Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

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sean mac
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Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:51 pm
Location: western New York

Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

Post by sean mac »

Hello gentlemen,

I have a Rooney style 3 size 1 Super Badger shave brush that I purchase a number of years ago. I like the style and the size of this brush very much. However, as I have evolved as a wetshaver, I have come to the conclusion that I like a brush that has a bit more body to it. To a great extent this realization is the result of purchasing a Semogue 620 Boar brush. This brush is a great size and I really like both the way it feels on my face and the way that I can get a great lather from a variety of hard soaps.

I am curious how a Rooney Pure Badger brush would compare to my boar brush. Would the pure bristles provide a similar feel to the boar?

The reason that I ask this is because I am looking to replace my Rooney. Over the years it has developed a bit of a "whole" in its center. However, I love the way that this brush looks and the way that it fits on the brush holder in my bathroom. If possible, I would like to duplicate the feel of my boar brush with the look of my Rooney.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Sean
Produce great people, the rest follows.
- Elbert Hubbard
brothers
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Re: Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

Post by brothers »

Sean, is it the scritchyness you are interested in? My instinct is that it is such a subjective issue that the only way you can know is to start experimenting. In other words, get the Rooney Pure brush and see what happens? Maybe someone here has actually experienced this issue, and can comment with some authority. I have two pure badger brushes, and unless I use both a pure and a boar back to back and take notes, I admit I've never had reason to think about how a pure compares to a boar. Obviously they're different, but I'm only able to say the pure performs similarly to the other badgers, and boars will be boars!
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
CMur12
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Re: Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

Post by CMur12 »

Hi Sean -

I have the Rooney Style 1/Size 1 in Super Badger and the equivalent in Pure. These are roughly the same as the Style 3, except for the shape of the handle.

The Super is densely filled and it is very soft. The Pure is shorter-lofted and less full, looking stubby and smaller than the Super. Even so, of the two, my favorite was the Pure.

Pure Badger is thicker and has more backbone, so it doesn't need to be so densely packed, but it doesn't have tapered tips like Silvertip/Super and Best have, so it is pricklier. Rooney frays the tips of their Pure Badger in their standard line of brushes, but not in their Heritage line. This makes the ends a little less harsh to the skin. Boar soaks water into the bristle shaft and softens it; this doesn't happen with badger, which isn't softened when soaked.

I lather in a bowl and paint the finished lather onto my beard. I found the Rooney Pure Badger brush to be a very efficient latherer in a bowl and I experienced no prickliness using it to apply the lather to my beard. If you are face-lathering, you may experience this brush as harsh to the skin unless you have a pretty tough hide.

- Murray
ShadowsDad
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Re: Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

Post by ShadowsDad »

I don't think badger and boar can be compared in the same sentence; they are so different.

If you like boars, so be it. Go for it. Boar makes for a very nice brush. Despite what many folks think, after contacting water they are quite soft yet still have backbone. I like boars and have quite a few (a majority in fact; they're inexpensive).

If you like backbone you might also consider a horsehair brush, but even the better grades have a bit of scritch to them and boars after contacting water are quite soft after break in while still having backbone. Horse brushes don't seem to break in further to soften up. Or you might consider a latest version synthetic. The newest versions are really good, but they don't act, as it comes to handling water, anything like badger, even though they are intended to look like badger.

I use all 4 brush types and they all have their good points and failings. Each compared to the others, they all fail, but evaluated on their own they shine. I never thought that I would ever write anything good about synthetics.

Simpsons is about ready to come out with their Chubby2 synthetic. Keep your eyes open for it. I'll test one in a week or 2, no doubt it'll be released before I have my test brush in hand. I've heard nothing but positives, but synthetic shoudn't be compared to badger even though it looks like badger. It behaves entirely different with water. Anyway, the new Simpson has been getting very high marks from the evaluators. Simpsons trashed their first synthetics a few months ago on their own since the fibers didn't come up to their standards and came out with what's about to come.

FWIW, I find synthetics to have plenty of backbone and still be quite nice on the face. If I was starting today synthetics would be very high on my list for brushes. I would never have even considered writing just that a few years ago. Synthetics are really serious contenders today. I have no more badgers on my radar, but I have the Simpsons synthetic in my sights. I think I have close to as many synthetics in the cabinet as badgers and I never would have thought that would happen, todays synthetics are that good. Just don't dip the synthetic brush in water before touching it to soap. It isn't badger, it's different, it's really good.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
sean mac
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Location: western New York

Re: Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

Post by sean mac »

Thanks for your responses. I guess what I am really looking for is a brush with a good backbone to it -- something that will work its way into my tough whiskers. That Simpsons synthetic Chubby sounds really interesting - I will have to keep my eyes open for it. I am a face latherer, so I really don't want a brush that is prickly. I've not experienced that sensation at all with my Semoguge.

Fortunately, the brushes that I am interested in are not too expensive. When I first started wetshaving, what I wanted was a big, soft brush. Over the years, my taste has switched to a brush that is much smaller and denser. Perhaps in my next soap order I'll pick up a few brushes so that I can experiment a bit more myself.

Sean
Produce great people, the rest follows.
- Elbert Hubbard
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jww
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Re: Rooney Style 3 Size 1 - Pure vs. Badger

Post by jww »

Too many brushes, and not enough time or money to try them all.
Wendell

Resident Wool Fat Evangelist & anglophile. Have you hugged a sheep today?
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