Today, I’d like to share with you some further explorations into Badger hair, along with the progress we’ve made so far.
Every year, we source several tons of badger hair in both loose and skin-on form. While that may sound like a huge quantity, after going through multiple stages of selection and processing, less than 10% of the raw material meets the standards for high-end use. The proportion that qualifies as truly top-grade is even more striking—often less than 1% is suitable for premium brush knots.
About a decade ago, every grade of badger hair had its place in the market. Lower-grade material was used for hotel supplies, mid-grade for mass-market platforms like Amazon, higher grades were purchased by established brands, and the finest was reserved for artisanal makers. Back then, every grade found a home, and inventory rarely piled up.
However, with the rapid advancement of synthetic hair knots—especially in recent years with better materials and more lifelike fibers—synthetic knots have surpassed lower-grade badger in overall performance and are now even challenging mid- to high-grade badger knots. It was in this context that we developed our ST-1 and ST-2, two top-tier synthetic knots.
This shift hasn’t been easy for raw material suppliers. Large volumes of mid- and low-grade badger hair became difficult to place, and some lower-grade material even had to be discarded. Given their inherent limitations, no amount of processing or sorting could turn them into high-end material. Yet, there are always exceptions—and today, we’re talking about one of them: Black badger.
Wet shaving has a long history, and with it came established aesthetic standards. For high-end two-band badger brushes, long white hair with a dark, lengthy “waist” has been considered the mark of quality. And that’s not wrong—it’s a valid standard for two-band hair, but it doesn’t apply to all badger types. Take our Epoch knot, for example, whose dark band far exceeds that of traditional two-band in length.
What I’d like to explore here is this: Is it possible that we’ve been confined by traditional aesthetics, to the point of overlooking certain types of badger hair that actually possess excellent qualities?
The answer is yes. There is a type of badger hair that performs on par with two-band, but because it doesn’t align with mainstream taste, it has long been treated as “discard material”—that is Black badger. In structure, it’s almost identical to two-band, and it can be graded similarly. Yet due to traditional beauty standards, it has rarely been given a place among premium brushes.
Just like the story of the ugly duckling, Black badger has been overlooked—but good things don’t stay hidden forever.
Our research into Black badger actually began three years ago, and even earlier we started setting aside the finest batches. As I suspected, Black badger matches two-band in quality, and even exceeds it in average hair diameter and tip length. These traits give it higher performance potential and greater resilience.
Higher potential means it can produce a knot with better overall performance, and greater resilience means it can withstand more intense bleaching and dyeing without damaging the hair’s cuticle structure.
Years ago, we developed a process called Lotus, which gave two-band an incredibly soft touch—almost like smooth tofu. But that extreme softness came at the cost of significantly reduced longevity, which is why we haven’t used the process in recent years.
Black badger’s characteristics presented an opportunity. Its tough yet resilient nature seemed like it could endure more intensive processing, so we began experimenting. To better preserve the hair structure, we refined the bleaching process, adopting a multi-stage approach with careful treatments between stages, all while strictly controlling temperature and humidity.
After repeated trials over a long period, we’ve finally achieved some exciting results:
The finished knot has a sponge-like softness—gentle yet distinct from the “soft tofu” feel of Lotus. It offers a more comfortable, resilient softness without sacrificing backbone. The cuticle structure remains healthy and intact, providing stronger water absorption and retention—all without shortening its lifespan.
We believe the first-generation product is essentially complete. It is highly competitive, even surpassing finest two-band in performance ceiling.
Still, any new product must earn its place in the market. Take our earlier Meri and Lotus series—looking back, they were more like experimental creations, each exceptional in a certain way. Later lines like Epoch and Elixir feel more like iterations within a traditional framework.
What I want to convey is that products with this “experimental” character will be released first in our newly opened section: OUMO SHAVING BRUSH LAB. This space is separate from our traditional lineup, meant for products that step outside conventional boundaries and carry a spirit of exploration. That’s why I created it.
Back to the point: We’ve decided to produce a small batch of this new knot and release it in the LAB section, temporarily named “X-1”. Until officially launched, all experimental products will carry the “X” prefix to mark their special status.
In terms of experience, we’ve been testing X-1 for over three months now. As mentioned, it demonstrates a very high performance ceiling—so much so that it could become the preferred material for a new tier of high-performance shaving knots.
If you’re interested, feel free to explore the LAB section on our site.
Thank you for reading,
Carry