Simpson brushes. What's the difference between them?

[pdieten]

One day I went poking around on their website looking at all the brushes. Controlling for hair type (i.e. best badger), size, and ivory handles, there is still a very wide range of products at widely varying prices. What exactly do you get for the extra money in the expensive brushes? Why does, say, a PJ1 cost twice as much as a B46?

I'm not judging. I just can't find anything in the descriptions that explains the difference.

 

[nemo]

Usually the amount of hair stuffed into them dictates the price within a given hair type but those are both 19mm and I can't see the Persian Jar having twice the density. Handle size or quality? Good question.

Thankfully, no ivory handles sold any longer, just sayin'.

 

[beginish]

The PJ is usually in Super Badger, and the Berkeley is in Best. Different grades of hair and the PJ has a larger knot as well, so more, more expensive hair in the knot.

 

[pdieten]

Usually the amount of hair stuffed into them dictates the price within a given hair type but those are both 19mm and I can't see the Persian Jar having twice the density. Handle size or quality? Good question.

Thankfully, no ivory handles sold any longer, just sayin'.

I should have just written faux ivory, because that's what it says on the page. I meant to just make the point that I was choosing brushes with the standard color handle rather than something with a differently colored handle.

The PJ is usually in Super Badger, and the Berkeley is in Best. Different grades of hair and the PJ has a larger knot as well, so more, more expensive hair in the knot.

Yeah, but I tried to control for that. I just pulled up their pages of best badger brushes, so I wasn't shown a pure badger B46 or a super PJ1 on the pages I looked at. Just all best badger hair brushes. As shown on their pages, both are available with a 19mm best badger knot with 44mm loft. Yet, £38 vs £81. What does that extra £43 buy?

 

[Zen Shaver]

I agree with the other comments. The difference in price is due to hair density or quality.
Generally speaking, a less dense brush will be more floppy and better suited to creams and bowl lathering. A more densely packed brush, like a Chubby, is better suited for hard soaps and face lathering. I own and enjoy a Colonel x2l and a Chubby 2 in best badger. You'll find plenty of info here to help you decide what brush is best for you.

 

[global_dev]

perhaps even at the same knot size and loft, the difference most likely is density.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Both brushes have best hair and are in the same size (19 mm). I highly doubt that a slightly increased amount of hair (i.e. more density) warrants the huge price difference. There are only so many hairs one can stuff into the same sized hole, and from the weight of the brush, both are the same. It is said that 1 gram of badger hair is equivalent to about 1000 hairs.
My guess would be that the PJ is a better seller (actually, this is my favorite style of a shaving brush handle, classic, simple and very ergonomic).

 

[BigJ]

Supply and demand would be my best guess!

 

[macintoshBR]

In addition, Some handles are lathe-turned by hand, others not.

The Berkeley is a steal within the Simpsons range, anyway

 

[Sideways Tremolo]

In addition, Some handles are lathe-turned by hand, others not.

The Berkeley is a steal within the Simpsons range, anyway

Have one and love it, also the Colonel. These are good values.
I haven't taken the plunge on the Chubby range yet. I do get the Simpson allure though, just haven't dropped big dollars on a brush.

 

[Cino]

IMHO the chubby 2 series are the best brushes made. Perfect size and density across the board. Perfect balance of flow through and backbone. YMMV.