I recently acquired a silvertip badger hair brush from whippeddog after using a "classic brand" brush for the last couple of months since I started wetshaving (http://www.classicshaving.com/catalog/item/7233684/9574994.htm) I abused the old brush with my newbie habits and lack of knowledge of its maintenance, and it eventually started shedding too much to use with comfort, which was the reason for the acquisition of the new brush. I have discovered with the silvertip, however, that the same amount of shaving cream does not create the same amount of lather that the old brush did -I find I have to add almost twice as much as I used to for enough lather to complete my four pass shave. Is there a reason for this? Does the brush take in more of the cream or something, or am I doing something wrong?
No. Silvertips and the various even higher end badger hairs accept and retain more product (lather) than the lower end hairs which are harder and do not accept as much. So when you use a lower end set of hairs, more lather is kept out that hair has versus the higher end hairs so you use less product. Now synthetics because they are even harder still and no product enters into the fiber, is the most efficient at generating lather with the same amount of product. After all of that I will simply say, you are using more product but enjoying the experience more.
I've been using this paint brush for shaving and man..does it ever churn out the suds. No but what Gary is saying is true, because of it's softness, higher end Badger does tend to produce more product...
Liam, I don't think it was you at all. I purchased that same brush from Classic Shaving. It is a wonderful looking brush and it worked very well for me for about three months. Then it started to shed and I stopped using it. Now, if I grab a few hairs and lightly tug the hairs come out. I suspect whatever was used to secure the knot is substandard. I did not abuse this brush. The brush is now on my fly tying table. I plan to use the hairs for tails, parachute posts, and whatever else I can think of. Eventually I'll purchase a knot for the handle. Alas, it is still a beautiful looking brush.
There is also density. Silvertips tend to be more dense from most places, and the higher density a knot is, the more of a lather hog it is - IE for a Chubby 2 in best badger you need to load 2-3x as much soap or cream. You can always gently squeeze the knot to coax some of it out and continue mixing, that does help a bit even though it can be messy.
