I just looked there and noticed this: Rooney "Finest Badger Hair: The finest badger hair is picked from the back of a rare breed of a long haired species of badger, only found in more remote areas of China. This hair is alot more expensive as it is of a limited supply and consequently more expensive as a raw material." If they really use hair from a rare/endangered species wouldn't that be illegal?
Rare and endangered aren't the same thing. While some are rare, they aren't on the endangered list. So-called blue Chihuahuas in America are rare but they aren't endangered. No Chinese badger is endangered. Some shaving brushes sold in Europe are made illegally from an endangered species, European badger. I have several brushes made of American badger but they were made decades ago when badgers were unprotected in the U.S. Personally I think vintage American badger hair is superior to today's Chinese badger. Badgers are used as food in China. The hair is a bonus. There's a surplus of hair so most is just burned. The highest quality badger knots handmade in China sell for less than $20 wholesale or the hair alone sells for less than $5. The hair isn't the expensive part of a shaving brush — the name on the brush is the expensive part. Richard
Badger is certainly better than boar, but the price increase doesn't translate directly. I love my omega boar, and I can make lather just as good with it, as I can with some of my more exotic badger brushes. For me, using badger is more about how it feels on my face, and as a plus the badger handles are often higher quality and look nicer. I highly recommend an omega boar, or a crabtree and evelyn best badger brush. Both are inexpensive but very nice. I own both, and still use them. They present an excellent value, and should provide you an excellent base point for future judgment, or permanent use, all for less than a quality cologne.
I find it best to narrow it down to 3 types. Pure Best Finest or Silver tip Their is also a Super Finest. This looks very white at the tips and is very expensive (see Rooney). That being said their are many people that will say a Simpson Best is much different then a Edwin Jagger Best. If you are in the market for a new brush I suggest knowing what you can spend, have an idea of what you want a brush to do (flop vs dense, soft vs scratchy, big vs small etc.) and doing some review searching. If 100 People give a certain brush a 100% positive reviews then it may be the right brush. I have a felling that day will never come, people are very suggestive hence the term YMMV.
