Choosing the type of hair knot to put into a shaving brush can be a difficult proposition. Making sense of all the different grades of badger hair alone can give you a headache. Generally speaking, the options available to a consumer will be badger, boar, synthetic and even horse.
For badger hair, I generally have Silvertip, Best, Pure, Mixed Pure and Black on hand. These all come from China and I try to make sure they are accurately graded. The differences will be in which part of the animal the hair comes from and how densely packed the bristles are. Generally speaking, the higher grades will be softer with the lower grades being more coarse.
The photographs taken below are from my actual stock of badger hair knots and are labeled per the supplier’s grade.
Left to Right: 1. Silvertip, 2. Best, 3. Pure, 4. Mixed Pure, 5. Black Pure
Below are examples of a Synthetic knot and a knot from boar hair.
Synthetic
Boar
Before you place an order, please feel free to email me with any questions you might have concerning choosing a knot type.
For more information on shave brush knots, check out this article here.