Thread: Moving away from badger

Originally Posted by ppetresen

It seems like an unfair comparison: of course badger has history on it's side as synthetics have only really come into their own quite recently. No doubt a huge part of the badger brushes' appeal lies precisely in their historical place as king of brushes, best of the best -- all the more the for the straight razor crowd who are here for reasons very fair from efficiency and ease-of-use. As BobH has pointed out, one really needs to take each on their own merits; if one judges a synthetic by the criteria laid on by a good badger it'll fall short every time but, likewise, if one judges a badger based on what makes a good synthetic then they too will be found lacking. Just my two cents.

Seems kind of like saying in many ways a Yugo is better than a BMW. After All it's cheaper to buy and cheaper to maintain and gets better gas mileage and cheaper to repair if damaged. I guess you can find positives and advantage in just about any comparison.

It's not history that makes badger better it's performance. If some other hair was better it would be in the top spot instead.

Synthetics have been around since the 1950s as well as synthetic blends and they have languished all these years. Only relatively recently have they made real inroads.

In the end we buy what we like and if you're happy with your decision that's all that matters. My original point is for me a top of the line badger is my preference. Yes they both create and apply lather equally well but it all stops there.

I have top of line silver tip badgers, some boars and a synthetic.

Since using the synthetic I haven't looked back for years and stuck exclusively to my synthetic.

I'm gonna revisit my silvertips and boars and see how they stack up now
my synthetic is just super effective, doesn't clog up by accumulated soap and cream residue, is the softest of them all has no need to soak, it works flawlessly but differently than the naturals.

I don't have cream or soap dripping down my arm from my synthetic.


I'm a traditional guy and would normally prefer the non-synthetics, bur for brushes the synthetics cannot be beat so far for me.

To each their own

Well it seems I really stirred up some stuff with my original post. I have to emphasize that I was speaking for myself with no experience using a high quality badger brush.

I am very happy with my synthetics and boar brushes and would easily recommend them to a newbie getting started wet shaving who wanted keep startup costs down.

That doesn’t mean I am advocating everyone stop using badger. The simple fact is that there are many wet shavers who love them. I’m just saying that for me, I am happy using what I have and very happy with the price point.

Well said, DZEC. Everyone takes a different path for whatever reason. I happened to land a Thater 4125/2 2-band silvertip on clearance from BullGoose about 3 months into wet shaving. That's the only brush I really need.

I also have a cheapy, no-name boar brush that I'm starting to use more (mainly for MWF). If the sucker continues shedding, I may look into an Omega or whatever the guys are recommending these days.

Indeed, everybody likes what they like, nothing wrong with anybody's preferences

I had a Thater that I didn't care much for, I know I'm one of the fewer people in that regard, shaving is a highly personal and subjective matter

Originally Posted by Speedster

I also have a cheapy, no-name boar brush that I'm starting to use more (mainly for MWF). If the sucker continues shedding, I may look into an Omega or whatever the guys are recommending these days.

I haven’t experienced much shedding with my smaller Omega boar or the larger Fendrihan boar, which looks very much like a rebranded Omega. For the price, I don’t think you can go wrong with either.

In my experience, the larger synths have lathered MWF quite well. I start by hydrating the puck with some water and then swirl a damp synth to gather some soap. From that point on I face lather, adding water to the brush tip as needed. Builds a good lather fairly quickly. I do have fairly soft water.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

In the end we buy what we like and if you're happy with your decision that's all that matters. My original point is for me a top of the line badger is my preference. Yes they both create and apply lather equally well but it all stops there.

I think the last is a point lost on most beginners. It is easy to get the impression that unless you use a top of the line badger brush you are just spinning your wheels as far as being able to produce an excellent lather is concerned. That is simply not the case as it all boils down to knowing how to make an excellent lather with the tool you have in hand. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound right so make it the "brush you have in your hand". Constant references to the comparison of a Yugo to insert expensive car of choice really does not help that impression either.

There is not a thing wrong with trying the various knot materials to see which suits you best either but not totally necessary as far as making an excellent lather is concerned.

Bob

I think it is hard to "move away from badger" if one has only tried one, and a cheap one at that. Of course, one can easily get by without ever using one, but at least one needs to be familiar with what a badger knot is like compared to the other options. Softness is only one aspect of things, and a relative quality at that, a synth's softness being different from a broken-in boar knot, and with edge type of badger knot having it's own type of softness. The way a badger knot absorbs water and creates lather within the knot itself is perhaps it's most characteristic feature. Synth knots shed lather in comparison to badger knots, as do horse and boar knots.

Not that I am saying that badger knots are necessarily the "best," but that they can vary and that it is impossible to criticize them on a qualitative level without better-knowing what that variance is.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

Not that I am saying that badger knots are necessarily the "best," but that they can vary and that it is impossible to criticize them on a qualitative level without better-knowing what that variance is.

That is a very good point. There are so many different grades of badger, some with different names but still similar, different densities, and different loft to knot size ratios that all make a difference to how a badger knot feels and performs. Then there is the batch to batch differences from the same manufacturer of their same grade badger.

You really have to go through a fair number of badger brushes to do a reasonable assessment of badger knots let alone find one that you really like. I think most of the members here have found that out. At least I went through a few to find a knot that I liked.

Bob