Thread: Where do I shop for the best deals on quality brushes??

Alright, with the WHERE part out of the way, what are people's opinions on the different varieties of badger hair? Is there a 'substantial' difference between the 'fine' badger hair or the black compared to a 100% silvertip brush?????????

I'm so lost

Thanks JBHoren! You and I were clearly writing at the same time!!!

Brooksie, While I agree w/ TBS and Ryan, I was most helped by JBHoren - thank you!

I'm not at all comfortable w/ the 'dive in and takes your chances' approach. All it does is encourage each other to blow money. Repeatedly. So how we lather, soaps/creams we use would seem relevant. Bowl, scuttle, face-lather? Hard french soaps or soft creams?

As a generalization, the badgers are ALOT better at holding water and making less mess while face-lathering. That is a nice convenience. Boar lovers will talk about backbone - stiffness of the bristles, but more than one very experienced shaver has mentioned they have badgers with more backbone than the boars they tried. The stiff, scritchy boar will serve well for the guy that uses hard soaps and face-lathers. For new production boar, the Semogue 620 is as good as I've tried. You can read Obie's review on it. My older brushes seem more stout in backbone. How a brush feels dry has little relation to how it feels wet.

In badgers, I'm not qualified to speak, but it would help guys aim their comments better if you talk a little about how you lather and what kinds of soaps/creams you use, and if you love scritchy or floppy feather duster feel on your face. Jimmyhad once mentioned having some badgers that had serious backbone, and if I were to buy - I'd ask him and degeingail (sp) - who makes brushes, what he'd recommend for the kind of lathering you like best.

I'm just a cheapskate on brushes. I can't make peace w/ the badger prices, so I enjoy the better boars and some older boars.

You may find some help on Fido's blog - Brushes - mostly badgers are his thing. This is the link of his pics for best buys.
Fido's Shaving Brush Blog: Best buys

In response to your questions, there is a noticeable difference between a boar and badger. I like them both. A badger feels more luxurious on your face, holds more water, and retains more heat. You will know what I mean the first time you use one. I recommend a fine or silvertip if you really want a brush that is materially different from a boar. Good luck!

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.

Originally Posted by bharner

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.

LOL! I think I'll have to try one of these JUST because of your detailed description!

I've got a Franks Shaving Silvertip and a Best Badger.
I actually prefer the silvertip (my most recent aquisition), however, the best has served me well for the past year or so.
IIRC the best was around $32 delivered and the silvertip around $42.
Great value I reckon

Try Classic Shaving, or Fendrihan (which is Canadian). As for not going in debt, this might be an issue, as they can get quite expensive. (I don't want to list prices because they vary so much depending on the brand name). Browse around, there's plenty to choose from. I have a Vulfix Super Badger that was priced decent from Fendrihan.

Originally Posted by brooksie967

LOL! I think I'll have to try one of these JUST because of your detailed description!

For the money, the Thater's are the best bargain for a top quality brush out there in my opinion. Good backbone and soft tips especially in the bulb that provides simply a great lather every day. Whether you face lather or bowl lather, these brushes are awesome.

Have fun

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.