Hooked hairs on a badger knot

[wazza]

Hello

I recently bought a Frank Shaving Finest knot from Ian Tang. Its the best knot that I own or have even tried for that matter, not that i've used any high end brushes such as Simpson or Shavemac. Saying that I did try a Kent BK12 which was too floppy for me.

Anyways the tips of the knots curled really quickly and possibly by the most amount. Then I saw @MPH write this in another thread

...this one is the most hooked, softest knot I've ever seen.

Rather than derail the thread, thought I'd start a new one to ask these questions.

Is it a good thing that the tips curl? And what are the benefits, if any of this happening? Or is it just simply the case that a certain hair type curls?

Just to add its the softest knot along with having a ton of back bone. Imagine a short boar knot with cloud like tips

Cheers guys.

 

[halvor]

Indeed, the theory is that hooked tips add to or equate with softness and are even the factor behind the gel/sponge/slimey feel that some knots have. But although quite a few of my k its have hooked or curled tips, they are not all equally soft or gel like. Shavemac 2-band does, as do the Elite Manchurian. I *think* you'll only experience it with finest and two-bands, not three band silvertips.

Show us a photo of your knot/brush!

 

[MPH]

Hi

The curled tips are what some people often refer to as "gel tipped". Because the tip is not directly interacting with your skin it can give the knot a unique ultra soft feel. This is often considered desirable, especially if the brush has a lot of backbone, so may otherwise be a little scritchy.

Personally I like the hooked tips, but I also like non curled tips too. Both have their plus points.

 

[Holyzeus]

Its a big thing on the US forums thats for sure

 

[Nishy]

Curled tips are often said to be over bleached but also to provide gel tips as mentioned above. I definitely prefer curled tips to straight. But each to their own.

 

[wazza]

Cheers for all of the help. Its a new thing to me. Never heard the term gel tips, I do like them though.
I've noticed that boars get split ends and get softer but never noticed such a great change to a bedger, well such as this anyways.
I have not got a photo right now, you cant really tell when its dry, so I'll use it later tonight and get a pic.

 

[Dipesh]

I personally prefer a fine straight tip rather than a curled gel one.

As Nishy said, each to their own!

 

[johnus]

Learned something new today!
Glade I decided to read the thread.

 

[bakerbarber]

I like it.

Have a handful of brushes with gel tips. Some more so than others. I'm not convinced it's from bleaching. At least not being bleached alone. The 24mm Stirling Finest I have has gel tips and it's the least treated looking knot I've got outside of Simpsons Best brushes. It's even got a sort of brown colored effect going on at the tips when wet. Kind of odd looking. I would think if it had been overly bleached the tips would be whiter and certainly not look brown when wet and clumped. I'm beginning to speculate that it is another process that leads to the gel tipped effect. Perhaps a younger badger who is being used for a brush and never had a chance to get old enough to shed out his first coat. Maybe an overly concentrated disinfectant used during the treatment or something left to happen a bit too long on accident or even by design by now. I don't know.

I do know that the gel tipped brushes that I do have are some of the ones that I enjoy the most.

 

[PLANofMAN]

The hooked effect is caused by the sterilization process, which is hot steam and pressure. That anecdote came from Gary Young of the Simpson's family.

If anyone would be in a position to know, it would be him.

Some hairs curl and some don't. Too high a temperature, or left in too long? No one really knows. I believe Gary considered hooked ends to be a manufacturing defect, and not a positive thing, but I don't know that for sure.

 

[wazza]

Thanks for all of the info. All of the theorys seem to make sense. Gary of the Simpson family would have the correct answer I would think.
Used the brush in question this morning and I have to say that I'm a fan of the hooked knot. I got a rushed photo but as I was rushing this morning its too blurred to see.

 

[Chris]

I'm with Nishy on this one, I like the hooked tips they give an extremely soft feel without losing backbone.

 

[BlacknTan]

I'm just learning what "gel tips" are!

I thought I was really behind the times, so I looked at all of my brushes to find none with curled tips! It this something new? Am I behind the curve?