Thread: Soaps that offer samples

AndrewJM. I must admit, I don't have a great deal of experience as I just started wet shaving so please understand this is my perspective. I did a lot of research on what hardware to buy for my first kit. Badger brushes are universally regarded as the standard. My personality makes me question universal standards and I couldn't afford one of the better badger brushes so instead, I purchased the VDH set. For $14, it comes with a bowl, puck of soap and a molded, plastic handled boar brush. My research led me to believe that I shouldn't expect much but I was surprised! I found it easy to use. I can lather creams, hard soaps and soft soaps with equal ease. With about three months of use, it has broken in nicely and has become very soft. I can lather on the puck, in a bowl or on my face. Even though soft, it hasn't lost it's ability to lather hard soaps easily, which need some stiffness (I.e. backbone) in order to pick up the soap.

Thinking that I must be missing something, I picked up a pure badger brush. I find it much more scitchy on my face and more difficult to use with hard soaps, To top it off, it was much more expensive than my boar brush.

I did just recently purchase a Finest Badger knot from TGN and installed it in a vintage handle so I haven't given up on badger but since I spent $22 on the knot and $3 dollars on the handle, I can safely say that, even if I do like my reknotted brush, I don't think I would EVER be willing to spend $60 - $300+ for a commercial badget brush when I am perfectly happy with my boar.

thanks for the info... Im back to square one for the brush, as straight razor designs wont let me pay extra to choose a brush of my liking, and the one I was looking at is 150, which is very expensive, could have justified it as an upgrade price, but I dont think I can afford that for just a brush. Also now makes me reconsider which razor to go with (I have ordered cheap one from Larry) but want a better one as well. Its a shame SRD and Larry ship from overseas, I just want to get the razor already and start shaving At least Im not in a hurry for a good razor now as I will have Larry's to start and learn with.

Respectfully, I have to disagree that badger brushes are the "universally regarded standard". There are many, many excellent boar brushes and many, many people that use them exclusively.

With that said, if you want to try an excellent yet inexpensive silvertip badger brush, order one from Larry at Whipped Dog: $30 shipped. There is a lot of difference between pure badger and finest/best/or silvertip badger.

FYI-This is my 22mmx48mm Whipped Dog Silver Tip




FYI-This is my $9 Omega 10066 24mmx54mm boar brush. I use it frequently too.

While my statenent may seem a bit "absolute," to someone researching information in order to purchase their first brush, one is much more likely to find posts that praise one badger grade over another or how much (s)he loves their new gift of expensive badger. I would agree that one can find information on boar but it's usually along the vein of, "And my boar brush is fine, too." I'm not saying there aren't boar afficianados out there. I'm just saying that, to someone new to wer shaving, one has to look much harder to find them... and ther is certainly a huge price differential.

My point was to say that, if you look at market share, price and comments/reviews in shaving forums, I don't think boar gets appropriate recognition. That makes an newbie question it's usefulness. And as a newbie, I've found boar more than adequate. I almost find I prefer it.

Thanks vaplanman (sorry I do not know your name). I have emailed larry and asked to add the brush you recommended to my order. Will be a good starting point for a brush, but am still on the lookout for a nice travel brush (with metal handle / holder, not plastic). After I try the silvertip badger I will be in a better position to decide on the best travel brush to get.

Andrew