Best Badger + for £65 - Which to choose...

[Cheapogit]

I have a Tweezerman, but wanted to try something better so, I'm looking for a Best badger or better (of a decent size) for under £65...

I have selected either:

- SOC Badger
- Rooney 3 medium (Best)
- Simpson Commodore X3 (or maybe a PJ2) (Best)
- Vulfix 2235 (Super)

Or maybe someone can recommend something else.

Thanks V. Much.

 

[beginish]

Those are 4 very different brushes. Do you bowl or face lather? Are you looking for a soft brush or a scrubby one?

 

[brother cavefish]

there are many under 65 lbs, personally i would go with a SOC boar, or badger, ---------two of those are way over priced,

 

[mblakele]

Personally I would sacrifice brush size to hair quality. I think you could get a Simpsons Colonel in best within that budget, and possibly a Rooney 3/1 in silvertip. The Simpson best hair should be better than Rooney best, closer to silvertip. If you want to handle a Colonel, I think D.R. Harris in St James's has them. Or Andrews Pharmacy on Sloane St ought to have them. You could also go to Truefitt & Hill in St James's to look at their own-brand Rooney brushes. Carter & Bond in Westbourne Grove might be worth a visit too.

 

[Absolute Mustard]

Duke 3

 

[Cheapogit]

there are many under 65 lbs, personally i would go with a SOC boar, or badger, ---------two of those are way over priced,

SOC Boar I have already (Though, not used it yet (Too nice!)... I also have an old Omega 49 which fills the spot for now), but I wanted the SOC (I saw it and just loved it, and it wasn't too expensive), It'll get used at some point though!

Those are 4 very different brushes. Do you bowl or face lather? Are you looking for a soft brush or a scrubby one?

Well, there's the thing, I do both depending on the day (How I feel and Soap/Cream selection of the day...). As for scrubby, well the Tweezerman fills that spot for the moment, so something a bit more refined I think is what I'm looking for.

Personally I would sacrifice brush size to hair quality. I think you could get a Simpsons Colonel in best within that budget, and possibly a Rooney 3/1 in silvertip. The Simpson best hair should be better than Rooney best, closer to silvertip. If you want to handle a Colonel, I think D.R. Harris in St James's has them. Or Andrews Pharmacy on Sloane St ought to have them. You could also go to Truefitt & Hill in St James's to look at their own-brand Rooney brushes. Carter & Bond in Westbourne Grove might be worth a visit too.

Actually, the Truefitt and Hill rooneys sound interesting (didn't know they were rooneys, but are they priced the same as branded ones?), and also the fact that the Simpsons are higher grade hair than the Rooneys is useful info too.

Many thanks for replies so far.

 

[oversaturn]

You seem to want for a versatile brush, both for face- and bowl-lathering.
You cannot go wrong with the SOC 2-band badger. One of the most versatile brushes that I've come across. It does everything well.
And the handle is a beauty, and very ergonomic - I surely prefer my SOC 2-band to my Duke 3.

 

[Cheapogit]

You seem to want for a versatile brush, both for face- and bowl-lathering.
You cannot go wrong with the SOC 2-band badger. One of the most versatile brushes that I've come across. It does everything well.
And the handle is a beauty, and very ergonomic - I surely prefer my SOC 2-band to my Duke 3.

Well, that's definitely one definitive answer, but as to the face/bowl issue, it’s probably more bowl than face, and I could always get one only for bowl lathering (...or multipurpose one) now, and then at a later date get one only for face lathering !!!

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

Edwin Jagger Medium Silvertip will cost you 64quid with free shipping. One of my favourite brushes, and would recommend it for both face and bowl lathering. It is very soft, and so far I have found it to be good for almost anything.
Picture of it in spoiler (just a big picture so didn't want to clog up the thread.

Spoiler

 

[Cheapogit]

Edwin Jagger Medium Silvertip will cost you 64quid with free shipping. One of my favourite brushes, and would recommend it for both face and bowl lathering. It is very soft, and so far I have found it to be good for almost anything.

I was actually considering listing the Medium EJ Super, but then decided not to just because I'd heard so much about some of the others, and also I had read a not great review about one of the EJ brushes, but certainly it has been in my mind.

 

[Prof. Moriarty]

I was actually considering listing the Medium EJ Super, but then decided not to just because I'd heard so much about some of the others, and also I had read a not great review about one of the EJ brushes, but certainly it has been in my mind.

