Opinion: Best Brush for the Money, Best Value, Best Bang for the Buck?

[little Big feather]

I go with the BK-8....

[Samjax]

I think for bowl lathering an Omega 48 or 49 should also be considered. The more you use them, the better they get...and they are certainly inexpensive. In regards to a fairly affordable badger that will never disappoint you - the Semogue SOC 2 Band certainly won't let you down.

[takeshi]

So please help me out best bang for the buck on brushes? I understand brushes are like whiskey, automobiles, and woman, its all about taste, but I could use a starting point.

As with any subjective/YMMV you need to give us information on you if you want recommendations. You're going about it backwards. You need to specify your budget. You need to tell us what you've used. You need to tell us what you've like and what you haven't liked. You need to tell us the direction you want to head in. Best and value are always highly subjective so you can't just ask others as you have no idea if the next person's notion of "best" and "value" are in line with your own unless you can understand the why behind the person's decision making.

Randomly polling people isn't the way to get the answer you're looking for and, additionally, there's no way to apply objective analysis to subjective matters. What one person considers "lather quality of X%" from a brush may be what one person considers to be "lather quality of Y%" from the same brush. Further, "lather quality" isn't the only thing to consider by a long shot. Yet further, even "lather quality" relies on technique and not just the brush.

If you haven't read this thread (should be stickied) then take a look and consider the questions posed as well as anything else that would help others to make recommendations for you:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...ecommendations

Brush selection -- even among "best value" options -- is highly YMMV like anything else here. There are no one-size-fits-all options so we need your help in getting you to a starting point.

[bastimret]

Get a good boar and a badger and see which you end up liking. Go with any well loved Semogue for the boar, 1305 or the 1460 are great lower cost options, but the SOC should be your target IMHO. As for the badger, the Whipped Dog Silvertip is an awesome value for the $.

[Face&Head]

99 percent of badgers want you to buy a boar brush and the other 1 percent think you'd be happy with horse hair.

[TonyJ]

I have $130 thäter silvertip, $70 Edwin Jagger real horn handle silvertip and $37 Lijun silvertip. That EJ was a real bargain because it was on sale due to minor cosmethic matter. I can hardly see anything wrong on it. I love all those silvertips and other brushes what I have. But still when thinking about best bang for the buck the clear winner is for sure $37 Lijun. Like said I love other brushes too but they are absolutely NOT twice or third times better than Lijun. Is my $13 tweezerman a real bargain against the Lijun? Absolutely no, because it's a pure badger not a silvertip and it is much smaller brush. I like to travel with tweezerman, not a thief magnet and still get the job done.

[xraygun]

Just order the size 16 HMW Plisson and be done with it for a while. WAAY cheaper. Every time someone blabs about a new wonderful whatzit, you can just stare at it again.

[Loric]

Just order the size 16 HMW Plisson and be done with it for a while. WAAY cheaper. Every time someone blabs about a new wonderful whatzit, you can just stare at it again.

I'm not sure if Plisson is the best value for the dollar... probably a good brush, but its not what he is after.

[Predict]

Omega mighty midget. $13 after that both semogue SOCs

[xraygun]

I'm not sure if Plisson is the best value for the dollar... probably a good brush, but its not what he is after.

If you don't own one I don't think you understand the savings over buying a crapload of brushes searching. No offense intended.

[Loric]

If you don't own one I don't think you understand the savings over buying a crapload of brushes searching. No offense intended.

That brush is clearly not tuned for how I shave. Plus there is always BST, so your never out all that much money anyway. At least assuming you rotate them out on BST as you zero in on how you want your forever brush(s) tuned.

Not to mention the fact that if along the way you find out that the perfect brush for you happens to cost less than $500, then your still ahead of the game.

[xraygun]

That brush is clearly not tuned for how I shave. Plus there is always BST, so your never out all that much money anyway. At least assuming you rotate them out on BST as you zero in on how you want your forever brush(s) tuned.

