EJ "Best" Black Badger???

So I'm considering a first step into badger brushes. I started out with a VDH boar which I still use on rare occasion. My go to is a horse hair brush that sold for about $3 new. It rocks. Much softer than the boar with better lather, but with good backbone. It is a good daily use brush with enough muscle to feel real good if I've skipped a day or two. More than that and I switch to a stiffer Horse Hair to get a good scrub and work the lather deep.

In a badger I'm looking for a softer more luxury feel, but not floppy. I use pucks...I haven't gotten into creams. I found an EJ brush listed as "Best Black Badger" that's comfortably within my price range, but I found conflicting reviews on the qualities of black badger brushes.

Anybody have any experience with the EJ Best Black? Or with Best Black vs. regular Black? I'm aware that for a little more I can get a "Best" that's not black, and I've found nothing but good about those, but am curious about the Best Black.

Thanks for your feedback.

Peace,
Jim

Hey Jim really can't tell you much about the EJ brush but I do remember hearing once before that people felt the EJ brush were good but overpriced. That was some years ago so may have changed.

I have a black badger that is a nice brush. It is good with pucks but I wouldn't say it gives that luxurious feel that it sounds like you are going for.

Something to think about is that for about 6-7 dollars more you can get a vulfix super badger. I have a 660s medium that I have used with every type of soap and it gives me that luxurious feel that I think you are going for.

I have read reviews of vulfix and some people feel all vulfix brush are floppy. I have not found this to be the case for me ymmv.

Because there are no standards in hair grading many terms mean little. usually the black brushes are pure badger which are very prickly. What most consider to be "best" badger are kind of like junior silvertips and tend to be a good compromise in price and quality.

I'm sure someone will come along who owns that brush and can give it to you from the badgers Mouth.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BigJim

So I'm considering a first step into badger brushes. I started out with a VDH boar which I still use on rare occasion. My go to is a horse hair brush that sold for about $3 new. It rocks. Much softer than the boar with better lather, but with good backbone. It is a good daily use brush with enough muscle to feel real good if I've skipped a day or two. More than that and I switch to a stiffer Horse Hair to get a good scrub and work the lather deep.

In a badger I'm looking for a softer more luxury feel, but not floppy. I use pucks...I haven't gotten into creams. I found an EJ brush listed as "Best Black Badger" that's comfortably within my price range, but I found conflicting reviews on the qualities of black badger brushes.

Anybody have any experience with the EJ Best Black? Or with Best Black vs. regular Black? I'm aware that for a little more I can get a "Best" that's not black, and I've found nothing but good about those, but am curious about the Best Black.

Thanks for your feedback.

Peace,
Jim

---

Black badger is too scritchy for me. My favorite badger knot is finest badger. It's stiff enough to work up a good lather and comfortable enough to feel real good when applied to your face.

Not getting a great deal of feedback I've continued shopping and ran across an Omega 636 Silvertip that's in my budget. I may end up going that route, though I like the handle on the EJ Best Black better.

Peace,
Jim

badger is like anything else as far as natural materials go,It is graded according to quality,be it leather,wood,wool.the list is endless,Black badger is the lowest Quality.
But in may work for you.To me it is like boar,which i do not like,and almost as bad as horse hair brushes,JMO,Do not buy any brush because of the way it looks.

I don't know about the omega 646 but I have the 599 about 50 dollars if I remember right and like it a lot it is probably my second most used brush behind my omega big pro boar

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

badger is like anything else as far as natural materials go,It is graded according to quality,be it leather,wood,wool.the list is endless,Black badger is the lowest Quality.
But in may work for you.To me it is like boar,which i do not like,and almost as bad as horse hair brushes,JMO,Do not buy any brush because of the way it looks.

---

I find it odd that the black would be the worst quality. It's marketed at a price point around the "Best Badger" level from brand to brand. You'd think if it was the worst quality it'd be cheaper than pure badger, but maybe that's marketing or fad? I don't know.

