06-18-2016, 03:33 PM
Truthfully, I've had nothing but bad experiences buying bargain ($60 and under) badger brushes. Either they shed incessantly or were so floppy and lacked density that I couldn't make good lather with them. OTOH I've had nothing but good experiences with Stirling. So I figured I'd roll the dice. Hector's thumbs up sealed the deal.
06-20-2016, 04:27 PM
The brush arrived today. I did a quick palm lather with some Stirling (natch) to get a feel for the knot and start the de-funking. I had already shaved today and didn't want to face lather with relatively sensitive skin so I'll do that soon.
First off, the tips: they feel pretty soft both dry and damp, running against the sensitive skin on he inside of my wrist I didn't feel any scritch.
The hairs at first glance don't have the thickness/resilience/spring of the premium 2-band hair I'm familiar with. This could be due to a lack of density in the knot. But it does feel like a 2-band knot in use, which is to say it keeps its form and splays in a more controlled way than a 3-band.
The knot is definitely less dense than some of the premium 2 bands and 3 bands I have. I would call it medium density. Which hopefully will mean good flow through.
The handle is a nice if conventional shape and feels heavy and substantial.
At any rate, the lather it made was very good indeed, and the knot bloomed out into a well shaped hybrid bulb, a preferred shape of mine. Here's what it looks like:
![[Image: 0tIYIbS.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/0tIYIbS.jpg)
I will report back once I've used it, but so far, so good.
First off, the tips: they feel pretty soft both dry and damp, running against the sensitive skin on he inside of my wrist I didn't feel any scritch.
The hairs at first glance don't have the thickness/resilience/spring of the premium 2-band hair I'm familiar with. This could be due to a lack of density in the knot. But it does feel like a 2-band knot in use, which is to say it keeps its form and splays in a more controlled way than a 3-band.
The knot is definitely less dense than some of the premium 2 bands and 3 bands I have. I would call it medium density. Which hopefully will mean good flow through.
The handle is a nice if conventional shape and feels heavy and substantial.
At any rate, the lather it made was very good indeed, and the knot bloomed out into a well shaped hybrid bulb, a preferred shape of mine. Here's what it looks like:
I will report back once I've used it, but so far, so good.
06-21-2016, 10:54 AM
Ok first shave this morning. IMHO the whole point of a 2-band brush is face lathering, so that's what I got it for. I now face lather almost 100% of the time so I only want to keep brushes I can face lather with. I loaded up some Stirling executive man -- a solid load but not humongous.
The face feel was fine -- no real scritch. It splays pretty easily on the face and in a matter of seconds I had rich, thick hydrated lather. The brush releases lather easily given its medium density. I like to put it on pretty thick on my first pass, and the brush held enough lather for my typical 2 passes plus touch ups, with at least as half pass of lather left over in the knot -- which was a little dark from it being a new knot. I have the feeling that if I had loaded longer the knot would have held enough lather for 3+ passes easily.
I was impressed at how quickly the knot had dried from my first use the day before. Again I attribute this to the medium density.
While I certainly don't have the brush experience Hector has, I can safely say after one use that this brush provides a genuine badger feel without feeling quite as plush/luxurious as a premium 2-band. I attribute this mostly to lack of density, not to lack of hair quality. So far it has not shed a single full length hair. The brush is significantly better than brushes I've paid twice the amount for. My personal feeling is that badger brushes are kind of like Pinot Noir -- once you go down below a certain price point there's a real risk you're going to get something awful. In this sense, this brush represents a real achievement. To those looking for a low-risk entry into the badger experience I can wholeheartedly recommend especially at this intro price.
I will report back after more uses and the knot is broken in.
The face feel was fine -- no real scritch. It splays pretty easily on the face and in a matter of seconds I had rich, thick hydrated lather. The brush releases lather easily given its medium density. I like to put it on pretty thick on my first pass, and the brush held enough lather for my typical 2 passes plus touch ups, with at least as half pass of lather left over in the knot -- which was a little dark from it being a new knot. I have the feeling that if I had loaded longer the knot would have held enough lather for 3+ passes easily.
I was impressed at how quickly the knot had dried from my first use the day before. Again I attribute this to the medium density.
While I certainly don't have the brush experience Hector has, I can safely say after one use that this brush provides a genuine badger feel without feeling quite as plush/luxurious as a premium 2-band. I attribute this mostly to lack of density, not to lack of hair quality. So far it has not shed a single full length hair. The brush is significantly better than brushes I've paid twice the amount for. My personal feeling is that badger brushes are kind of like Pinot Noir -- once you go down below a certain price point there's a real risk you're going to get something awful. In this sense, this brush represents a real achievement. To those looking for a low-risk entry into the badger experience I can wholeheartedly recommend especially at this intro price.
I will report back after more uses and the knot is broken in.
06-22-2016, 03:04 AM
(06-21-2016, 10:59 AM)surfshaver Wrote:
- Be forewarned, however: this brush could be the gateway drug into a serious AD...you could soon find yourself fantasizing about Paladins and Varlets...
Haha, good two band brushes were a trip for me. Over a period of 6 months or so I sold all my 3 band and boar brushes.
I bought the Stirling brush to try out. If it dries that quickly I might be able to use it as a travel brush
.
07-05-2016, 04:23 PM
Hi guys, here to report back after a few more uses. All I can say is this is a legit 2-band brush and a bona fide steal at the price. For comparison's sake, I bought one of the Rooney 3-Band Silvertips (Script Logo), size 1/2 on sale from Vintage Blades, for 60 bucks instead of the 100 dollar retail price. While the Rooney handle is nicer than that of the Stirling, the 30 dollar Stirling has a knot that is superior to the Rooney in every way. Just my $0.02.
07-05-2016, 04:26 PM
(07-05-2016, 04:23 PM)surfshaver Wrote: Hi guys, here to report back after a few more uses. All I can say is this is a legit 2-band brush and a bona fide steal at the price. For comparison's sake, I bought one of the Rooney 3-Band Silvertips (Script Logo), size 1/2 on sale from Vintage Blades, for 60 bucks instead of the 100 dollar retail price. While the Rooney handle is nicer than that of the Stirling, the 30 dollar Stirling has a knot that is superior to the Rooney in every way. Just my $0.02.
Thanks for the follow up. I still feel the same way about it.
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