Kyle said:Believe it or not, Joel, Austin, Nick, and I have done some very extensive research on this topic and have even had some American Badger brushes made. In our study, we procured a goodly sample of American Badger hair (actually bought 8 pelts). These pelts were then shipped to Bernd at Shavemac. Bernd took our American Badger hair and his own stock of Chinese Badger hair and he made us all identical brushes from each. When all was said and done, we each had 2 23mm brushes made from Silvertip grade hair and 2 26mm brushes made from the Finest graded hair.
At this point, we went through extensive measurement and testing. After about a month of in depth research, we found that while the American Badger hair was not as attractive (tips were not truly white and the shafts weren't fully uniform in appearance), but the hairs were actually somewhat thicker and caused the brush to have a water holding capacity of at least 1 teaspoon more (average) than their Chinese counterparts.
Ultimately, the factors that prevent American Badger from being more commonly used boil down to:
If there is any doubt at this point, this whole post is, of course, a fabrication.
- American Badger is considerably more expensive to obtain (we're guessing that the primary reason is because of the American badger trapping unions and the battles that they have won in relation to higher wages and shorter work days).
- While being raised, Chinese Badgers are taught that their primary purpose in life is to become a shaving brush so they don't put up much of a fight when the trappers appear.
- Quality American Badger hair is becoming more and more difficult to find. Most young badgers live sedentary life styles and have poor diets. This causes the hair to look over-conditioned and chemically damaged, much like that of and '80's rockstar.
See, there was a reason I nominated Kyle. He even included Bernd.
