Thank you for the information, John. I am very pleased with the brush and have been using it pretty much everyday. Being a newbie I am no expert on anything, let alone brushes. I have 3 others but the Hans Baier is full and soft but not at all floppy (backbone?). It's larger than my others, both the handle and the brush. It feels good and I expect to get a lot of use from it tho...I have no doubt it is not my last brush.