Not to mention the fact that if along the way you find out that the perfect brush for you happens to cost less than $500, then your still ahead of the game.

I have to ask, why in your expert opinion isn't that brush "tuned" for how you shave? I'm interested in your expert reasoning on that particular.

[Loric]

There is no 24mm x 62mm brush that has the backbone I expect. Even with the backbone of Rooney Finest, Shavemac D01, or H.I.S. I'v never found a brush that would suite me with that kind of loft. My 30mm brushes dont even see that kind of height. It might very well be the perfect brush for you (and I hope it is) but its not something that would get much use in my rotation.

Plus, the OP was looking to spend $15 or $25 (maybe $75), I think $500 is clearly out of the range that he was asking for.

[SliceOfLife]

I had a plisson EW 10(Possibly a HMW, but I believe just a EW). The hair was nice, but honestly, it was beat in every way shape and form (except handle, it was a nice horn handle) by the Rooney XL's I had around the same time. I wound up selling it for <$100 if memory serves... the Rooneys (I think I had 2) sold for their MSRP minus a very small (cause I'm nice) discount, they were out of stock and had people lining up for them back then, I could have sold them for a premium if I didn't find doing so to be rather rude.

Denser, better backbone, Just as soft. Plisson makes a nice brush, but as Loric says, not for everyone. I'd take a TGN finest over one any day of the week.

[cryhavoc]

The $2 Turkish horse is the best bang for your buck of anything, ever!

+1

[BigBull]

Omega mighty midget. $13 after that both semogue SOCs

I believe we have very similar tastes in shaving gear. I rock the Poor Mans Joris, and love it. Also have the compliment of SOC's in cherry. Just received my MM from WCS on Sat. I totally agree with your comment. The Omega 11047 "Mighty Midget" is an incredible value for $13. There is no question its softer and performs better than some of the $50+ badgers I've tried.

[mistervee123]

The initial post was sounding way to analytical for me. I like my Chubby 1 the best of any brush in the stable. It was $112 bucks in Best Badger. It fits my hand. It looks great. It works great. It feels great. Does it generate twice the lather or feel twice as good as my Duke 1 which cost $48. No. It's probably the law of diminishing returns for each minor improvement.

I don't look at brushes so analytically. Do I want it? Do I like it? What do the B&B reviews say? Would it be a good addition to the den? Can I afford it? Yes? No? That's as far as my analysis goes. I have a couple of "cheap" brushes, and I have a few "expensive" brushes. I like using my brushes the best of any part of wet shaving. I like variety. My brushes make me happy. I leave the bathroom smiling each morning. My wife is slightly suspicious about what goes on in there, but what can I say?

[El-a-Menthol]

I just saw silvertip brushes for Euro 24,-.
That seems outrageously cheap. And I know the place is genuine and trustworthy.
They are Hans Baier's and I know I've seen that name dropped many times.
And haven't tried it YET but the Calani seems to have legendary status almost, artisan made, pure very high quality fairly priced soaps.
At least is what I'm getting from the many reports from the shaving front line.

[rob_NH]

Train 1 in at 04:33
Train 2 in at 15:33 day after tomorrow
Train 3 in at 01:05

Disregarding, seconds!

Thanks for the help, I plan on lathering mostly in a bowl.

A straight razor shaver cuts his throat and falls to the floor, plassing out as his head hits the tile. If the pool of blood resulting from the wound in a circular pattern is spreading such that the radius is increasing by 2mm/sec^2, and the pool is 4 cm in diameter at 3 seconds, how fast is the area growing at 8 seconds?

Or get the Rooney 3/1. Pretty nice. I love mine. I love my Thater 4125 more, but I think the Rooney is the better value.

[Samjax]

If you're on a tight budget - consider a pair - the Turkish Horse Hair and an Omega 48 or 49...you can get both for under $25.