holy cow badgers are soft [SEP] badger hair which i guess is a good thing i have been told by men that that is a good thing from what i understand badger hair shaving brushes lasts a lot longer than other hair shaving brushesi am touching the brush right now and i had no idea that badgers were this soft not that i want to touch one of the live because they are a little scary looking to mei like the fact that the handle of the square is flat so it stands up straight or you can flip it upside down and it has the ridge in it to put into a holderthe handle is really nice it is a really pretty white wood and its move there will be no splinters coming out of this handle i received this product at a discounted rate for an honest review