you? a shape that is ergonomic? You have to figure that out.

Then you get to the hair. Simpsons has a bunch of different hair available. Which kind do you prefer?

To be blunt, low "pure" grade badger is not worth messing with from any brush maker unless you like a very scritchy brush IME.

I had 2 or 3 Simpsons Best brushes. They were nice, but there was a hint of scritch on them that I could never get along with. I would end up using one of them once a week at most because I couldn't take it.

A much better brush by far, was the Tulip 3 2-band Super brush I had. That was a great brush. Loads of backbone, but very luxurious and soft tips. Some folks have complained that their 2-band Simpsons brushes were scritchy but that was not my experience at all.

However, badger hair is a natural product, these are handmade brushes with hand-tied knots, and they have manually sorted hair. That means there is going to be some variation from brush to brush.

I don't have any of the Simpsons brushes anymore. Sold them off a long time ago. Not because they were bad brushes, but because I needed to pare down all the shave gear. I might try a Simpsons synthetic down the line.

My 2 cents.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

All mine are low budget, small diameter knots (under 20mm), so my preferences probably won't help you. I'm also one of those weirdos that likes Simpson pure badger brushes. I find they can start scratchy, and go through a prickly stabby phase, but are worth persevering with as they do tame quite nicely over time. I only face lather.

The best badger covers a wide spectrum of feel. I have a couple of pillow soft but quite floppy brushes from the factory, as well as dense scrubby ones that start out with a bit of scritch. They fill the whole spectrum from pure to the super mops. I get great lathers from both, but they need different handling to deliver it.

 

[SgtCrppls]

Hi Roy,

I personally would stay away from Simpson’s brushes, they are not what they used to be.

The SV knot you have is a good knot, if you want something of that caliber and higher I would have Rudy Vey make you a 26mm handle and get a 26mm Declaration Grooming B15 knot, I guarantee you will love it.

Total cost would be around $240.00.

Doug

If you want to discuss it further just PM me.

 

[Chef455]

I only own a Duke 3 in best. Can confirm a tiny amount of scritch as @cvac stated earlier, but unlike him I like it. Knot size is ideal for me, also a fairly dense knot. It does not shed.

One of the main reasons I like it is the little bit of scritch. If I wanted to avoid that I'd just reach for one of my synthetic brushes.

 

[cvac]

I only own a Duke 3 in best. Can confirm a tiny amount of scritch as @cvac stated earlier, but unlike him I like it.

Pretty sure I had one of those. The Tulip was in another league.

 

[Merchant Seaman Z]

Duke 2 in best.

 

[Kyle89]

Really impressed with my Keyhole 3 in best. Couldn’t pick a favorite.

 

[BigJ]

Like asking me to pick my favorite child!!

My current Simpsons stable includes:
Duke 2 best
Wee Scot
Classic 2 best
Chubby 1 best
57 best
Tulip 3 super
Tulip 2 super

I enjoy each and every one!!

 

[Ravenonrock]

I have not seen the Berkeley 46 mentioned yet, that’s what I have in best. It was my entry into Simpsons brushes due to the lower price point. A fine brush with a densely packed knot, that has almost lost the minimal scritch it started with and never sheds. The handle is on the smaller side, but the brush is well balanced. On the occasion I reach for a badger brush, it is often this one.

 

[cvac]

One more thing about "pure" grade badger. I had a Vulfix pure badger brush and a Vulfix mixed boar + pure badger brush. Both tore up my face.

OP, Simpsons was bought out by Vulfix years ago so keep that in mind.

At any rate, neither brush really "broke in" and badger brushes or brushes mixed with badger hair do not "break in" IME where the tips become softer and split like with a boar brush.

All that will happen, again IME, is that the knot will bloom out and splay a little more with use.

The softness of the tips on any of the badger brushes I have owned at any price point with any hair grade never really changed IME.

My 2 cents.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

I own 10+ Simpsons Badgers and I have to name two specifically, although one of them is the overall winner:

Simpsons Fifty Five with a very close runner-up being the Classic 1, both in Best.

I don’t like lots of hair
I don’t like big knots
I don’t like big brushes

But I like big LITTLE brushes, and the two mentioned above look small, but do not feel small. They both have the Goldilocks amount of hair for me. If the Classic 1 had the handle of the Fifty Five, then that brush would kill them all.

