Revenge of the Badger

[Firemonkey]

I've got several badger brushes, but it's been probably 4-5 years since I bought a new one. I ordered a Chubby 2 in two band from Simpsons, and it arrived today.

Open the box... angels sing because its beautiful... check the knot shape... feel the backbone in my hand... give it a sniff... Smells clean!

...feel the backbone on my cheek (Dry)... ok, lets see what this thing smells like wet... Yep, wet dog.

...ok, thats expected, I'll just lather it a little... And behold what came dripping out of it:

The sink is bright white - any discoloration in the pictures was from the mucky lather that slid down the drain while I went to get my phone to take the picture.

I could hear that badger over my shoulder, rolling in laughter, all four paws gesturing with a single erect digit. I could try to convince myself that all that brown is just dust that collected on the shelf at the progress/simpsons brushworks, since this was a limited edition made for their 100th anniversary - which at this point was 5 years ago. But I'm pretty sure thats not what it was

I had the last laugh though... After a couple washes/short soaks with Dawn dish soap, and 4-5 hand lathers with various shave soaps, it's beautiful, clean, smelling great, and ready for tomorrow. Bonus: Lost a total of zero hairs during this cleaning process.

 

[emwolf]

love the handle color!

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I have never experienced anything like this from a Simpson brush, and I have owned plenty of them, brand new, used, and vintage. That said, I have only ever purchased Simpson Manchurian, Super, Best, and Pure; but never SiLVERTiP; I think that might explain it.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

It’s two-band hair. It comes from the area around the badger’s arse, and perhaps partly from inside it. You should get three-band silvertips, which are nice hair from the badger’s neck.

 

[Firemonkey]

It’s two-band hair. It comes from the area around the badger’s arse, and perhaps partly from inside it. You should get three-band silvertips, which are nice hair from the badger’s neck.

I really wanted the orange handle, and this is what it happened to have in it. Otherwise, I probably would've gone super or best.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

I really wanted the orange handle, and this is what it happened to have in it. Otherwise, I probably would've gone super or best.

I do like my Super hair Simpsons brushes very much. Don’t take my comment too literally, by the way. I’m exaggerating and in a silly mood today. Many perfectly rational people won’t use anything other than two-band badgers. And you got a glorious handle there, with the perfect bowl to match it.

 

[Chef455]

I'm perplexed. I'll cut to the chase. Are you saying that's badger poo? I am at a loss as to where to go after asking that question. Happy shaves?

 

[Mr. Shavington]

I'm perplexed. I'll cut to the chase. Are you saying that's badger poo? I am at a loss as to where to go after asking that question. Happy shaves?

No. I apologise for my silly remark. I’m sure there’s no poo.

 

[Firemonkey]

I'm perplexed. I'll cut to the chase. Are you saying that's badger poo? I am at a loss as to where to go after asking that question. Happy shaves?

Im explicitly NOT saying that, because if I did I might not ever be comfortable rubbing this brush all over my face! I'm already trying to forget that I put it on my cheek while it was dry. I don't know what it was, and I didn't send a sample to the lab, but I am definitely questioning all those claims of hair being sanitized before use!

Weird that it had no smell when dry, though. But it was noticeably stiffer... but they all are when new - they just dont all give up that kind of <something> when you lather them the first time.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Could be one of these Chinese made knots they use sometimes. One guy here reported the knot falling out of his and it looked totally like the Chinese knots typical glue plug, there is a whole thread here in the brush forum. I also have one of the silvertips, but don't recall it being dirty or smelling, but it also never lost a hair. It is also a not typical bulb shape they do not do, mine is also a nice shaped bulb. Mine works fine, and I hope yours will too.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Could be one of these Chinese made knots they use sometimes. One guy here reported the knot falling out of his and it looked totally like the Chinese knots typical glue plug, there is a whole thread here in the brush forum. I also have one of the silvertips, but don't recall it being dirty or smelling, but it also never lost a hair. It is also a not typical bulb shape they do not do, mine is also a nice shaped bulb. Mine works fine, and I hope yours will too.

The hair would be China-sourced anyway, wouldn’t it? I don’t know anything about the industry but badgers are a protected species in the UK and I would assume Simpsons can’t source the hair here.

