I've found that I prefer a VERY stiff brush. My cheap Van Der Hagen boar hair brush still wasn't stiff enough so tied nylon twine around the base of the bristles and wound it around building up about an inch up the bristles, tied it off then melted the twine knot in place. The bristles are nice and stiff and I can now work the lather in and finess the whiskers to stand up better.

Jim