What would you get as your first badger?

LathaLife

LathaLife

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Right so If you could go back in time and buy your first badger brush all over again. Armed the information you have gathered over the years. What would you pick?

I spent a lot of time and money on razors. found what I like and what a don't like. Now I am about to go down that same road with badger brushes.

I have only used boar and synthetic I enjoy boar don't enjoy synthetic. I'm probably going to buy a Semouge OC two band or a Simpsons Duke 3. Just figured I'd see what people who have been down the badger brush road have to say about what they have found works for them.
 
Personally, I've never owned a 'top end' badger brush. The best one I own is a Gentleman's Tonic Super Badger that I got for £21 on ebay! I have a TOBS Pure, which is excellent and a couple of vintage ones, brands unknown that perform very well. Like yourself, I'll probably go down a shaving brush road of discovery but so far, I've spent very little but have some brilliant brushes.
 
SOC 2-band would be my choice, I've never had a Simpson. The SOC is a giant killer of a brush, great handle, great knot & a loft/shape the seems just so for soaps, cream, bowl or face lathering. It does it all brilliantly.
Last night I made up some borax solution & was giving my badger brushes a quick spa treatment here they are:
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L-R Shavemac D01 26/54 bulb, Cadman Finest 27/48 bulb, Shavemac Unique 26/52 Fan, SOC 2-band.
By coincidence it got me thinking what a great brush the semogue is, SOC & Shavemac D01 are without doubt the stars of the show.
 
+1 on the SOC 2B followed by the Maseto 24mm 2B...the SOC has a knot you will probably appreciate the more you use and compare with others. The nuances of the knot shine through the more knots you experience. The Maseto is more dense than the SOC, is more weighty in the hand and has a different face feel. The Maseto feels smoother/softer on the face but with less feel for each individual bristle/hair that the SOC will give you. The SOC has better flow through straight out of the box but the Maseto's flow through is still good albeit after some usage. I tend to use more product with the Maseto than I do with the SOC to create the same amount of lather. I also have the Simpson Duke in best, which feels again a tad smoother on the face than the Maseto; more akin to rubber than hair; I find Simpson brushes fragile, poor value for money and alas my Duke became a shedder...
 
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I like SOC because of the face feel, it is not a soft cloud of lather feel but a typical 2-band robust feel. And not a single hair lost even though I am rather heavy handed lathering. Only downside I can think of is the handle pictured in cherry sometimes when delivired is not really looking like cherry.
 
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I've owned both the SOC 2-band and the Duke3 and I wouldn't recommend either to a novice badger brush user. I found both these brushes to be too dense and to have too much backbone for my liking and sold them. In the Simpson line I'd recommend the Colonel X2L with a best badger knot. I've owned over 40 brushes, mainly badgers, in my 50 years of shaving and would say that the Colonel is one of the best all-round brushes on the market in terms of quality, performance and price. In terms of softness, density and backbone it is right in the centre and thus would be a good entry point to the world of badgerbrushes. You might consider also a shavemac brush with a finest badger knot, which I believe more than competes with the Simpson best badger. One of the advantages of buying shavemac is that you can customise your brush with respect to grade of badger, knot shape, knot size (diameter and loft), handle style and handle colour. Surprisingly, I've found both shavemac's and Simpson's pure badger knots to be soft and not all scratchy/prickly. In general, pure badger gets little love, but I think the shavemac and Simpson hair are wrongly overlooked.
 
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If you have no idea what kind of face feel you are after start with one of these from Vigshaving. It is not the prettiest and handle is small but knot got nice instant bloom Kaboom-style and will give you a finest two-band feel and it is dirt cheap. (currently 22.88 dollars but I think that is just a temporary price hike to accomodate for an anniversary 40% sale starting soon at 13.73 dollars)
 
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Nisse said:
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If you have no idea what kind of face feel you are after start with one of these from Vigshaving. It is not the prettiest and handle is small but knot got nice instant bloom Kaboom-style and will give you a finest two-band feel and it is dirt cheap. (currently 22.88 dollars but I think that is just a temporary price hike to accomodate for an anniversary 40% sale starting soon at 13.73 dollars)
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Exactly this. I have the 2band and the Silvertip. Both great, but prefer the 2band. Still, one came at 13€, and the other at 18€. Unbeatable price/quality for me.

Although I have to admit, the SOC is in another league.
 
Thanks for your thoughts everyone. You will probably see me fall down the badger brush rabbit hole. Right now I am looking at Zenith brushes and a bunch of them look good
 
Another SOC fan here, amazing knot.

But... What no on else has mentioned is the excellent handle.
IMO, it's the best handle ever.

I have the SOC handled badger, boar and the 2012 se mixed knot.

I will be getting rid of my Masetos soon, as the SOC's are the only brushes I need.
 
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