Thread: 1 Brush for Cream & 1 for Soap??? Your Thoughts Please

As Stubear says, you don't need multiple brushes, but it's nice to have options. I have seven brushes at the moment, all different grades of badger hair, different sizes, different lofts, but they all seem to work well with both creams and soaps. I simply like to vary my shave and having different brushes adds to that.

Boar provides nice water load, thus results in lather being well hydrated
The bristles are flexible. However the negative aspect of the boar is that bristles are rather brittle which is prone to breaking. To combat this it is generally advised to work lather in mug and use the boar on face via "painting" style method.

With badgers there are 8 species which can be found here for more detail.

In general there are 3 grades of badger: Pure, Best and Super. Other vendors refer to Best and Super in in finest or Silvertip but mean the same thing.

Pure accounts for 60% of badgers body. It tend to be medium in length, generally light tan but can vary to nearly black and less supple compared to other grades.

Best accounts for 25% of badgers body. It's a little longer generally light varying to darker tan and more supple.

Super accounts for 15% of badgers body. This is longest and most supple. Definately more luxurious compared to the other two. The hair is derived from the neck area of badger. The shaft is finer, tips are lightly colored and flaired. Flaired tips are designed to provide thermal insulation for badgers. With regards to brush, it allows it to hold greater volume of water when saturated. Water can then be infused into the lather thus creating a more moist better performing lather which allow for closer and of course less irritating shave. In essense, larger super tip = more flair tip = more water held = moist lather = better shave

Cost for these range from $55 to well over $800. The price difference is generally from different grade of bristle used, cost of handle materials and so forth. Supply and demand is also factor as well. Smaller manufacturers who "hand make" these tend to make them at lower volume and charge accordingly. Large manufacturers who employ more modern method employ more modern manufacturing methods can produce brushes more efficiently and consequently can sell them for less.

The issue here is, what are you buying, a badger bristle shaving brush or a status symbol? Think of auto manufacturers, why some sell $100,000.00 vehicles and others sell $8,000.00 respectively. Simply put, there is a buyer for every product.

What you as the buyer have to decide is what aspect of the brush is most important to you. A top quality brush that provides an exceptional shaving experience can be bought for around 100-200 by spending more than that you begin to enter into the question of diminishing returns regarding performance vs. cost. On the other hand, being able to tell your friends that you shave daily with an $800.00 shaving brush has its own value.

Most experienced brush users would agree in that you should buy the best brush your budget and your personal values will allow. One that you will never regret and the investment will repay you with a lifetime of superior quality enjoyable shaves.

I started out with Simpson B4 Pure Badger followed by Omega #21047 boar. The latter was more to my liking as it's nice short and compact. Not to say I dislike the Pure badger. It's just the 21047 is a lather monster to say the least. It's not scritchy, very soft on the face so long as it's been pre-soaked like I do with any brush.

I don't have any set brush for either soap or cream. I have brushes that vary from 18-28mm in badger and boar with few customs from Carbonsteel928 ( Mike ) which can be found HERE.

BTW Mike is local to you!

I've yet to go through them all as I've been using the #21047 as primary. However, soon I'll be using others in my rotation to change it up. It's indeed nice to have options.

Welcome aboard :beer:

From what i have read....The new Simpsons 2 band will fit your bill. Very soft tips with alot of backbone in the lower end.

A cheaper option would be a Semogue silvertip & a boar. Great brushes.

I only have one brush creams, soaps, whatever.

Semogue brushes rock! I have the 2000 boar hair model and find it just as soft as my C&E or col. conk badgers. The extra stiffness really comes in handy while lathering - the brush seems to do all the work.

Cheers!