I'm interested in the Rooney 3/1 and I use soaps exclusively (Tabac). What grade of badger do you recommend? Replacing an old Vulfix 404 in pure badger. Thanks
The Rooney 3/1 in Super is plenty dense enough to abuse your soaps yet soft enough to make for a comfortable lathering. At that price point it's tough to beat.
Yes, Super Silvertip is often just called Super. There is also Genuine Silvertip. The tips are a little greyer than Super, but they feel just as soft and are $10 less.
Those Rooney in Finest are really nice but expensive and I don't think they are being made anymore, hence they will demand a high premium used.
3-1 or 1-1 Super, hard to go wrong with either one. The Finest is a great brush but the Super is so close the difference is subtle at best.
Ended up ordering a 1/1 Super. After looking at the various styles, I went for the shorter loft as I use soaps exclusively and mostly face lather. My current go to brush is a Vulfix 374, which is 20mm with 47mm loft. I wanted something around 22mm to supplement the Vulfix. I plan to continue using my Vulfix, which is an excellent brush. I owned other Vulfix brushes over the years and have been pleased with them all. But after reading all the excellent reports on the Rooney brushes, I wanted to try something different. (I did try a Shavemac, but did not like it). Thanks for all the excellent suggestions.
My Rooney 1/1 came in about a week ago and I've been using it since. For the way I lather, this is a terrific brush. I combine bowl and face lathering. I start things going in the bowl, but do my serious lathering on my face, at least for the first pass (45 years of face lathering is hard to give up). This brush is small, the way I like a brush. It's got plenty of backbone, yet soft and gentle tips -- great for face-lathering from lather built from a soap. It's only a week old, but each shave improves the character of this very nice brush. Thanks to all in this thread for suggestions and support.
My latest 3/1 Super is very different to my other two, so be careful, there seems a lot of variation in the Rooneys. Mine is 52mm loft and so pillowy-soft I wouldn't call it a soap brush. My first two were far stiffer, and the first was the densest of them all. John