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Chubby 3 in Best - is it supposed to start out this prickly?

I recently ordered a Chubby 3 in Best. I swithered over Super, but my rationale was that Silvertip tends to be just too soft for my liking and, since I like a brush with a decent loft, Silvertip tends to load up and hold a ridiculous amount of lather.

I shaved with the Chubby 3 for the first time this morning. How disappointing! It was very prickly, and hard work getting a decent lather going. When I was cleaning the brush, and squeezed out the remaining lather, there was not a great deal there.

Is this just a breaking in period? I emailed Simpsons, and they said to give it a few weeks. I've never heard of badger hair taking weeks to break in...
 
Lather hogging will improve a little over time, but you have to load a lot more soap with the Chubby 3.

Now, the prickling part, I’m sorry to say but that won’t go away.

It’s surprising to hear it, though. Typically the prickling is caused by black tipped hair, in many cases broken Badger hair. In the longer-lofted brushes like the Chubby 3, one would expect the strands required to be quite long and the issue to be minimized. My Chubby 3 Best is not prickling at all, but I asked Mark to hand pick it for me.

I have both won and lost in the Simpsons
best Badger lottery, and I definitely prefer their Super grade, which is remarkably consistent

Please post a picture of your brush so we can see how it looks
 
I have a brush that i would consider prickly. If this is caused by inverted hairs, or stiffer hair, i think this sensation will persist, that was the case with mine. A brush of this size needs allot more soap then a smaller brush. Load it like you hate it:)
 
I think you want something like a 2band,High Mountain White, or maybe Manchurian from the sounds of your preference. They have strong backbone and the tips range from you can feel them but they are not prickly or needle like to tips that are gel like and feel like you're lathering with a cloud.
 
Well, tomorrow I'm going to go to town and load it to the gunnels with MdC Vetyver. We'll see how I go from there.

The prickliness, though... if that stays the way it is, I'll be selling her on. I like the scrubby feeling of my Zenith boar, and I expected something similar, but different, i.e. not soft, but certainly not sharp.

We shall see. I am eyeing up a Zenith Manchurian, just in case...
 
If you can feel it is a rogue hair or handful that are stabbing your fce that will not go away unless you actually locate the offending hairs and remove them. If its pretty much the whole brush it may change a little over a period of time but not much.
 
It will break in over the first 20-30 uses. It will always have some scritch though. Be thankful, there is so much gel tip rubbish around these days, you got a real badger brush. Not some chemically processed second grade job. If you decide to sell be sure to emphasize this - in my view it is a significant value add. Such brushes are harder and harder to find. Many people, myself included, appreciate them. The old Rooney finest was perhaps the best example of this type of hair.
 
Yesterday I treated the brush to some Zingari Man brush cleaner. I don't really mind the initial badger funk, but I thought the brush cleaner might have conditioning properties as well. I then loaded her up with Nuavia Blue, and let sit for a few hours before cleaning.

I'm not sure what it was that did it, but this morning's shave was significantly better. Stiff and scrubby rather then prickly, which was what I was looking for. It still has a bite, but it's lost that cheap feel that it had on the maiden voyage.

There is an obvious lesson in there... :facep::001_smile
 
Yesterday I treated the brush to some Zingari Man brush cleaner. I don't really mind the initial badger funk, but I thought the brush cleaner might have conditioning properties as well. I then loaded her up with Nuavia Blue, and let sit for a few hours before cleaning.

I'm not sure what it was that did it, but this morning's shave was significantly better. Stiff and scrubby rather then prickly, which was what I was looking for. It still has a bite, but it's lost that cheap feel that it had on the maiden voyage.

There is an obvious lesson in there... :facep::001_smile
Whatever the reason I’m glad your finding it more pleasant to use.👍
 
Yesterday I treated the brush to some Zingari Man brush cleaner. I don't really mind the initial badger funk, but I thought the brush cleaner might have conditioning properties as well. I then loaded her up with Nuavia Blue, and let sit for a few hours before cleaning.

I'm not sure what it was that did it, but this morning's shave was significantly better. Stiff and scrubby rather then prickly, which was what I was looking for. It still has a bite, but it's lost that cheap feel that it had on the maiden voyage.

There is an obvious lesson in there... :facep::001_smile

Glad to hear it. IMO you have scored a rare brush. I recall the Declaration Grooming B3 - even after a dozen shaves it was still very harsh. By 30 or so it came into its own and is in my top 3 or 4 along with vintage Rooney finest and D01 2 band.
 
Having had little experience with Simpsons Best, I was worried in case my logic had failed me, but I was smiling as I used it this morning. I'm looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with this big beast.
 
I too have a Chubby 3 in Best Badger and had trouble with it initially, it was gifted to me by a fellow Wet Shaver and a true gentleman from here.

I was accustomed to the synthetic brushes and the jump from synthetic to the Chubby 3 was too much for me initially.

I had to learn how to load it properly and now it is always a special occasion when I'm using the Chubby 3.

I love it's wall of badger feel and absolute capacity to dwindle down the soap stockpile.

Mine is named Big Bess:
IMG_20211014_185204.jpg


IMG_20211014_185237.jpg
 

linty1

My wallet cries.
Wow all these posts about the Chubby 3... I have a ch2 and it's wonderful... I've kinda thought about getting a full body latherer.. tempting... for sure.
 
Simpson best grade is just a gamble, apparently. I gave up on Simpson after both my berk and duke (both in best) ended up being skritchy and uncomfortable. $100 is a lot of money to only *maybe* get a good brush.
 
I recently picked up a Chubby 2 in Best, and IMO the dense Simpson brushes need quite a few uses to break in, if for nothing else, to remove that deep seeded smell. I usually hand lather the brush daily until all the badger or chemical stink is removed. After a good number of uses the splay/bloom of the brush and flow through of lather noticeably improves, and does ease of lather generation.

Another contributor to the comfort level is the shape of the knot at the tip. Sometimes you can have a bad brush that is pokey feeling.

Finally, you may in time learn to love the scritch/scratchy. The scratchness is also useful friction which allows greater pick-up of soap product, and against stubble should lather up with more gusto. Using painting strokes later if the lathering process avoids the scrubby feeling of the brushes because your using the sides of the hairs. This gives the brush more utility than if being soft all over.

I have a brush collection of all hair grades and a few Chubby 3s in manchurian, I find the scratchy end of spectrum my everyday favourite.
 
Simpson best grade is just a gamble, apparently. I gave up on Simpson after both my berk and duke (both in best) ended up being skritchy and uncomfortable. $100 is a lot of money to only *maybe* get a good brush.
Simpson Best can be a tremendous brush. It can also be as prickly as all get out. At various times, I’ve owned different Duke 3s and they’ve been as smooth as silk and rough as I guy I owed money.

My lesson learned was that the prickly ones do break in a bit, but if you adjust your lathering technique to bowl lather and apply with painting strokes, or face lather using painting strokes (believe me, it works), it will be an awesome brush. Just make sure you load it heavily with soap.
 
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