What's trending on B&B?

Trending up:
The Cult of Arko
More and more of our shave brothers are being seduced by this organization.
Performance, price, and excellence.
Never underestimate the power of the little white stick.

I say Open combs and Single edge razors...both have Sub forums now thanks to Ken/Bluebishop and his twin brother Arley/Daneilplianview

Up: TFS, M&F brushes, Boar Brushes, Shave Sticks, Face Lathering, Ingredient Awareness (parabens, chemicals etc)

Down: MdC, MW, Scuttles, Fat Boys, Red Tip, Slants

these are not my personal feelings but what i've seen recently. i still love MdC and use my scuttle daily, but am starting to Face Lathe more recently, especially with soaps.

Up: Arko Stick

Down: Facebook Stock

Holding Steady for Eternity: Tabac!

Up: bashing Williams soap

pipskicks said:

Up: bashing Williams soap

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Wrong. This can never trend up, because it has already reached the summit.

It will also never trend down, because it's just too much fun.

Old Prohaska said:

Holding Steady for Eternity: Tabac!

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Damn right.

Trending up: Arko, MdC, Muhle R41, All OC Razors, Horse Hair Brushes
Trending down: The 3 T's, Proraso, MWF, Tabac, Merkur razors, Derby blades, Trumper's Skin Food

Back when I joined in 2008, the items in my "Trending down" list were pretty much all anyone could talk about.

Vlad said:

Trending up: Simpson Manchurian

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Thank goodness they weren't trending up last year at this time during my SBAD. I'd be in both the poor house and dog house.

Others Trending Up:
Semogues: After not liking one that I bought and sold 2 years ago, I bought another last month only to realize that I still don't like boar.
D.H. Harris Soaps: Enough chatter for me to buy 3 so far this year. Now waiting on the Windsor.

Trending Down:
Merkur 34: One of the most talked about 2-3 years ago when I joined. Been down for a while, but I still love my 34G.
Savile Row: not much chatter lately

Up: Mike's Natural Soap (why am I always the last to know?)

Down: Trumpers

straights!..seems like some DE users jumping to a new world..and the pro's are here to guide em safely

Boar to badger conversions are up.

Krona Kruiser said:

Boar to badger conversions are up.

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Seems like I've seen an awful lot of posts about boar brushes lately, an awful lot of comments from people who've recently bought one - or more, and some comments from people saying they've become fans of boars after using badgers for some time before trying or re-trying a boar brush.

jwilock said:

Seems like I've seen an awful lot of posts about boar brushes lately, an awful lot of comments from people who've recently bought one - or more, and some comments from people saying they've become fans of boars after using badgers for some time before trying or re-trying a boar brush.

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True. I guess SBAD is up in general. It seems like people are revisiting boars or upgrading to badgers.

i think slants are trending up. so much discussion of slants lately. tabac seems to be trending down. weber's kinda trending up, and muhle synthetics are almost certainly trending up.

Up: R41, Fatip, OC, SE, DR Harris Windsor, boar brushes, synthetic brushes

Down: Derby, Feather, No-spend May

R41 and OCs in general due to BOTOC, with Fatip getting an extra boost due to Maguire's Barbershop on eBay UK selling them. New SE group formed. DRH Windsor finally released. And there seems to be a resurgence in interest in non-badger brushes.

Fewer debates about Feather and Derby blades (arguably the sharpest and bluntest blades respectively).

Krona Kruiser said:

True. I guess SBAD is up in general. It seems like people are revisiting boars or upgrading to badgers.

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I would beg to differ with your use of the term 'upgrading'.

What I see trending is an awareness that Boars = Badgers, they are just different, and price has absolutely nothing to do with it at all. I reach for my silvertip badger when I grab my TOBS creams, I reach for an Omega when I grab a RazoRock soap. It's like grabbing for a pliers or a chisel, different tools, not a question of any upgrade. A well-broken in badger with RazoRock Artisan is as good as a silvertip with a cream. No upgrade about it.

Trending up: An awareness that Badgers and Boars are different but one does not dominate the other in any universal way

Trending up: An awareness of the exact same thing regarding tallow and veggie soaps. One is not better than the other, and good and bad examples run all up and down the soap food chain.

Trending up: Italian soft soaps in general. Thanks, in large part to Italian Barber

Trending down: Hard soaps in general. In addition to the Italians, there are a lot of U.S.-made soft soaps gaining ground.

But... but.... but..... badgers are MORE EXPENSIVE than boars, they MUST be better!

The pure badger brushes are so close in price ($10?) so I do think most people have tried badger, just maybe cheaper end or only pure maybe.

I do apologize. Upgrade in my book relates to more $. I do agree that a nice boar can be an upgrade as well.