Face-latherer with actual-doctor's-note-sensitive-skin (not just "I don't know how to shave" skin) here. Slowly pondering what my next badger brush may or may not be. My current feelings toward various brushes:
Brushes I love:
ANYWAY I think the general trend there is "I like soft brushes that are intuitive to paint with and don't bloom so huge they look like a flying saucer when they're lathered up." I've been considering the Semogue 2015HD Silvertip for its modest size (22x55mm) and not-actually-high-density-despite-the-name density, which is probably a good thing for my preferences, but almost every review thread has somebody pop up to say "buy the Finest 2-Band SOC instead! Better density and backbone and texture!" (24x53mm, often noted to be much denser than the 2015HD).
I'm worried the 2-band SOC would be too big and too dense for my tastes despite its legions of fans. Do the Semogue experts here have any thoughts or guidance for me? Does the generally-less-well-regarded 2015HD sound like it might actually be the better choice for Me?
Brushes I love:
- Almost every soft Synth bulb I have tried (Cashmere, SynBad, Plissoft, misc. other modern Asian knots) because they're gentle for face-lathering, they have good flow-through, and they're intuitive to paint and smooth lather with because they hardly bloom at all when they're fulla lather
- Very broken-in, soft, medium-to-large sized boar brushes like Semogue 1305 / Omega 10005 / Zenith B03-A26 / Omega 21762 because they give a gentle face massage without being too scratchy, they still have good flow-through, and they're still reasonably easy to paint with when they're all lathered up (though not as easy as a synth knot)
- 24x52mm Yaqi silvertip because it's nice and soft and not too dense and I don't experience any brush burn with it, but it does get pretty big, bloomy, and awkward to paint with when it's full of lather
- Maggard 24mm SHD fan - way too big, too scrubby, too difficult to paint with, lather hog
- Some old 24mm badger/boar fan - same geometry problems as the SHD plus the boar bristles weren't broken in at all and it was crazy scratchy
- DG B9A - waaaaaaaaay too big and difficult to paint with and the density gave me some brush burn... but it Did feel lovely aside from the damage it caused
- Semogue SOC Boar - way too dense for its size so it chews my face up like a belt sander but maybe it will soften up enough to be usable after another 30-40 hand lathers? (ugh, had higher hopes for this brush due to all the hype)
ANYWAY I think the general trend there is "I like soft brushes that are intuitive to paint with and don't bloom so huge they look like a flying saucer when they're lathered up." I've been considering the Semogue 2015HD Silvertip for its modest size (22x55mm) and not-actually-high-density-despite-the-name density, which is probably a good thing for my preferences, but almost every review thread has somebody pop up to say "buy the Finest 2-Band SOC instead! Better density and backbone and texture!" (24x53mm, often noted to be much denser than the 2015HD).
I'm worried the 2-band SOC would be too big and too dense for my tastes despite its legions of fans. Do the Semogue experts here have any thoughts or guidance for me? Does the generally-less-well-regarded 2015HD sound like it might actually be the better choice for Me?