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In general, I was wondering what is the consensus on the differences in quality and other factors such as heat retention, softness / firmness, color, etc... between the different makers of silvertip badger hair brushes...Are all silvertip badger brushes created equal? Is the silvertip 'grade' universal more or less?
Specifically, what about the differences between brushes available by shavemac, kent, Stephen's woodworking, and emsplace.com?
Thanks.
mark,
There is no industry standard for the names given to the various colors of badger hair. Each manufacturer uses his/her own names for the good, better, best grades of hair they use for their brushes.
Personally, I like the silver tip grades only because it inversely matches my own hair.;)
Bruce is telling you right as far as what the different mfgs call their higher grade hair. IME a Kent BK4 is very soft and luxurious. Mine is too soft if you like resilience. I use it once in awhile with creams if I want that feel. I have one Shavemac with a 50mm loft and I think a 23mm knot. It was made from the"old" hair that Bern used to use regularly and now uses only by request. It is a bit more resilient then the regular silvertip he uses and has soft tips. Best bang for the buck of the ones I am mentioning.
If you want a scritchy feel then Rooney Finests are real good for that but they are pricey. Rooney's Heritage line is very resiliant with soft tips and the Super is also soft with less resilience but still not floppy. Plisson Euro white and High Mountain White are great but expensive.
With any of these a two band is stiffer and scritchy while a three band is softer and usually not scritchy at all. Taller lofts and bigger knots tend to be what guys who use creams go for while soap guys, particularly those who face lather, go for the shorter lofts. I don't know about the other brands you mentioned.