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Can someone please explain badger hair grades to me?

OP at some point you might wish to try the SOC (Semogue Owners Club) brushes with the Mistura knots. They're a mix of badger and boar and for me and many on this forum they work very well indeed. Fairly reasonably priced as well if you order them from Portuguese Factory's website.
I have two of 'em and they're tops in my rotation.
 
Amazing! Thank you very much for your very detailed reply. I suppose I should be looking for best, finest or silvertip. Any brands or specific brushes you would recommend?
I’m a big fan of Simpson’s brushes. I have the #2 Manchurian and the #3 super silver tip. Both are phenomenal brushes. The Manchurian is a little more “scritchy” which I like.
 
My first Badger brush was a Simpson Colonel - X2L in Best that was suggested to me by someone at West Coast Shaving. This turned out to be perfect for me at the time because it did everything good, maybe not great but good. After using it for about a year, I began buying other badgers and have about 18 all together.

The Colonel was about $65 and is still going strong. It is a good, comfortable basic Badger brush that proved to be a great learning tool into the world of Badger brushes.
 
My first Badger brush was a Simpson Colonel - X2L in Best that was suggested to me by someone at West Coast Shaving. This turned out to be perfect for me at the time because it did everything good, maybe not great but good. After using it for about a year, I began buying other badgers and have about 18 all together.

The Colonel was about $65 and is still going strong. It is a good, comfortable basic Badger brush that proved to be a great learning tool into the world of Badger brushes.
The Colonel and Commodore x3 are the best inexpensive Simpsons available IMO.
 
Some of the Simpsons bager brushes I have owned have beeen excellent, I would say performing above their price point, but others with hair of supposedly the same grade have not been nearly as good. Also, some Simpsons brushes do shed, which is very annoying. I think the brand would be even more popular than it already is if they could achieve consistency.
Shavemac brushes have been the most reliable I have come across, and their customer service is good. This does come at a price, but it's not outrageous compared to some 'high end' makers and and many consider it worth paying.
Whipped Dog brushes are great value for money, but to me they're not up there with the very best. At those prices I don't suppose you could expect them to be.
For a luxury feel at a moderate price the Semogue Owners Club two band badger takes a lot of beating. If you like the look of it, with the wooden handle, then it's well worth a try.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Hey everyone, I don't have any experience with badger brushes and am looking to round out the brush collection with a badger and horse and get ever closer to finishing my shaving infinity gauntlet. However, there seem to be different grades of badger hair (i.e. 2 band, 3 band, silver tip, high mountain, gel etc.) and I cannot for the life of me tell which one is the 'quintessential' badger to own other than they each come in different price points. I would really appreciate it, if someone could explain what each of these terms mean and the experience they provide when used. By all means, if I've left a grade out please add it in and explain it too!



While I agree with several of the previous posts I'm going to throw out some opinions based on my own experiences.



My Simpson Chubby 2 in Best (photo by seller).480.4-25-20.jpg
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All brushes within a hair category or within a badger grade or within a brand - for example all Simpson Best Badger brushes - are not going to necessarily be the same. For instance, these two brushes, both Simpson's Best Badger, have quite dissimilar knots. That's not to say either knot is bad.



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Personally I wouldn't buy a brush with a Pure knot unless it was a Shavemac and Rudy Vey told me it was a good Shavemac Pure such as this one. I like it.

I've used a couple of other Pure knots and not liked them.



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On the left is one of my favorite three band silvertips. It is a very good knot. On the right is one of my two band silvertips. It is also a very good knot.

Generally, however, I prefer a good two band silvertip to a three band silvertip. That's a personal preference.

I do not consider silvertip superior to two band. Not in any way shape or form. However, it depends very much on what you like and prefer. It also depends on the particular knots, the manufacturer, and the batch of knots. Things are not very consistent in the badger world, at least not as consistent as we might like.



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In my view of it the Semogue SOC Mistura (mixed badger and boar) is a very high quality brush. It's right up there with the other Semogue brushes I've mentioned. None of the three are like the other two. They all have their unique qualities. The Mistura is, however, an excellent brush by any standard.



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I've not used a Manchurian I didn't like. Manchurian seems to me to be a very high grade two band. I've not used any Manchurians other than Simpson, Rudy Vey, and Zenith, but they've all been great.

Zenith Manchurians are great brushes and relatively inexpensive.

The Shavemac DO1 two band in the butterscotch Rudy Vey beehive is a great brush, but it might be too much backbone and such for many gentlemen. The Shavemac (non-DO1) two band in the blue Shavemac handle is also a great knot. These are, of course, right expensive brushes.



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There is nothing wrong with some of the more inexpensive badgers such as this Maseto two band, the various Yaqi and Simpson brushes, and others.

They might not be quite up there with their much more expensive cousins, but you might be surprised at how close they are when it comes to performance and your subjective experiences with them.