My old VDH boar is not exciting, but it gets the job done. My favorite is my #7 Horse Hair. Cheaper than dirt price wise, but a lot softer and better lathering than the boar. A $3 brush that's gone over a year of daily shaves so far with no noticeable wear.

At any rate, it sounds like the EJ is not the way to go for what I'm looking for at this point in time...(can I say that...did Glen copyright that? :hmmm: )

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Castel33

I don't know about the omega 646 but I have the 599 about 50 dollars if I remember right and like it a lot it is probably my second most used brush behind my omega big pro boar

---

Nearest I can tell the difference between a 636 and a 599, is the former is about 25% bigger than the latter. It's also about $5 cheaper. How does it compare to the boar you use regularly? Soft? Floppy?

Thanks,
Jim

The 599 is a lot softer but still has good backbone. Feels real good on the face.

I think a best badger brushe would do very well for you. it doesn't matter to much on the company. most best badger brushes to me at least have the same feeling as far as softness goes. hope it helps a bit. the EJ brush would be very prickley indeed. I owned one, I like it though, great for exfoliating the skin!

I am going to stick my neck out and say that if you want a silvertip badger brush with some backbone look at the SOC 2 band badger. It takes some breaking in to get all the softness going but it still retains more than enough backbone to eat up soap pucks and exfoliate your face. Price wise for a production 2 band badger it is a bargain IMHO.

Bob

Well, after reading reviews across the net and the feedback here I decided to go with this:
Attachment 120310
It's an EJ Best Badger that came in just under budget. From everything I've read this seems like a good middle ground badger that should fill the role I'm looking for now, and in the future I can go firmer or softer from there.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Peace,
Jim

I saw the topic today
I have a EJ Black Badger at 22mm
Not something great,very soft in comparison with other black badgers from TGN knots
I would not buying again, it's a little bit in the "soft" side with not too muck backbone.

SO I just saw this one...

This is my third post about the Semogue 620 tonight, so obviously I'm biased. I went to it from a EJ best badger (not the black) because I wanted more backbone, and from what I was reading, the 620 boar was the way to go. I was skeptical because I'd never used a boar brush before. Now that the tips are nice and split, it is actually softer than my old EJ BB but with infinitely more back bone. I left it at the in laws over Christmas and was distraught until I got it back.

Not sure if you've ever owned a pair of boots, but my 620 is like that to me. Once it's broken in, you'll become very attached to it, demanding that a knot of hog hair be overnighted to you lest your world end. You won't want to shave with anything else. Of course, it was exactly what I was looking for.

Anyway, the EJ BBB is a classic. Maybe the 620 will be under consideration for your next brush.

Hey, so I posted a comment on horse hair brushes and thought I'd do a follow up here.

I'm happy to have not gone the EJ Black Badger route. It may have been a great brush, but from the descriptions here and elsewhere online it would have been too firm to fill the role I was looking to fill.

Since February I've been using the EJ Best Badger (pictured above) almost daily. It's a great brush. It's just stiff enough to handle puck soaps (barely), with a perfect balance of soft vs. backbone to feel good on the face without being floppy.

I have some vintage badger brushes that are just floppy as can be. They might work well with creams, but they have no appeal to me. They just hang in the bathroom. I have a VDH boar (my first brush ever) that hangs with the vintage badgers because it's too stiff and doesn't compare with the lathering capabilities of my other brushes.

I have a good stiff bestshave.net No. 6 brush (horse hair) I use when removing beard because it stands up to my coarse whiskers. It's about as stiff as some of the good quality boar brushes I've encountered. Then I've got my old daily use No. 7 also from bestshave (also horse hair) which is stiff, but not scratchy. Handles puck soaps just fine. Lathers better than the No. 6 and is more comfortable with short stubble or daily shaves.

The EJ Best I picked up comes in right before the edge of floppy. It can handle puck soap, but with care. It's bristles are soft and comfortable even on the most sensitive areas of my neck. It will handle up to two day's growth, but more than that is a struggle and I prefer the No. 7 if I miss more than one day shaving. But it seems perfect for an every day puck or cream brush that's soft but not floppy.

FWIW!

Peace,
Jim