Edwin Jagger1EJ946SDS Classic Best Badger Hair Exfoliating Shaving Brush with Stand for Shaving Cream or Shaving Soap for Men and Women (Imitation Ebony)

This is my first shaving brush. I have been using it for 5 months now, as my beginning into DE shaving. The brush is high quality, hand knotted in Sheffield England. It feels soft and smooth on your face and beard and shaving is now a luxury for me, not just a daily chore, the brush softens the hair and works great, you can feel the exfoliation effects...now I know why my wife loves facials. The included stand is very nice and matches perfectly, I am very happy with the stand included. If you want pretty chrome and want to spend buy one, after all this is a bathroom counter accessory. A stand is a must to let your brush air dry properly, with the brush tips down, and you never want to rest the brush on it's bristles, so even during shaving flip it over to rest it on the counter, once dry completely you can invert your brush on its' top for storage.How to choose a shave brush? I knew to go with badger hair from all my research on DE & wet shaving, but picking the quality of badger hair from the 4 types of badger hair qualities was difficult. Better hair is better right? Yes but also very expensive. Well being new to wet shaving I did not want to ruin a very expensive brush, so I eliminated the top two qualities and targeted the best quality brush I could find under $60. This brush was about $45 included a stand and was Best Badger. That was the easy winner.I also choose a rounded brush over a staight brush, because it would cover more of my face faster, and provide more surface area. The medium size is ideal for my average size face. I lather up in 4 quadrants to keep the face lather wet, a good wet lather is important to a good and comfortable shave. Once you finish a quadrant rinse and move to the next area. Come back at the end and go over any areas you missed, short hairs left, or better yet redo the whole face.My brush looses an occasional hair which can be either a sign of poor quality or misuse. As I became more experienced, the hair loss from the brush is much less. Maybe one hair a week, it is still a lot but I am not an expert on wet shaving yet either, so for the price and inexperience I think that's me being to hard on the brush.If you take care of this brush it should last many years. Being new to wet shaving I have to remind myself not to press too hard so I don't ruin the brush tips...that ruins your brush. I bought a quality shave cream - Taylor of Old Bond also from Amazon. I started lathering with an old mug, but I was banging the top of the brush annoying my wife and not getting a good lather. I now use a small Pyrex bowl to lather up and that works great, lots of room and I get a great lather....spending a minute to gently work up a good lather is well worth the time.I love this brush it will sit next to the Jagger 98l DE razor I bought as my first DE razor for many years.

I hope this helps someone out there that is deciding on getting serious about shaving properly. Its simple, get a good brush and a good cake of soap. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars, just be sensible, and do a little research. I stated out with a cheap brush (about $7) and fell for some soap that some people make and sell from basic ingredients and scented oils but they know NOTHING about shaving soap. First, when they try to tell you not to expect much lather from their soap, and that is normal, well.... it just ain't true. You need to spend a little more and get a cake of some really good soap. I use Edwin Jagger soap in my mug and with the proper brush, you can get loads of lather. The soap is about $8 on here. Don't cut corners and try to save a few cents buying crappy soap.I highly recommend the Edwin Jagger Traditional English Best Badger Hair Shaving Brush. Ya, its gonna cost you about 40 bucks, but its worth every penny. More expensive, higher quality badger brushes are mostly too soft to work up a good lather, and cheaper ones loose the hairs almost from day one, and you don't want those on your face when your razor will just slide over them and not shave you. Its not necessary to use really hot water either. It is not good for the brush. No one ever saw a badger taking a hot bath, right?As for the rest of your "kit" that is less important in my opinion. I found a nice old mug on one of the auction sites. For my razor, I like the the Gillette brand 3 blade type. They seem to work well on my beard and are a good middle of the road price range. I can use one for a month or more before replacing it with this combination of brush and soap. Bottom line is, trust this English company that has been manufacturing quality products for many years, they have a long tradition to live up to and prices are fair on here.My only negative about this product is that the handle could be just a bit longer. Just another half an inch would make it far more comfortable to use in the mug and on your face.

I am a boar brush guy, apparently. I picked up this brush as I was trying boar, badger, synthetic to see what I prefer. I like it. It's soft if that's your thing. It makes a lot of lather..that it doesn't like to give up. It's definitely got a bit of badger funk, but not bad.The real problem I have is, as another reviewer mentioned, there was a small rubber band holding the brush in the stand. Mine and the other reviewers was around the knot itself. After I pried the brush out of the stand, there were frayed hairs sticking out all over. The opening in the stand isn't big enough. It kinda pops in and out. So, as the title says, once removed, I wouldn't suggest using the stand. It definitely damages the hairs. I dropped about a dozen on the first shave, and only a couple on the second shave, but the knot was definitely affected by the rubber band, and ill fitted stand.It's a good brush, though. I doubt it will shed much after all the damaged hairs shed or break. I'm going to try to dry in a TP roll to see if I can fix the bloom.