SMF

I've been using a Beaufort B6 in Pure Badger since I moved house in 2022. A couple of days ago I discovered the box with the "display" brushes in that used to live on the top two shelves of shame, so I took out a Polo PL3 in Super Badger. What a difference! Thicker, stiffer lather from the same bowl of dried out Coates Special Edition cream. It took this rather prolonged experiment for me to see, suddenly, how Super Badger is different from Pure in usage. I may never go back.

The PL3 has gold stamping, so it is Vulfix made rather than Somerset.

Do you use pure badger brushes to face lather?

I preferred pure badger brushes to the silvertip varieties, in the past, for bowl-lathering. Used in this manner, there was no discomfort from using those brushes to apply lather after making it, but I would expect face-lathering with them to be very aggressive to the skin.

- Murray

I do, and I don't mind the slight scratchiness. But the Polo is a lot denser as well as softer, and I guess it's the increased density that makes it whip up the lather better. I shall have to go through some of the other brushes in that box, like the E3 Super and the CH2 Best (from the days when the cream-tipped Best hair was better than the Manchurian).

B6 Pure, E3 Super, PL6 Super, T4 Super, CH2 Manchurian, CH3 Best C.

This sounds like its going to be a fun experiment. Can't wait to read of your impressions.

I find I like when I rediscover something that I haven't used in a long time and get to try it all over again.

Good luck!

Chris

The pure badger brushes I used had stiff, black hair that interacted aggressively with skin for on-site lathering.

I didn't like any of the silvertip brushes I experienced until I happened upon those from Semogue, back in late 2008, as I recall.

Looking forward to reports on your other brushes, Chris.

- Murray

I used the CH2 Manchurian today. It reminds me of the big Shavemac brushes back when Bernd could get decent hair. So dense that there is no sensation of individual hairs, just a firm rubbery sensation. Not as soft as the old Simpson Best, nor their modern Super.

When did the Shavemac brushes have the quality you reference, Chris?

I have one that I bought around 2007, but I never used it much because I prefer fan-shaped brushes.

- Murray

In 2005 I bought a Shavemac 67 (maybe 167?) with a bulb shape. I still have it somewhere. Very dense and rubbery feel though not particularly soft. Bernd told me at the time he would not buy knots from China and used a European source. I don't know if that is still the case.

I don't think mine is that dense and it is quite soft at the tips, so apparently not the same. I haven't used it for years, though.

- Murray

I later bought another two copies of the brush to send on as gifts, but they had already changed to soft and silky hair.

Not knowing where that box of brushes is at the moment (probably up in the loft), I looked for an old picture and found this one from 2005 - it's not well focused.
The brush in question is on the right. The one on the left was a special order that was intended to have the same knot, but to have the handle length and shape of the 22368. Even then, later in 2005, the hair had changed and the custom brush was also soft and silky.