Selecting Badger Brush

I probably should have included a little more info in the first post but one of the reasons I don't care for the Duke 3 in best is the seemingly total lack of backbone. I love how the synthetics maintain a more upright shape if that makes any sense. So thus far I'm leaning toward either just waiting till my # comes up for a Varlet or grabbing the Envy Limited edition as its seems from many posts I've read on the forums that this would probably be the one with the most backbone?

Thanks to everyone for the input and if you have any more please don't hesitate!

Hi -

Can I jump on and keep this going?

I am considering getting on the list for Wolf Whiskers customer brush. And I figured, if I am going to have it custom made might as well go all in. However, I was thinking silver tip for the knot. Silly thing is I do not own a silver tip and have never tried one.

In general, do you guys love your silver tip brushes? Are they over rated?
@ bakerbarber said "A TGN grade A silvertip is incredibly soft and dense. " which sounds right up my alley.

I know this is the topic of endless debate. Guess if I get it and don't like the knot I can remove it and sell it...

Hi -

Can I jump on and keep this going?

I am considering getting on the list for Wolf Whiskers customer brush. And I figured, if I am going to have it custom made might as well go all in. However, I was thinking silver tip for the knot. Silly thing is I do not own a silver tip and have never tried one.

In general, do you guys love your silver tip brushes? Are they over rated?
@ bakerbarber  said "A TGN  grade A silvertip is incredibly soft and dense. " which sounds right up my alley.

I know this is the topic of endless debate.   Guess if I get it and don't like the knot I can remove it and sell it...

I have a Thater 3 band silvertip, Envy White 2 band DFS, and several synthetics. The Thater is a lot softer than the Envy White, the Envy has a lot more backbone than the Thater, and the synthetics are a soft as the Thater with more backbone and perform better than both badgers. I like all of them, but if rating them I would pick Plisson, Ubersoft, Thater, Envy White.

This is merely what works for me and is entirely subjective. I'm not a fan of a lot of backbone, so if I had it to do over again I would have bought the Luxury Silvertip for my DFS Envy Shave brush. However, I still enjoy the Envy White, and it still isn't completely broken in so it may start spaying easier after more uses.

If softness is more important than backbone then you should consider a silvertip. If backbone is more important than go with a 2 band.

That's kind of what I wanted to know at the beginning but didn't state it very well. I know the Badgers won't be as soft as the synthetics but and wanted to know out of the brushes I listed in the first post, which one would be the softest with a nice amount of backbone. The Duke 3 in Best I have seems pretty floppy and has a little scritch. From what I gather the Shave Mac would be the way to go for what I want but also seems by far the most expensive. The Thater would probably have the lease amount of backbone but probably the softest? So that leaves me with the Romero, Envy White and Varlet.

That's kind of what I wanted to know at the beginning but didn't state it very well. I know the Badgers won't be as soft as the synthetics but and wanted to know out of the brushes I listed in the first post, which one would be the softest with a nice amount of backbone. The Duke 3 in Best I have seems pretty floppy and has a little scritch. From what I gather the Shave Mac would be the way to go for what I want but also seems by far the most expensive. The Thater would probably have the lease amount of backbone but probably the softest? So that leaves me with the Romero, Envy White and Varlet.

You may want to consider a Thater 2 band Silvertip. I haven't used one but hear it is almost as soft as the 3 band, or maybe just as soft. If you are interested in a Thater then I recommend going to Shaving.ie, which sells them for much less than anywhere else.

That's kind of what I wanted to know at the beginning but didn't state it very well. I know the Badgers won't be as soft as the synthetics but and wanted to know out of the brushes I listed in the first post, which one would be the softest with a nice amount of backbone. The Duke 3 in Best I have seems pretty floppy and has a little scritch. From what I gather the Shave Mac would be the way to go for what I want but also seems by far the most expensive. The Thater would probably have the lease amount of backbone but probably the softest? So that leaves me with the Romero, Envy White and Varlet.

You may want to consider a Thater 2 band Silvertip. I haven't used one but hear it is almost as soft as the 3 band, or maybe just as soft. If you are interested in a Thater then I recommend going to Shaving.ie, which sells them for much less than anywhere else.

I second this emotion and add that a Shavemac 2-band would be a solid choice as well. Both my Thater and my Shavemac 2-bands are very soft with nice backbone. Cool thing about the Shavemacs is if you do the customization, you can set them lower for more backbone, or higher for less, etc.