I have the SOC 2 band badger and the tips are very soft - nothing like the Mistura. It's a great face lathering brush. I also have a few SOC boar brushes and they have very soft tips, but considerably less backbone. I love them for bowl lathering.I've moved mine along, which is a shame since it was a great brush in many ways, but my skin just wasn't having a good time. It unfortunately rules out the SOC finest version as well, probably 2-band altogether, and is another tell that I best stick to silvertip if I want to hang with badger. I guess I can't tolerate things these days I used to be able to.