Badger and Synthetic Mixed Knot? | No, I'm Not Kidding

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Has anybody seen, or used, or ordered one of these badger & synthetic mixed knot brushes.





I am mind-blown, but I'm not kidding about the brush's availability. Here's a link.

The photos are thumbnails, so you should be able to click and enlarge 'em.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Beefdrippings]

I’ve seen ‘‘em online but never used one. I too am curious to hear from someone who has.

 

[Ron R]

Hybrid 2 band badger brush with synthetic hair, might be a great brush. Looks like they sold 6 already. DScosmetics have some interesting brushes like a adjustable loft also. They are pushing the boundaries of brush manufacturing to new heights IMO.

 

[blantyre]

Interesting. Very tempted to try one but I already gave many brushes. Certainly keen to see some reviews on here. I’m a big fan of the Mistura knot - best of both worlds IMO. Maybe this is similar.

 

[Timeclo]

Craving Shaving carries couple Badger/Synth hybrid knots called Fan Fiction. I tried the first version and it was very stiff; I think it had mix of best badger and stiff tuxedo synth which made for a poor lathering experience for me. I hear that the second version has less backbone and easier to lather but I have not tried yet.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

The floppiness of a synthetic combined with the stink and possibly scritch of badger? Or maybe it’s the softer tips of a synthetic with the water retention, backbone, splay and scrub of badger? Or could just be a bit of a mess with different hairs that don’t perform together.

Only one way to find out. Who’s gonna take one for the team? I don’t think I’m curious enough to try it - I’m fine with pure synthetic brushes and badger brushes on their own merits.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The floppiness of a synthetic combined with the stink and possibly scritch of badger? Or maybe it’s the softer tips of a synthetic with the water retention, backbone, splay and scrub of badger? Or could just be a bit of a mess with different hairs that don’t perform together.

Only one way to find out. Who’s gonna take one for the team? I don’t think I’m curious enough to try it - I’m fine with pure synthetic brushes and badger brushes on their own merits.

I ordered one. Supposed to arrive in March. Only two months from now.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Ron R]

I ordered one. Supposed to arrive in March. Only two months from now.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Jim for some reason I thought you would order one just because of curiosity. In the states you might get it quicker than 2 months because there are more flights between USA and China at the moment. Looking forward to your experiences with this brush.

 

[Balthier]

The idea I think is really good, but unlikely that a brush maker would use pure badger and the right synthetic fiber for my preferences.

 

[oscar11]

This could be a interesting knot.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

This could be an interesting knot.

Indeed it could. Maybe good and interesting. I've no idea when mine will arrive.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[BigJ]

I ordered one. Supposed to arrive in March. Only two months from now.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Good man! Look forward to your review!!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My Chinese DSCosmetic brush with its badger and synthetic mixed knot has arrived.

By my calipers, the knot at exit measures ~28 mm. The loft height is ~56 mm.

The handle is substantial. I'd say it's heavy feeling. Certainly heavier than I would have expected.

The knot looks pretty good. Very well shaped. Of proper density. I'd say it looks like a two band or perhaps good pure badger knot. (More like a two band probably; it is nominally a 26 mm two band mixed with synthetic.)

It will be April before the brush can be used in a shave. March is booked with the Fixed Four. Perhaps I'll do a palm lather or even a wash-it-off-instead-of-shave-with-it face lather. Perhaps I won't.

Until then, that's about all I can tell you about the mixed synthetic and badger brush, but, just checking it out, it looks like a potentially good brush.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Here are my notes from my first experiment with the mixed synthetic and badger brush.

I suspect a lot of guys are going to like this knot.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[oscar11]

Just received this mixed knot from from Craving Shaving today. I have a handle made up so I'll do a temporary glue job of the knot. @Chan Eil Whiskers nice looking brush.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Good brush. More later.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

As I mentioned I think this is a good brush. I'll add to that and tell you why.

Beginning with the handle you either like the color scheme or you don't. I'm a butterscotch fan. I like the colors.

The handle is tall. It's also heavy. I don't mean too heavy, but it's not one of those hollow, lightweight handles. It feels very substantial. I love the tiny rim at the top. The ergonomics are excellent for me. I'm not hard to please when it comes to handle ergonomics but this one is way better than some I like.

The knot is big. I've forgotten its measurements but it's a big knot. Tall and fat. Not too tall, but probably it has a higher loft than I generally prefer. However, that doesn't seem to be to the detriment of the knot's functional performance.

I wouldn't call it terribly dense, but it's not skimpy.

The brush loads and lathers like most good brushes. It also has plenty good scrub. I noticed no scritch worth mentioning, certainly no "bad scritch."

It lost not a single hair during the preshave wash and dry period, and not a single hair during today's shave. I noticed no signs of synthetic springiness. It held water and heat like a badger usually does.

Does it feel like a badger or like a synthetic?

That's also an easy to answer question. It feels like a decent two band badger. It performs like one, too.

One use doesn't make this a full on brush review, but I like the brush. It was very inexpensive compared with how good my initial impressions of it are.

Mostly I bought this brush to try the novelty of a knot made of both synthetic and badger, but I'm glad I did.

It's a good brush. I liked it this morning. I believe I'll continue to like it. Time will tell, but I think this one was a good purchase and a real bargain.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Lane101]

View attachment 1439650


As I mentioned I think this is a good brush. I'll add to that and tell you why.

Beginning with the handle you either like the color scheme or you don't. I'm a butterscotch fan. I like the colors.

The handle is tall. It's also heavy. I don't mean too heavy, but it's not one of those hollow, lightweight handles. It feels very substantial. I love the tiny rim at the top. The ergonomics are excellent for me. I'm not hard to please when it comes to handle ergonomics but this one is way better than some I like.

The knot is big. I've forgotten its measurements but it's a big knot. Tall and fat. Not too tall, but probably it has a higher loft than I generally prefer. However, that doesn't seem to be to the detriment of the knot's functional performance.

I wouldn't call it terribly dense, but it's not skimpy.

The brush loads and lathers like most good brushes. It also has plenty good scrub. I noticed no scritch worth mentioning, certainly no "bad scritch."

It lost not a single hair during the preshave wash and dry period, and not a single hair during today's shave. I noticed no signs of synthetic springiness. It held water and heat like a badger usually does.

Does it feel like a badger or like a synthetic?


View attachment 1439658


That's also an easy to answer question. It feels like a decent two band badger. It performs like one, too.

One use doesn't make this a full on brush review, but I like the brush. It was very inexpensive compared with how good my initial impressions of it are.



View attachment 1439659


Mostly I bought this brush to try the novelty of a knot made of both synthetic and badger, but I'm glad I did.

It's a good brush. I liked it this morning. I believe I'll continue to like it. Time will tell, but I think this one was a good purchase and a real bargain.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Hi Jim, any sense as to what proportion of the brush hair is synthetic versus badger. Just looking at the pictures most of the knot has the "pre-broken in" look (split ends) that I see in a new synthetic brush versus photos of new badger brushes where the ends don't appear split when new. Wondering if this is a really good synthetic with a small percentage of badger hair for marketing and pricing purposes.

A good test may be monitoring how fast the brush dries as synthetics dry faster. Interested in your thoughts.

 

[blantyre]

Very interesting. Hopefully someone will start to offer these knots in a smaller size. 28 is above my limit. 26 might be doable for me.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

I would think the paint point of a brush like this, is to reduce cost. We all know synthetic brushes are cheap in cost, but badger brushes can get quite expensive. Maybe this is an experiment of best of both worlds kind of thing? Not many people would be willing to drop 60 dollars or more on a good badger brush, just saying.