There are also many great reviews about the EJ silvertip brushes
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/5689-Edwin-Jagger-Medium-Silvertip

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...hronicles-2-The-Edwin-Jagger-Medium-Silvertip

 

[brother cavefish]

the smart thing is you investigating, take your time, there are many brushes out there-----i will tell you a great brush, Na Wiat from the Bay, ( pegasusimp

)

lathe turned handle black badger 35.00 , or 45 for the higher grade, for me black badger is unreal very soft- i got the black but the best is sweet, i think you will be quite pleased, very soft and tightly packed

 

[mblakele]

Actually, the Truefitt and Hill rooneys sound interesting (didn't know they were rooneys, but are they priced the same as branded ones?), and also the fact that the Simpsons are higher grade hair than the Rooneys is useful info too.

Prices are about the same I think, or cheaper with the B&B discount: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Vendor_Discounts

Just to clarify, I did not mean to imply that Simpson hair is better (or worse) than Rooney hair. But they are different, and their naming strategies are different. So it happens that Rooney "best" is a lower grade of hair than Simpson "best", judging by price and by member reports. Rooney "super silvertip" is priced about the same as Simpson "best", and my experience is that they are comparable grades - still different, but on the same level. http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Shave_Brush_Hair_Grades tries to explain how this works: the short story is that brushmakers do not coordinate their naming schemes. Caveat emptor.

 

[Champion of Capua]

i have a tweezerman, but wanted to try something better so, i'm looking for a best badger or better (of a decent size) for under £65...

I have selected either:

- soc badger
- rooney 3 medium (best)
- simpson commodore x3 (or maybe a pj2) (best)
- vulfix 2235 (super)

or maybe someone can recommend something else.

Thanks v. Much.

+1 soc

 

[edgerunner]

I have Vulfix 2234, Commodore X3, T&H Rooney 1/2 Medium (Silvertip), SOC 2-band.

If you want great backbone and more scrub without being prickly - SOC 2-band
If you want soft, luxurious, and a lot of hair with splay - T&H Rooney
If you want efficient, average density with good flow through knot, and to feel a lot of hair more intense on your face - Commodore X3. It feels about as big as the Rooney but with more scritch.
If you want great flow through, less density and balanced soft feel with more splay on the face - Vulfix 223x (which uses the same Simpson Best hair but the knot is not densely packed).

...YMMV

 

[Cheapogit]

Prices are about the same I think, or cheaper with the B&B discount: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Vendor_Discounts

Just to clarify, I did not mean to imply that Simpson hair is better (or worse) than Rooney hair. But they are different, and their naming strategies are different. So it happens that Rooney "best" is a lower grade of hair than Simpson "best", judging by price and by member reports. Rooney "super silvertip" is priced about the same as Simpson "best", and my experience is that they are comparable grades - still different, but on the same level. http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Shave_Brush_Hair_Grades tries to explain how this works: the short story is that brushmakers do not coordinate their naming schemes. Caveat emptor.

Thanks for that confirmation, I had thought you meant that. It can be confusing when some brushmakers start with best, some pure and then I've also seen 'Finest' (Don't remember where) which probably doesn't actually mean anything in itself.

I have Vulfix 2234, Commodore X3, T&H Rooney 1/2 Medium (Silvertip), SOC 2-band.

If you want great backbone and more scrub without being prickly - SOC 2-band
If you want soft, luxurious, and a lot of hair with splay - T&H Rooney
If you want efficient, average density with good flow through knot, and to feel a lot of hair more intense on your face - Commodore X3. It feels about as big as the Rooney but with more scritch.
If you want great flow through, less density and balanced soft feel with more splay on the face - Vulfix 223x (which uses the same Simpson Best hair but the knot is not densely packed).

...YMMV

That is very good review of them, thanks for that. I will get the SOC at some time, and do want to get a Simpson too, but I still haven't made up my mind yet what's next...

Just wondering what the difference between 'Scritch', 'Prickle' and 'Scrub' are....!

 

[edgerunner]

Thanks to Scritchnscrub:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ub-Softness-Density-Backbone-and-Flow-through

 

[Cheapogit]

Thanks a lot for that link, it was very useful, quite a bit of jargon flies about and that is quite a good decoder for some of it!

The brush issue will probably be solved with the SOC, purely because, as many people have stated, it is so versatile, and it also has not too much prickle/scritch(?) and the tweezerman (although, it is still breaking in), seems to be like needles, and I don’t always want that.


But thinking forwards to the NEXT one…