Incidentally, where I live (in Buckinghamshire, England) there are dead badgers everywhere. I usually see half a dozen by the side of the roads if I take a half hour drive. I guess the population has exploded since they became protected. I suppose it is legal to take badgers that are already dead and I could probably supply Simpsons if it wasn’t so gross to pick them up.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I have an Oumo silvertip that rinsed out like that when new. Smelled kind of like road dust... like from a gravel road.

Nice looking brush!

 

[Rudy Vey]

The hair would be China-sourced anyway, wouldn’t it? I don’t know anything about the industry but badgers are a protected species in the UK and I would assume Simpsons can’t source the hair here.

Incidentally, where I live (in Buckinghamshire, England) there are dead badgers everywhere. I usually see half a dozen by the side of the roads if I take a half hour drive. I guess the population has exploded since they became protected. I suppose it is legal to take badgers that are already dead and I could probably supply Simpsons if it wasn’t so gross to pick them up.

All badger hair to my knowledge comes from China, but this was clearly not a Chubby knot made by Simpson: these have a very long "plug" and sit often 22 or more mm inside the handle, plus have two string ties. I have restored quite a few to know how the knots normally look, the one in question was clearly not such a knot. If I just could remember who posted it and when exactly it was, maybe in 2022.

 

[Chef455]

Im explicitly NOT saying that, because if I did I might not ever be comfortable rubbing this brush all over my face! I'm already trying to forget that I put it on my cheek while it was dry. I don't know what it was, and I didn't send a sample to the lab, but I am definitely questioning all those claims of hair being sanitized before use!

Weird that it had no smell when dry, though. But it was noticeably stiffer... but they all are when new - they just dont all give up that kind of <something> when you lather them the first time.

Phew. Apologies for my misinterpretation and thanks for your clarification. Looks nice in the pics. Carry on. Nothing to see here.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Here is the link to the brush I referred to in one of my post:

Simpson Quality

Used this CH2 silvertip maybe 6 times since I ordered direct from Simpson around Christmas time. The knot is half unglued. Never put into scalding hot water. Pretty bummed it has to go back over the pond. Ive never had this happen with another quality brush.

www.badgerandblade.com

If you go to my post 140 you see how a typical, in house made Simpson CH2 knot should look like.

 

[Proper Irish]

My Zenith Manchurian badger brush had a little dark water and wet dog smell the first time it got wet. None after that.
Didn‘t seem like a big deal

 

[Omega48]

Could be one of these Chinese made knots they use sometimes. One guy here reported the knot falling out of his and it looked totally like the Chinese knots typical glue plug, there is a whole thread here in the brush forum. I also have one of the silvertips, but don't recall it being dirty or smelling, but it also never lost a hair. It is also a not typical bulb shape they do not do, mine is also a nice shaped bulb. Mine works fine, and I hope yours will too.

Last year year I purchased several Simpson and Shavemac brushes and I had the same experience as described by the OP with both brands, with the only exception if I remember correctly, of one brush from Shavemac, the last one. Those were the first brushes I had ever purchased from both brands so I cannot say anything about previous productions, however I was quite surprised about the fact that I had to soak and wash them with soap two or three times before getting rid of the dark water. Some still colored the lather the first and second time I used them with shaving soap. Since it happened with both brands I thought that it was normal with high quality brushes. I just cleaned them well and started using them.
It had not happened before with other brands and more recently with Maggard's knots (which I quite sure are made in China) or Zenith brushes (actually the brushes from Zenith even had very little "animal' scent, almost not perceivable).

 

[Firemonkey]

After checking out the thread Rudy Vey linked, and seeing his cutaway chubby2, I decided to probe around the edge of the knot on mine with a needle.

I’m pretty sure the glue plug is about 1/4” under the rim, and on one side it feels like the needle goes all the way down to the bottom of the bore - which is about half as far as the cutaway.

I’m beginning to think this a Chinese outsourced knot, which would be disappointing considering I paid the Simpsons premium expecting a tied knot, handmade in Great Britain.

 

[Firemonkey]

and on one side it feels like the needle goes all the way down to the bottom of the bore - which is about half as far as the cutaway.

It's set 1/2" deep (12-13mm)

 

[ZeelandsRoem]

Could be one of these Chinese made knots they use sometimes

If they sometimes use these Chinese knots on their premium brushes, then I think we could assume they use them on their whole lineup.