Just Bought Myself 2 New Simpson Brushes

I have been pondering about buying some new brushes ever since I joined this site and started SR shaving. I have the big Rooney brush I bought many years ago when I bought my Merkur Futra razor. I figure it needs a little rest so I bought some new brushes to use in a rotation. Besides I have enough razors now so it justifies the purchases.

I bought a Simpson Duke 2 in better badger and a Simpson special in better badger.

The Duke is a great brush for 65 dollars at first I was a little disappointed in its size but after using it, it has performed very well. I must say it works with soaps better than creams. I used it this morning with proraso soap wich is a combination between soap and cream it seems like. I do find that it paints the lather on better in a back and forth paint technique than a circular like the literature recommends. I thought for the price it worked very well. I was going to buy the duke 3 but for the extra $90 dollars I just could not justify it.

The Simpson special was a nice brush for the price as well for $40. I thought the size was a little small and thought it should have sold for more like $30. I know I am sounding cheap.
The brush is not bad but it takes a little work to get a good lather with creams so I gave up and use it for soaps. It works well but buy the time you get to the 3rd shaving pass against the grain you run out of lather. I do think it will get better once it is broken in along with the duke 2 brush.

They both seem like good quality brushes for the most part . My next 2 brushes are going to be the Chubby 2 in better badger and the Berkly in pure badger. Some day I am going to go big and buy the Tulip 3.

For now I will be happy with what I have and enjoy.