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Darks Best Badger Brush

I have been using this for about three months, alternating with an Omega boar. Before I receive this (Dark's) brush, I had been using/alternating with an Omega best badger.

This is a very luxurious, nice brush. It had a very strong odor at first, and has lost about 8 or so bristles, but the quality is tops. I am very happy to have this brush, and would purchase another if I were in the market for another badger.
Price
5.00 star(s)
Density
5.00 star(s)
Quality
5.00 star(s)
Ergonomic
5.00 star(s)
Latherability
4.00 star(s)
Softness of Tips
5.00 star(s)
Stiffness of Tips
4.00 star(s)
I picked this little beauty up from iamdarkangel2005's Ebay store for $35. Dark, by the way, is a member here. I was looking for my first brush, and was sure that I wanted to jump right into best badger after reading up on brushes. Being poor, this brush's price point was what attracted me to it.

Now, lets get to the brush itself. This thing is very solid and hefty, which I consider a good thing. It has a nice and durable chrome ridge at the bottom and a nice off-white/beige resin body with a knot of best badger hair topping it off. This chrome lip is quite functional and allows me to hang my brush off the top rim of my shave bowl, allowing me to keep the handle clean, despite the plethora of lather. The brush came in a modest plain white box, with no manufacture information of any kind. There is also no manufacturer printed on the brush itself, so I don't know where it hails from. When I opened up the box, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had heard that some brushes come with a badger funk, but to my surprise, it came out smelling like... well, nothing. The Badger hairs are not banded, and so may be a little dull for some, but I didn't buy this thing to look at (ok, maybe a little looking). I had received my very first tube of quality shave cream, Proraso, the day before, and couldn't wait to dive right in. I let the brush soak in hot water, in the bowl while I rinsed off. Once ready, I emptied my bowl, squeezed out an almond sized dollop of Proraso, Ran the brush under the water and lightly flicked some of the water out, so that the brush still retains some water, and went to work. In short order, perhaps about 30 seconds, I had a bowl full of thick cream. One major reason for me going with the badger, instead of boar or imitation, is that badger generally requires less work to get a good lather going, and this brush greatly lives up my expectations in this area. I wont bore you with the details of the shave here, lets just say it was a very good shave :biggrin1:. The brush performed quite nicely, and I had no issues keeping the cream in the brush, and was able to avoid making a mess. I wasn't sure if cream was going to go flying everywhere, but it is surprisingly easy to keep under control. The bristles are soft to the face, yet stiff enough to whip up soaps. It feels great to use, not itchy at all. I haven't really dived into soaps just yet, but I was able to get a decent lather from a puck of Lightfoots Pine shave soap, which is known for not lathering well. Sense my initial purchase, in addition to the Proraso, I have thrown Pre de Province, Musgo Real, and Speick shave creams at this brush, and have gotten flawless performance in all cases, whipping up a beautiful fluffy lather. Obviously, the brush smells awesome now.

It is my understanding that with few exceptions, pretty much all brushes will loose a hair or two after you first break it in, and that this isn't a problem unless you are loosing a lot of hair, or it keeps shedding. I experienced very light and sporadic hair loss for the first couple of weeks, with maybe 1 or 2 hairs coming loose every couple of days. This stopped about 2 weeks in, and you cant tell the hairs where ever there. I do not yet have a proper stand for this, and so have been "improperly" leaving it to dry standing up in the bowl when not in use. This keeps water at the base of the hair for much longer than if it was hung to dry, and this might have something to do with the minor hair loss I experienced. I have been using this for over a month now, and have no regrets about my purchase. I would recommend this brush to anyone, and would buy one again if i had to do it all over again. :thumbup:


Hair Knot Size: 22mm
Base: 1 inch 3/8'
Width of bristles at base: 1 inch
Width of bristles at top: 2.5 inches
Length of bristles: 2 inches 2/8'
Price
5.00 star(s)
Density
4.00 star(s)
Quality
4.00 star(s)
Ergonomic
5.00 star(s)
Latherability
4.00 star(s)
Softness of Tips
4.00 star(s)
Stiffness of Tips
4.00 star(s)
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