Return of the Simpsons Two-Band Supers

After much discussion regarding the possibility of offering these brushes again, Lee Cantor (www.leesrazors.com) was able to obtain a very small number of brushes that Simpsons was able to source the proper badger hair to produce.  The first brushes to be offered where in the Tulip 2, Persian Jar 2, and Chubby 2 models.  I received one of each model and have so far been very impressed with the quality and performance of these brushes.  The hair has a striking two-banded coloring to it, meaning the base of the knot is a dark black color and the tips are long and very white.  This hair type is very similar to that offered by Rooney on their Finest Badger graded shaving brushes.  The tensile strength of the hair is very impressive and makes the loft the brush very firm, something highly desirable among soap users who like to build their lather directly on the face and enjoy the scrubbing action of the brush.

Out of the box the tips feel almost prickly to the touch.  However after the first two uses, the tips have softened up beautifully and are very gentle on the skin.  They are also very durable and do not seem to be prone to becoming frayed or barbed at the tips like some of the more delicate badger hairs often do.  The extreme density of the knot combined with the thicker gauge of this hair allows the brush to hold a good amount of water without losing its shape.  The brush also has a great flow through making it easy to apply the lather to the face where you need it and not pull the lather back in to the core of the brush, especially in the Tulip and Persian Jar models.

The only negative to these new brushes that I have found is that the lofts are cut more bulb shape than I prefer.  I find that the more fan shape lofts tend to lather better and provide a better support for the inner core of the knot to hold water and keep the lather properly hydrated.  With these brushes however, the bulb shape does not necessarily hurt their performance, however I think that with the right shaping they could benefit greatly.

At this point there is no way to know whether or not these special super graded brushes will be offered on a regular basis or not.  Simpsons has certainly acknowledged the demand for brushes of this type and has even labeled them as “two band” on the packaging.  I am very grateful to Lee and Vulfix for the effort put forth to produce these brushes as the results have definitely proven to be a success.  If these become regular production brushes, I definitely look forward to adding more sizes to my collection in the future.