Simpson Duke 3 Best: Prickly / Scritchy

[MtView]

Keep us up to date, I'm curious for an update on the op poster @bmilcs. I purchased my duke3 in best "used a few times" and it's on the floppier side, but in terms of skritch/scratch, its nonexistant... compared to other silvertip brushes I own, I can't tell them apart skritch/scratch wise?

I‘m going to go down to a two brush rotation so I can break it in faster. The second brush is a new Chubby 1 super.

Although it’s difficult to say when a brush was made, this vendor states they have current stock. Does anyone know how the Simpson Best hair has been doing lately in terms of variability?

 

[Multum in parvo]

I‘m going to go down to a two brush rotation so I can break it in faster. The second brush is a new Chubby 1 super.

Although it’s difficult to say when a brush was made, this vendor states they have current stock. Does anyone know how the Simpson Best hair has been doing lately in terms of variability?

As far as I understood it still varies from batch to batch. I remember one gentleman saying it’s the big Simpsons‘ lottery...
How will you break in a badger? I thought this would only work for boar insofar that the tips will split something that badger hair doesn’t do.

 

[MtView]

As far as I understood it still varies from batch to batch. I remember one gentleman saying it’s the big Simpsons‘ lottery...
How will you break in a badger? I thought this would only work for boar insofar that the tips will split something that badger hair doesn’t do.

AFAIK it’s just regular use after the initial wash and rinse for any odor. Of course, I could be wrong.

 

[MtView]

I used my new Chubby 1 super for the first time today after leaving some lather in it overnight to freshen it up from any new brush smell. There was a huge difference compared to the Duke 3. On a prickliness scale of 1-100 with 1 being the softest, I would give the Chubby 1 a 10 - 15 right out of the gate. I would expect that in a brush that needs to be broken in and feel confident it will go away.

I would give the Duke 3 an 80+ on my unscientific, arbitrary prickliness scale. Time will tell and I hope to be reporting back in a few weeks revising that assessment.

 

[old_school]

As far as I understood it still varies from batch to batch. I remember one gentleman saying it’s the big Simpsons‘ lottery...
How will you break in a badger? I thought this would only work for boar insofar that the tips will split something that badger hair doesn’t do.

IIRC I've read folks saying Simpson's Manchurian and shavemac DO-1 2-band will break in. It's probably easier to notice coarser brushes softening up vs 3 band which are soft from the beginning. My Simpsons Eagles have mellowed somewhat with time. Why or how, what is the mechanism? Don't know but it's not split ends as you point out like a boar.

 

[MtView]

This was my second shave with the brush and I hand lathered. I will spare you a play by play, but wanted to pop on to say I did notice an improvement and I’m much more optimistic about the brush. My Berkeley 46 Best never did soften much so I think I was a bit cynical going into it.

 

[SliceOfLife]

IIRC I've read folks saying Simpson's Manchurian and shavemac DO-1 2-band will break in. It's probably easier to notice coarser brushes softening up vs 3 band which are soft from the beginning. My Simpsons Eagles have mellowed somewhat with time. Why or how, what is the mechanism? Don't know but it's not split ends as you point out like a boar.

Rooney finest does (eventually). I got one second hand that had seen 10 yrs of regular use and it was as soft as anything. It's actually why I almost never use the one I bought a decade ago. I love it FOR the scrub and I can't bear to lose it. So I'd assume Manchurian and D0-1 both will as well.


As for why? Same way the hair wears back and softens on the animal. Outer sheath breaks up from rubbing on things (rocks, the ground, trees, etc in nature, our whiskers in brushes) and the hairs become thinner and more wiry at the tips.

 

[Pedigree]

I just did a few hand-lathers with my brand new Duke 3that received over the weekend and will report on how it fees/performs?

 

[SterFry]

All three of my Simpsons in best are scritchy. I find them downright overrated. For the money they cost you can buy two nice badgers from a dozen other sources without having to gamble on comfort or performance. ALL of my shaveforge knots thoroughly outperform all of my Simpsons brushes.

Get yourself a ShaveForge 2 band. Mine retired all of my Simpsons

 

[CJB3]

Hope it improves, @MtView. My Duke 3 Best has very soft tips—almost like Super.

 

[MtView]

Hope it improves, @MtView. My Duke 3 Best has very soft tips—almost like Super.

I definitely didn't get the Super end of the Best spectrum with that one, but it is a Simpsons and has a great lineage.

