Lefonque
Even more clueless than you
I don't think I have seen a black badger brush in the flesh so to speak.
Let me add that Pure Badger really means that there is nothing but badger. It is not mixed with boar or horse or synthetic or anything else. In the vintage years Pure Badger probably was reasonably good. I have an old Erskine that is identified a Pure Badger and it doesn't seem to have trimmed tips for example.
I own Pure badger brushes made by Simpsons and Rooney. They are very good. They aren't silver tips, however. They have a lot of face feel. I would consider buying one by Shavemac, and possibly an Omega, though I doubt I will ever do so. There are many, many brushes sold as Pure badger that I wouldn't go near. I enjoy a light exfoliating brush, but I've no desire to harrow my face, and that's what cheap Pure brushes will do. May as well drag a rock rake across your face.
I own Pure badger brushes made by Simpsons and Rooney. They are very good. They aren't silver tips, however. They have a lot of face feel. I would consider buying one by Shavemac, and possibly an Omega, though I doubt I will ever do so. There are many, many brushes sold as Pure badger that I wouldn't go near. I enjoy a light exfoliating brush, but I've no desire to harrow my face, and that's what cheap Pure brushes will do. May as well drag a rock rake across your face.
All three of Omega's badger types are labelled Pure Badger (Puro Tasso) on their brush handles:Make no mistake, sir! The Omega, if you swirl, scratches. It doesn't only have "face feel". It scratches. If you paint only, then it is different. I swirl anyway! I have african skin. Having feathers also helps!
Simpson's Pure grade nor the shavemac Pure (I've had) are trimmed to shape. Cannot say anything about the new shavemac pure though.
This is a pic of Simpson Best on the left and Pure on the right.
You can see the Pure grade is more coarse. I have not counted or
sampled but I would say there's more off grade in the Pure as well.
Are those stout black hairs 'guard hairs' or just random hair that
makes it way into a batch?
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I was referring to Omega's Black Badger. But you're correct. All Italian, German, and French badger brushes are called pure badger no matter the hair grade.All three of Omega's badger types are labelled Pure Badger (Puro Tasso) on their brush handles:
View attachment 1253412
Make no mistake, sir! The Omega, if you swirl, scratches. It doesn't only have "face feel". It scratches. If you paint only, then it is different. I swirl anyway! I have african skin. Having feathers also helps!
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Back in the 80s we had a guy turn up at the mill in his car and asked if we would buy a badger off him that he had just run over in his car and killed - he had loaded it into the boot(trunk) of his car and headed down to see us. We had to explain to him that we didn't use British badger hair as
- it was protected and
- it was too coarse to use for brushes.
We gave him a guided tour of the mill and then headed for the main door to walk him back to his car. As we all approached his car you could see the whole chassis rocking from side to side and coming from the boot was the sound of a pretty pi**ed off badger which had obviously come round from being knocked out from being hit by a car! Not much advice we could give the guy apart from trying to devise some method fo opening the boot from the safety of the roof of his car! To this day we still don't know what the outcome was...!
View attachment 1252974
He shaves with a chain saw.
I'm still driving a Parker Black Badger brush I bought 7 years ago. I keep thinking I want to get something else, but there's nothing wrong with this brush at all. Being a face latherer, it had some "schritch" when it was new, but not enough to be irritating, and it quickly smoothed out. If your face is extra sensitive, it might not be a match for you. But for me, a Black Badger is a value.
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