Spend some time and money and find what you like, it’s worth it.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

One more thing about "pure" grade badger. I had a Vulfix pure badger brush and a Vulfix mixed boar + pure badger brush. Both tore up my face.

OP, Simpsons was bought out by Vulfix years ago so keep that in mind.

At any rate, neither brush really "broke in" and badger brushes or brushes mixed with badger hair do not "break in" IME where the tips become softer and split like with a boar brush.

All that will happen, again IME, is that the knot will bloom out and splay a little more with use.

The softness of the tips on any of the badger brushes I have owned at any price point with any hair grade never really changed IME.

My 2 cents.

All mine have changed over time. Both from Simpson and Vulfix. They start a little scritchy, then as part of the knot softens and there's fewer "quill" type hairs, it gets quite stabby and unpleasant. In time, those too ease off, and the whole brush gets a lot tamer. There is still some residual "face feel" to them, which lets you know you're shaving with badger hair and not angel feathers, but "not bad" to "quite bad" to "rather nice" does seem to be a pretty standard progression.

Not all of mine are broken in yet, but the same modus operandi is evident across my array.

Some of them have had more use since those pics were taken.

 

[cvac]

All mine have changed over time.

Guess we've had very different experiences then.

I would never recommend purchasing a badger brush in hopes that it will "soften" significantly on the tips over time.

Agree to disagree.

Good luck to OP whatever their decision is.

My 2 cents.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

I prefer Super hair in my Simpsons and some of mine have exceptionally silky tips, which makes for a very nice face feel with the knot density. I tend to favour the smaller sized Simpsons knots, which somehow feel best to me with the denser hair packing Simpsons generally has.

My favourite handle shape is the Tulip (T2 20mm or T3 22mm size), which looks good, feels nice to hold, and has a plateau around the top which acts as a lather catcher, helping to avoid drips. Overall I think this is Simpsons’ best handle design. The T3 size gets a bit expensive, for some unfathomable reason, but the T2 is good value - near half the price of the T3.

I like the ‘The Colonel’ X2L too for the size and hand feel of the handle, and it is a relatively smaller knot (21mm). Recently they were selling some nice coloured handles for The Colonel, with Super hair, but I think I might have bought them all. It’s a very well-priced brush indeed.

I also like the ‘Major’ M1 travel brush a lot (17mm) - it gives me a kick, for some reason, to pack the knot inside the handle. It’s a smaller knot but I like that and the assembled handle is a nice handful with the wide diameter tube. The travel brush aspect is not entirely practical, I think, except for protecting the hair while transporting the brush. If you ever packed away a not fully dried knot inside the handle it would surely go mouldy and not dry properly, since the knot is squeezed together when it is packed. For a travel brush the Major handle is excellent quality and good value.

 

[Omega48]

Your favourite simpsons badger

The one I don't have yet. Seven Simpson badger brushes (1 Best, 5 Super, 1 Silvertip Two Band, all Chubbies, all recent production) and they are/were either not very good or just OK. None of them is/was as great as their price. None. Same for my experience with their customer service, not as great as the price of their brushes, IMHO.

Trying my luck with Shavemac now.

 

[SharpieB]

Silvertip is my favourite Simpson badger hair followed by Manchurian and Best. A Chubby 2 or M7 in Silvertip or Manchurian are Killer brushes. Also the Tulip 3 in Super is excellent.

I own a dozen recent Simpsons and have never had a quality or shedding issue. Simpson is my favourite brush maker by far. I ordered 2 new Simpsons this week in fact.

 

[awk_m4]

I own one Badger brush. I purchased it on the recommendation of my friends on the is forum. I used it this evening and I’m really happy with it.
Simpson X3 Commodore

 

[Champion of Capua]

Simpson has almost unlimited choices of shape/size/hair quality to choose from. If money is no object and you’re looking for backbone & softness I’d go with the Manchurian. I only have 3 Simpsons and they’re all Manchurian, a D3 and two CH2’s and I couldn’t be happier.

 

[Roy]

Hi Roy,

I personally would stay away from Simpson’s brushes, they are not what they used to be.

The SV knot you have is a good knot, if you want something of that caliber and higher I would have Rudy Vey make you a 26mm handle and get a 26mm Declaration Grooming B15 knot, I guarantee you will love it.

Total cost would be around $240.00.

Doug

If you want to discuss it further just PM me.

I think I might have best brush ever in the SV!
wanted same quality but smaller.