Re: Where do I shop for the best deals on quality brushes??
Badger definitely holds more water but I've got boar brushes that are softer than some badger brushes I've had.
I also have a badger brush with more backbone than than most of my boar brushes. I won't even talk about my synthetic from L'Occitaine other than to say it is amazing for a compact travel brush.
If you don't want to break the bank figuring out what you like but still want to try different things I'd suggest picking up an Omega 1099 ("The Professional" is how mine was marked when I bought it for 16 bucks at the local barber supply shop). It's a great boar brush that has decent backbone but is nice and soft and has a very short break in period. If you want to try a Badger get a Frank Shaving brush (eBay or Star Shaving). Pick a grade of badger (I'd suggest a middle grade) and give it a whirl. I paid maybe $26 for mine. That gives you two decent brushes for less than $50. The Frank brush I have is soft as heck and holds a lot of water. Doesn't have as much backbone as I like but I'm glad I didn't spend $100 to find out.
I ended up with a Thater two band with a bulb shaped head. It's like a babies butt had a baby with a kitten and a cloud and somehow has enough backbone to stand up to my coarse beard.
I don't use the Frank as much these days but I still pull out the Omega pretty regularly. If the knot had less loft I would be in heaven with it. The advantage of buying a couple of brushes of middling quality is you can find out what you like and dislike without breaking the bank. Then you can break the bank on a great brush that is exactly what you like.
Also, I keep meaning to try out a horse hair brush. But that's a story for another day.
Where do I shop for the best deals on quality brushes??
As it has not been mentioned and I forgot to mention it myself if you can find it at your local target the Shea moisturizer badger brush is a good pure badger brush that is really low cost.
It's a bit on the floppy side so it will contrast your boar pretty good and give you a good idea of where you want a more expensive brush to be at.