Let's start with some Somerset Simpson Chubby Bests.
The Best hair used in those days and in these brushes (a contemporary CH1 is a three-banded brown brush) was a slightly coarser grade of the Super hair also used in the bigger brushes, with a few light shafted hairs visible in the lower darker band. Solid stiff hair with an ever-so-slight scratch at the tips. The 1st and 3rd brushes from left to right have been used, and in the flesh have handles that are a rosy pink these days, quite different from brushes 2 and 4, which are ivory coloured.
All the photos below are Super hair.
The big guns:
The P8 is a modern Simfix, but the T4 and the PJ3 are pure Zummerzet. These three are my very best brushes - sheer pleasure to use. Soft tips, no scratch, easy lathering and pure sensual joy on the face. The two banded Simfix is every bit as good as the older brushes, and I shan't hold its acquaintance with some bleach against it.
The challengers:
A Rooney style 1, large, finest and two prototypes with the Olde Apothecary Shop brand (also sold as Morris & Forndran). The OAS in the middle is extremely dense, whilst the Rooney is a little looser, and the OAS on the right has a Kent-like degree of airiness. It was the stinkiest brush I have ever tamed. The first two are right up there with the big Simpsons, with just a little more softness at the tips and a little more flex in the shafts.
Juniors:
A Somerset E3, and Simfix era Colonel XL2, 57/Douglas, and a Grosvenor. I can't tell if there is any difference between the last three except for handle shape; they are as near as makes no difference in knot size and loft, and all have high grade hair. You can see how the tips of the E3 are slightly yellow - partly through use and partly because they were not bleached. I think the others were. The Grosvenor is barely over half the price of the 57, and is essentially the same in use, but doesn't have the Simpson sticker. It would be my entry for the 'best brush under $100' thread. Both the 57 and the Grosvenor are still available through Phil at Bullgoose.
Ich Bin Ein Auslander:
Two Shavemac D01 two bands, with 24mm and 26mm knots. The densest of all the brushes, these two concede nothing to the Simpsons in use. I prefer the Simpson shapes in the handles, and I prefer the look of a bulb shape rather than a fan (I thought I ordered bulb but this is what came - no matter they are good). More expensive than the Grosvenor, but bigger knots, a little longer loft, and considerably more densely packed. Apparently there are no restrictions on supply at present. I don't know how Bernd got his hands on a large supply of this hair these days, but I doubt if it will remain available for ever.
So what am I doing showing you these goodies when I have been using an Omega boar brush for two years? There is no doubt that it is easier to make a lather with tiny bubbles in it with a badger brush, and such a lather is more like a stiff foam than the creamy lather with fewer and larger bubbles that comes from a boar brush. I prefer the badger lather. My conscience worries about the sustainability of the badger population in China, where wild badgers are trapped rather than bred in fur farms. So, like Lancelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, I have an angel on one shoulder and a demon on the other. I'm human. Forgive me.
Chris
