That's interesting @rocketeer .
From what I understand, in the US, straight razor shaving was basically a dead art for some decades, especially as the "barbershop culture" was not what it used to be. Straight razor revivalists kind of had to reconstruct the skills from old books and such, as nobody who used to do it on a regular basis in the old days was really around any more (I could be mis-remembering some of that). I know when I first started, I got an electronic copy of a shaving instruction book from about the 1880s to learn from.
I can say it always and always:
NOTHING CAN BEAT THE BASIC GREYBADGER-BRUSH, WITH IT'S STRONGER BRISTLES AND THE GREAT "MASSAGING-IN-EFFECT" FOR BEST SKIN-PREPARATION!!
Today, I choose my silvertip-brush and the shave wasn't friendly, but because of my experience, I could handle to finish the shave without noteworthy injuries. The massaging-in-effect of my greybadger-brushes would have avoid this "uncozy" shave, I can tell you.
That's, why I took the silvertip that seldom!
To me, the simple greybadger-brush (usually with the cutted ends) is still the "perfect middle" between boar/pighair-brush and finebadger/silvertip! You just can't get wrong with a greybadger-brush!!