BTW, Maseto makes a very nice three band silvertip, too.​



Mostly it comes down to doing some homework and then a bunch of experience which means trying some brushes to find out what you like. There are bargains to be found including on the BST. Several of the brushes mentioned above came to me gently used. The Simpson CH3 in Best was an Amazon bargain buy. Shop around.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
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While I agree with several of the previous posts I'm going to throw out some opinions based on my own experiences.






All brushes within a hair category or within a badger grade or within a brand - for example all Simpson Best Badger brushes - are not going to necessarily be the same. For instance, these two brushes, both Simpson's Best Badger, have quite dissimilar knots. That's not to say either knot is bad.



View attachment 1394261



Personally I wouldn't buy a brush with a Pure knot unless it was a Shavemac and Rudy Vey told me it was a good Shavemac Pure such as this one. I like it.

I've used a couple of other Pure knots and not liked them.






On the left is one of my favorite three band silvertips. It is a very good knot. On the right is one of my two band silvertips. It is also a very good knot.

Generally, however, I prefer a good two band silvertip to a three band silvertip. That's a personal preference.

I do not consider silvertip superior to two band. Not in any way shape or form. However, it depends very much on what you like and prefer. It also depends on the particular knots, the manufacturer, and the batch of knots. Things are not very consistent in the badger world, at least not as consistent as we might like.



View attachment 1394267



In my view of it the Semogue SOC Mistura (mixed badger and boar) is a very high quality brush. It's right up there with the other Semogue brushes I've mentioned. None of the three are like the other two. They all have their unique qualities. The Mistura is, however, an excellent brush by any standard.






I've not used a Manchurian I didn't like. Manchurian seems to me to be a very high grade two band. I've not used any Manchurians other than Simpson, Rudy Vey, and Zenith, but they've all been great.

Zenith Manchurians are great brushes and relatively inexpensive.

The Shavemac DO1 two band in the butterscotch Rudy Vey beehive is a great brush, but it might be too much backbone and such for many gentlemen. The Shavemac (non-DO1) two band in the blue Shavemac handle is also a great knot. These are, of course, right expensive brushes.



View attachment 1394273
There is nothing wrong with some of the more inexpensive badgers such as this Maseto two band, the various Yaqi and Simpson brushes, and others.

They might not be quite up there with their much more expensive cousins, but you might be surprised at how close they are when it comes to performance and your subjective experiences with them.

BTW, Maseto makes a very nice three band silvertip, too.​



Mostly it comes down to doing some homework and then a bunch of experience which means trying some brushes to find out what you like. There are bargains to be found including on the BST. Several of the brushes mentioned above came to me gently used. The Simpson CH3 in Best was an Amazon bargain buy. Shop around.

Happy shaves,

Jim
thank you for the suggestions! I'm still looking into all of them and seeing what I can actually get and what I might like but at this stage its definitely looking to two-band or silvertip.
 
A couple years ago I was given a Simpson Pure badger, and I kept having problems. It didn't load well, it didn't lather up in the bowl.
It took a long time but I figured it out. I was putting the brush in hot water just like all the videos said. It's what I used to do with my boar brush many years ago, so it made sense.
It turns out that soaking it just makes it go limp and it doesn't pick up much soap, and doesn't have enough backbone to work up a good lather.
Just putting a little water on the brush before loading helps. Then a little water in the bowl. I still got better lather with a boar brush with less fuss.
So, I'd say skip the pure badger, you can get them in the $15-20 range
 
I like Best, best due to its universal application for my environment.

I do however prefer Pure over boar in general, but that’s also for my mileage...
See I used boar for a long time exclusively and only stumbled into badger due to the enablers here :). Nevertheless while I like Simpsons and Shavemacs Pure I wouldn’t use it every day, their 2 Band/2 Band Silvertip on the other hand…
 
See I used boar for a long time exclusively and only stumbled into badger due to the enablers here :). Nevertheless while I like Simpsons and Shavemacs Pure I wouldn’t use it every day, their 2 Band/2 Band Silvertip on the other hand…
I expect my opinion of boar to change over time. I only have 2 (young) brushes that seldom get rotation. After FFFMM, I may decide to use my Omegas exclusive for April.
 
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Broken in they are a dream, but I like them fresh as well.

For April‘s AFFCC 2022 I will use this 40099 Omega exclusively.

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Interestingly enough, I was PIFd a 10077 and I really love the overall quality of this brush. I really have only used it with soaps that I was having trouble building a lather with...

I would have never guessed the price point was so low given its performance level and zero shed.

I had a VDH boar that shed every single use.
 
I found only one source that asserts Badger pubic hair is used for brushes. Other’s say the under belly(what part unknown), neck etc are used. However who knows really where the hair is from? It would hard to market a 300.00 brush made from Badger Pubic hair I think.
Here, you'd be right. But over on Tinder....Who knows? :devil:
 
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