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New brush recommendations
- Thread starter eggbert
- Start date
Yeah, it is a bit. But previously they only had the 27mm knot from Omega. They do actually stock a 22mm too but that, similar to the 27mm has a plastic cup which is a bit of a pain unless in the unlikely event, it fits exactly in the handle. Not sure why they can't just make the whole range without the daft cup but I guess that'll happen. No need to worry about bristle classification provided they don't start with the two band staining. A boar's a boar's a boar knot. Having said that there are knots that were made from random bristles which have a portion of cut hair at the business end. Even then, after enduring a large number of rough latherings, it'll settle in as the ends (the cut ones too) will split and soften. At present my only boar brush is a cheap Vulfix drugstore boar which was torture for a while. Like the drooling banjo one I gave you. Rough as guts. If you had persisted instead of trying to PIF it away and subsequently give it to landfill, it would have been a nice brush. You can lead a horse to water......
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Indeed I do.
SO TGN's High Mountain Whites would also be nonsensical classification that sounds sexy, so they can justify a sexy price ?
Not sure if boar would be too abrasive in the long run is my main sticking point.
Well I do think they genuinely try and select hair grades, which is an added cost of course, but it's all very supplier specific. A Simmo Best is a Finest somewhere else, a Manchurian would be called a Plisson High Mountain etc etc. In other words there is no agreed standard of what constitutes badger hair. If you're going to buy a knot from TGN I would recommend you try and find one which specifies extra hair. For instance: http://thegoldennib.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_43&products_id=813 They can be a bit lean on their densities sometimes. Oh and don't be shy to sink it a bit deeper than you'd like it to be from a purely visual point of view. I've tried most of their knots, admittedly not the Virgin High Mountain Manchurian Super Finest Three Band or whatever they like to call their high end stuff, and have not really been disappointed. They've got the biggest selection of knots at a generally affordable price. By the way if you liked your Semogue boar, another decent boar knot is not going to be more abrasive in the long run. It might be in the short run but they do become softer over time.
Personally in terms of performance I haven't experienced that much of a difference between one badger and the next. Sure, some are a bit softer but even a pure badger, if you don't mind the scritch, makes and distributes lather as good as any of them.
High Mountain White isn't a nonsensical classification, but it isn't an indicator of high quality either. It's an indication of two things:
1. The species of badger that the hair is taken from and;
2. The location on the badger itself that the hair was taken from.
HMW is taken from a very small patch on the neck of a Chinese badger. It's rare, so it has a high price. Because of the rarity and price, some people value it more highly than other grades. Is it better than silvertip or super? I don't know, because that depends on how it's treated, who makes it into a knot, etc. Because most manufacturers of brushes have their own sources for badger hair, it's hard to compare them. For example, Rooney Finest and Plisson High Mountain White probably come from the same species of badger, but they're not sourced or treated the same way, so how can they be compared?
It's the same with Manchurian, Super, Silvertip, etc. There is less of these hair grades on each individual badger, so they're more expensive and have that perception of 'exclusiveness'. Different manufacturers have different sources and production techniques too. That's why my Frank Shaving 'Manchurian' cost $20 from eBay, as opposed to a Simpson Manchurian which might cost $250-300. Are they even the same hair? I doubt it, but they probably come from the same species of badger. The best you should expect from grades of hair is a basic understanding of where it came from, and maybe some general characteristics of the hair type.
Omega boar is the same grade all the damn time, and it softens up pretty quick. You'd be unlucky to find it abrasive. Exfoliating but soft is a better way to describe it.
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Which only makes it harder to come by, so they say. I think the high end hair biz is bollocks. High Mountain White is what the blokes at Plisson are sticking up their nose to come up with the idea of a $400+ brush with a really fancy handle.
Boar is soft when broken in, and that take a week or two. Simmos Best is exceptionally good, but you really only feel the true quality in the stuffed brushes in the $100+ category, which to some people is already outrageous.
As you say, some people will pay for marketing and perceived exclusivity. There can't be that many of these customers, so the really pricey brushes are therefore, really pricey.
