SOC Two-Band or.

I got rid of some brushes and only kept my SOC boar and Commodore X3 as they were the most solid performers. I am now looking something new that has the following characteristics:

- Durable
- Soft face feel
- A lot of backbone
- Good price/quality
- Classic handle material

I ended up looking at a lot of reviews of the two-band SOC but I had the feeling the brush is a very good 'inexpensive' brush rather than a top-performer. (Shavemac, M&F,...) Are the lathering capabilities and quality comparable to the latter?

I hope your day is treating you well!

I would say the SOC 2-band badger brush would fulfill all of your characteristics except for soft face feel. An inexpensive way to achieve the criteria you have set forth would be to order a TGN (thegoldennib.com) Finest knot and set it low in a vintage handle or one of the handles that are available from TGN or Whipped Dog. There are also high praises for the 2-band house brand brushes from vintagebladesllc.com, but I don't have any personal experience with those.

blzrfn said:

I would say the SOC 2-band badger brush would fulfill all of your characteristics except for soft face feel. An inexpensive way to achieve the criteria you have set forth would be to order a TGN (thegoldennib.com) Finest knot and set it low in a vintage handle or one of the handles that are available from TGN or Whipped Dog. There are also high praises for the 2-band house brand brushes from vintagebladesllc.com, but I don't have any personal experience with those.

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Perhaps I don't know what soft feels like, my commodore in best badger is plenty soft for me. Would the SOC two-band be as soft?

With any brand of brushes there are variances in knot characteristics from batch to batch so with that in mind I would say generally no, the SOC will have more scritch than the Simpsons Best. Surely there are Simpsons Best knots that are on the scritchy side and Semogue SOC knots that have soft tips, but from my personal experience the above stands true. The Semogue BC Limited Edition Texugo 2-band brush has what you are looking for, now that I think about it, and although it is smaller than the SOC, the tips are very soft and the backbone is very firm.

I used to own an SOC 2 band. It was like lathering with a sponge it was so dense and it also had some scritch. Not my favorite, though I did really like the handle.

blzrfn said:

I would say the SOC 2-band badger brush would fulfill all of your characteristics except for soft face feel.

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+1. The SOC 2-band does have a bit of scritch.

I also have the Cherry SOC 2 Band, its a great brush, it does infact have a bit of scritch, it softens up ever so slightly but its still not as soft as my other 2 bands.

Benoni said:

Perhaps I don't know what soft feels like, my commodore in best badger is plenty soft for me. Would the SOC two-band be as soft?

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I have the SOC 2-band and a Simpson Berkeley in best, and the Berkeley has slightly softer tips. I don't think you would mind the tiny bit of extra scritch though.

It has a bit of loft, and is not as densely packed as my Berkeley, so I'm not sure you will find it has a very firm feel. Still, I think it performs very good. A true all around brush. Face, bowl, hard soaps, soft creams, it does the job.

The Semogue Owner's Club 2 band is a great brush. Semogue recently made a brush I consider to have all the best qualities of the SOC with a better ,though slightly smaller knot and handle, the Semogue LE Texugo. Compared to my SOC badger the hair has the same backbone but with softer tips, the handle is still solid in the hand. It's my favorite face lathering brush.