What's a Two Band?

[Thomas Martin]

I've seen some gorgeous looking badger brushes called "two band" at a local dealer. They are silvertips with a dark base down to the handle. I was told that these are very rare hence the astronomic prizes (>300 $). What are these and how do they perform compared to ordinary badger brushes?

 

[Oscroft]

I've seen some gorgeous looking badger brushes called "two band" at a local dealer. They are silvertips with a dark base down to the handle. I was told that these are very rare hence the astronomic prizes (>300 $). What are these and how do they perform compared to ordinary badger brushes?

Two-band hair is generally stiffer than silvertip, but has soft tips - I'm not sure what part of the badger it comes from. It's named for the larger dark-colored portion of the hair, and in the brushes you usually only see that plus one light band at the tips - with normal slivertip you usually see three bands.

Two-band works especially well for face-lathering where a bit of backbone in the brush can help to work the lather, and the tips are soft on the face. It's my favourite kind of badger hair.

However, you can get 2-band brushes without paying astronomic prices, and 2-band in general is not especially rare. For example, I have this 2-band brush...

http://vintagescent.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=110

It cost around $90

I also have one of these 2-band brushes, which cost me £40 ($64)...

http://newforestbrushes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/new-forest-super-badger-two-band-24mm_7059.html

And I have one of these on order, for a mere £26 ($41)...

http://newforestbrushes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/new-forest-1901-super-badger-two-band.html

So, the $300 for that brush might be justified (and it might be a specially rare variety of 2-band hair), but it's not justified simply because it's 2-band.

 

[Elbe]

German brush maker shavemac.com has a good description of the different badger hair qualities:
http://www.shavemac.com/badger_qualities.html

 

[wagstaff]

German brush maker shavemac.com has a good description of the different badger hair qualities:
http://www.shavemac.com/badger_qualities.html

I especially like "perceptively stronger hair" in the description of the two-band. I hate it when my brushes' hair gets too perceptive.
(Mind you, don't ask me to write ad copy in German).

 

[puros_bran]

Perceptive hair. It's not just for Gorgons anymore!

 

[Rudy Vey]

Here are a three and a two band brush knot side by side. It is the famous D01 hair of Shavemac. The two-band hair is normally a bit thicker and stiffer than the three band hair. The two-band is often also called Finest (TGN) or Super (Simpson). But, in principle they all from the same animal: Badger. The hair may come from different areas of the animal's body. I think, I saw somewhere a picture of a badger pelt with the areas marked where the different hair grades come from.

 

[Loric]

My understanding (based on B&B gossip ) is that the two band is a winter coat while the three band is the summer coat. Take it for what you will, rumor or fact.