I'm in the May GRUME so that slowed down my shaving squirrel mind (chasing it all) and I'm focusing on what I have. I pulled it out again and have it in a two brush rotation with a Chubby 1 Super. I still haven't given it a fair shake yet.

 

[Sacky84]

Before today, my experience with badger hair was limited to Col Conk Pure and various TGN finest.

Today I received my first Simpson: The Duke 3 in best. I understand that hair grades can vary a lot from Simpson and that I could've gotten unlucky.

I got severe brush burn and the scritch was near unbearable. Is it too quick to judge or should I be concerned? Sorry for my initial incomplete post.

I really wanted to spoil myself and expected to be pampered and love my first experience. I combed through the hair and did several test lathers. It felt like a wall of pure badger and now my skin looks like I have a really bad rash. I sent the owners an email to find out if this is normal.

I am by far a novice and grown to love face lathering. Trying not to sound like a winer is tough lol and I hate complaining. Sorry guys. I spent more than 4x my most expensive brush -Semogue SOC and hope I find a solution.

My Duke 3 needed 10 or so uses to get to that cloud soft level. In fact all of my Simpsons brushes seemed like they needed quite a few lathers to get cloud soft. Even my supers.

My suggestion is to make sure and soak the brush for the length of your shower in warm water before using. And maybe next time just use a slight scrubbing motion to get the lather on to your face and utilize paint strokes to finish getting that thick fluffy lather!

**EDIT - Turns out I was 8 years late in this reply haha. I hope his brush is still kickin' and comfortable!

 

[Ad Astra]

Thread necro yes, but. Noticed yesterday with some dismay my lightly used Berk 46 Best is a bit scritchy when face lathering. Never noticed because I bowl lather 90% of the time, and when face lathering, reach for a larger, softer brush (Elite Silvertip or CH2 Super). Does have a few more gray hairs than my other Bests. (Have a Muhle Pure - gray haired - and prickly. Now a rarely used bowl brush ).

Fairly sure the Berk will break in, using dimpled metal bowl. And then, it's still tops for loading from small containers. But I might go out on a limb here and say, get a Super on up if you face lather only.


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

Carefully examined other Simpsons Bests for rouge black scritch-causing hairs... Face-lathering KH3 just now, judgment is "scrubby." There are a few visible.

My Duke 2 looks exactly like a Super. No rouge black hairs. The Berk, they are sprinkled throughout. So Bests really are a bit of a crap shoot for face-lathering people... Bowl aficionados are going to be good no matter the luck of the Best draw. IMO.


AA

 

[EclipseRedRing]

YMMV as usual. I face lather exclusively and love scrub and scritch. I would be sorely disappointed with a Best grade brush that was similar to Super. I had Super brushes which did not please me and which I sold. I would prefer a Pure grade knot over Super. I agree that Simpson Best is variable but not everybody wants super soft white tips in their Best knot. If I wanted a Super knot then I would buy one

 

[macintoshBR]

I would prefer a Pure grade knot over Super

Some odd tastes, Sir. I will trade my Eagle G2 Pure for any Super Badger you have around…

If I wanted a Super knot then I would buy one

With that I agree 100%. Folks who buy Best wishing for Super are doing themselves and Simpsons (with bad reviews) a disservice

 

[macintoshBR]

Carefully examined other Simpsons Bests for rouge black scritch-causing hairs... Face-lathering KH3 just now, judgment is "scrubby." There are a few visible.

Black hairs can be misleading. It’s more about the color of the non-black hairs in my opinion. I have a Classic 1 and now a CH3 with a bunch of black hairs all around and they have no scritch. The CH3 is in fact the softest Best Badger I’ve ever used. Even my Supers have some black hairs, and again, they are as soft as a cotton ball

 

[Ad Astra]

Enlightening! And thanks.

I do feel I understand clearly prickly from scrubby from Ahhh Super!

Don't like prickly, but appreciate scrubby and super is fine....


AA

 

[macintoshBR]

Don't like prickly, but appreciate scrubby and super is fine....

then Manchurian could be the one for you ☺ king of scrubbiness with absolutely no prickliness (after breaking in)

 

[Owen Bawn]

You really need to buy 7 or 8 each of Simpsons' Best, Super, and Manchurian in order to get the feel for each grade. I also suggest 3 or 4 SiLVERTiP two-bands, and at least 2 Pures.

You can thank me later.