Thread: First Badger brush

You can purchase badger brushes from $20-30 all the way up to several hundred dollars. It all depends on what you are looking for in a brush.
Do you mostly lather creams and soft soaps, or are you partial to triple-milled pucks? If you like hard soaps, then you will probably want a brush with more backbone. If you use mostly creams and softer soaps, a floppy brush will work well.

What sort of face feel do you like? Do you want your brush to have very soft tips, or do you like some scritch? A black badger is likely to be scrubby/scritchy while a silvertip is soft. Other types fall somewhere in between.

I like my brushes to have some backbone and to have very soft tips. So for me two-band finest and densely-packed silvertip brushes work best, but they tend to be pricey. I tried black badgers and pure badgers, but they irritate my sensitive skin.

If you purchase a brush that someone else loves, you may be disappointed as their needs and preferences may differ greatly from yours. Figure out what you need in terms of backbone and softness vs scritch/scrub and then try to find a brush that that will match your preferences and yet fit within your budget.

Originally Posted by Derb25

Ok have found a Thater 4125/1 or a Simpson Berkeley. Any help?

My votes for the Thater!

Economical ones:
* Maseto Shaving
* Stirling Soaps (yes, they offer some decent badger brushes)
* The Golden Nib
* Frank Shaving

More expensive ones:
* Shavemac (most variety and excellent quality)
* Simpsons
* Vie-Long
* Thater
* Paladin

Frank shaving, as mentioned by celestino above, have some good brushes at reasonable prices. If you get one of theirs be sure to order
their brush stands as well.

As far as budget brushes Stirling soap co. gets my vote, though the knot i have from Virginia Sheng (from ebay,China) has given me no problems. Can't recommend the TGN knots as mine sheds like a dog(maybe they've improved since then ,i don't know).JMHO

Originally Posted by tintin

As far as budget brushes Stirling soap co. gets my vote, though the knot i have from Virginia Sheng (from ebay,China) has given me no problems. Can't recommend the TGN knots as mine sheds like a dog(maybe they've improved since then ,i don't know).JMHO

I've ordered from both but only used my TGN. Didn't shed much but my experience is probably not enough to say.
I've got several knots for projects but will be needing to order a few small ones at some point for some brush projects coming up...
Now I'm wondering if TGN is not the way to go.
I'm a couple years behind, need to catch up on "current" source info..
Does anyone have suggestions on quality suppliers these days?

My reply to this thread:
IMO If you try many knots, you will likely have more than one knot type you appreciate each for different reasons.
If you build your own brush, it is a great experience, and heightens that appreciation.

Well I decided on none of the above... lol. I ordered a 22mm Silvertip from Larry over at Whippeddog!

I have to agree 100% with Tom (sharptonn) on his last statement about a quality boar out performs a cheap badger.. The AOS travel badger i purchased being case in point, worst money ive ever spent on a brush bar none... And through trial and too many errors my suggestion for a 1st badger is going online/bst maybe and purchase a couple vintage Eveready or Rubberset handles and insert premium VIGShaving badger knots.. I can almost promise you will be quite surprised at how nice those $13.00 knots are!! Im a boar fan myself but pound for pound or quality to price those VIG's can not be beat . take care, Scott W

Originally Posted by TCMichigander

I have to agree 100% with Tom (sharptonn) on his last statement about a quality boar out performs a cheap badger.. The AOS travel badger i purchased being case in point, worst money ive ever spent on a brush bar none... And through trial and too many errors my suggestion for a 1st badger is going online/bst maybe and purchase a couple vintage Eveready or Rubberset handles and insert premium VIGShaving badger knots.. I can almost promise you will be quite surprised at how nice those $13.00 knots are!! Im a boar fan myself but pound for pound or quality to price those VIG's can not be beat . take care, Scott W

I'd have to disagree on two points...

Firstly, a boar can't take the place of a badger. They behave and feel totally different. "Soft" tips of a broken in boar feel totally different to the "soft" tips of a silvertip badger.

Secondly, please check out Yaqi brushes on . Aliexpress and you'll see just how economical it is buying great quality badger brushes directly from the source (China).

@Nav.. I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with on your 2 points? I fully know that i am not trying to take the place of a badger brush when i use a boar brush.. If that was the case i would just use one of my badgers.. And i will stick by my personal opinion that a cheap pure badger brush isn't in the same ballpark of a nice broken.in Omega, Semogue and especially my Thater Boar.. I have a pretty tough beard and i really enjoy that right amount of backbone and subtle scritch my boar brushes give me.. On the other hand pure badger feela awful on my face when lathering and the few higher quality badgers i have or have used tend to be just too soft with not much back bone... Not what i prefer and feel that a boar gives my beard a better shave... And secondly im not sure if you read my full post or not but i gave high marks to my personal favorite badger brush that i own and use.. VigShaving as far as i know is in China and sources their badger from there also.. I have 2 of their highest quality knots that i dropped into vintage handles and they give a very nice lather and shave.. Not quite to my boars but very good indeed.. Those 2 brushes have a combined total of less than $35.00 invested... Quality & Economical for sure.. And since ive been putting off trying out a Yaqi for a long time now your response gave me the push to order one.. I just ordered a Arctic blue long handle 24mm Silvertip badger brush from West Coast Shaving for ,$35.12 total.. This is twice the amount i have into the 2 Vig's i have and we will see how the Yaqi stands up... Review to come.. Peace gents!. Scott W