First shave with a Badger brush...not what I was expecting.

[bastimret]

So for the past two months since starting wet shaving I have been using my Semogue 1460. It has broken in wonderfully and even after the first few shaves it felt fantastic lathering my face with. Soft yet scrubby it feels like I'm scrubbing my face with pillows of lather.

So today I used my Duke 2 Best from the bst to face lather some MdC, my first time using a badger and a highly touted Simpson at that. Let it soak for 10 min while showering, loaded it with some MdC and took it to my face.

Ouch! That thing was quite pokey! I was expecting soft scrubbyness but now I know what people mean when they talk about brush burn. After three passes and some clean up, I could feel the effects on my face, like I went to town on it with a really coarse facial scrub. Is this normal? Was my perception of badger brushes way off? Or does it just need to break in more? Doing paintbrush like strokes with it on my additional passes felt fine, but scrubbing my face with it to build the lather felt quite rough. The Semogue feels much better by comparison.

 

[MinorDamage]

You must have some really sensitive skin, as the Simpson Best grade has just a hint of scritch. If you still don't like it after a bit, you can go pillow soft with a Thater 3 band silvertip. They are as soft as they come.

Josh

 

[celestino]

Some badger hair can affect each person differently, and i found the Semogue boars a bit gentler than Simpson's Best for face-lathering. If you want soft, Rooney Heritage Stubby series are gel-like and the Thaters as well.
Good luck and don't give away the Semogues.

 

[ODJ]

Some badger hair can affect each person differently, and i found the Semogue boars a bit gentler than Simpson's Best for face-lathering. If you want soft, Rooney Heritage Stubby series are gel-like and the Thaters as well.
Good luck and don't give away the Semogues.

I had a Duke 3 in Best and suffered the same result as you. I swear my Semogue boars are all softer on my face, and cost a fraction of the highly (in my opinion) overrated Simpsons brushes.

 

[Kevan]

Simpsons Best is all over the place. My Commodore is extremely soft; the Milk Churn and Wee Scot have scritch.

 

[Foyle]

My Duke 2 started out as a really pokey brush, like little needles stabbing your face. After about 15 latherings or so it became one the softest brushed I've ever felt; no scritch or poke at all. Give it some time and try bowl lathering for a week or so, then try face lathering again and see if the brush has softened up at all. It might not but it's worth a shot.

 

[bastimret]

My Duke 2 started out as a really pokey brush, like little needles stabbing your face. After about 15 latherings or so it became one the softest brushed I've ever felt; no scritch or poke at all. Give it some time and try bowl lathering for a week or so, then try face lathering again and see if the brush has softened up at all. It might not but it's worth a shot.

Yea, that's exatcly how I'd describe it. I'm all for breaking it in more, figured that might be the case. However, I'm also the third owner as 7 O Menthol bought it from bst as well. No idea on the # of uses before me though.

And I don't want soft and floppy. That's what I like about the Semogue, it's soft, but it has enough backbone to be scrubby. I think I'll stick to bowl lathering with the Duke for now and see how it is after a couple weeks. My scored Walmart salsa bowl should help soften up those tips some

 

[cessnabird]

I too find Simpsons Best to be very scritchy, painful if I face lather it which I do not anymore. Simpsons Super Badger is a different story, soft and scrubby but no scritchiness.

 

[BallisticBurrito]

All this talk of more expensive brushes being all scritchy..I don't think I'll move 'above' my Omega 636 Silvertip anytime soon.
No scritch..it's like rubbing one's face with a soft furry pillow.

 

[walds11]

I went from CH1 Best to Super and never looked back. It's my daily go-to brush and a joy to face lather with. Like you said, Simpsons Super Badger is soft and scrubby, but no scritchiness.

I too find Simpsons Best to be very scritchy, painful if I face lather it which I do not anymore. Simpsons Super Badger is a different story, soft and scrubby but no scritchiness.

 

[takeshi]

Was my perception of badger brushes way off?

If you assume that all badgers are soft, yes. Badger varies by grade and manufacturer (one's grades aren't necessarily the same as another's). Be careful assuming that you can extrapolate trends from a single data point no matter what the topic.

 

[bastimret]

I'll try to break this puppy in a bit first before jumping ship to the Super grade (unless a good BST deal comes along of course ). Face lathered with my new-to-me Wee Scot today, and it felt ok. Soft with a good level of scrubbyness. But of course it's much smaller and a totally different brush, and might have been broken in more already, but it's the same grade hair.

 

[SliceOfLife]

For me, badgers aren't really softer than anything but the most sturdy (620) boars in the Semogue lineup. The hairs flex more (less likely to keep a deformed shape... more backbone), and there's increased action when lathering. The feel is very different (Thousands of hair tips on your face with badger versus a much lower number of frayed hairs "mopping" your face with boar). Feel is preference. I like both. No question I get much better lather via facelathering with badger than boars though.

As 3band badger grades ramp up the hairs seem to get a bit finer and lose a bit more of the flex each step up.

As badger quality/grading QC ramps up. The odd Pokey hairs get removed better. (For example, many cheap silvertips feeling prickly and unpleasant, same grade, shorter loft and denser from a decent maker is soft and has none of that prickle.)

Going from Best to Super in Simpson, I notice the lessening of backbone a bit more than the increased soft feel, so even if I didn't like the feel of the best vs Super (which I do), I'd probably prefer best anyway on a lose more than you gain platform between the two. Both are good knots and some prefer one, some prefer the other. You'd probably prefer the Super, but I don't know that you'd even find that softer than your 1460.


The idea that badgers are "softer" is probably to appeal to the people who spend $400 on the softest brush they can get, neglecting backbone and other elements that I feel are what make a good shave brush. Don't tell them that a Semo 2000 is as soft as anything they own... it might hurt their pride.

 

[bastimret]

I don't think I need it to be "softer" than my 1460, just was not expecting how "needle-y" it was. But thanks for the info. Obvious reason why this is so much of a YMMV hobby and the BST does a great deal of business I'll continue to break it in awhile before making any decisions.

 

[raccoonandbrush]

My first badger brush was a Tweezerman. It was a little scratchy, but in a good way, and it didn't give me any burn. Then I replaced it with my current Rooney Silvertip which is just great. I don't know why yours feels that way.

 

[Monkeyboy]

I've had several simpson best brushes and thought all of them were very comfortable. I sold a duke 2 on the BST however and the buyer reported brush burn with it so there's a YMMV factor with the best grade. Similarly, I find the simpson pure grade tears my face up while some guys enjoy it.

I've tried some semogues and found them all to be more scritchy than simpson best.