Gentlemen For my own personal reasons, I have decided to not use badger hair brushes any longer. So I'm now left with a couple of options... synthetics or boar. Well, I have a travel synthetic which works pretty well, it breaks down into a travel tube so that's handy. And I don't worry about smell etc. But I still needed everyday brushes. So I did my due diligence and focused on two manufacturers...Zenith and DaniDom. So I got the Zenith Blue Resin, Copper and Olive wood brushes. No smell etc to start with, so I soaked each brush before shaving and used either a soft soft soap or cream and a lather bowl. Because they're so new they are a bit of a lather hog. However, not scratchy and have a nice firm feel which I imagine helps exfoliation as well. Where they do shine right now is with my hard soaps in my Gravy/cream boats. Nice lather and you do have to spend a minute or two getting it whipped up. But I'm not in a hurry so it's all good. There's also a DaniDom Endurance 22mm coming, had to jump through a few hoops but they are shipping to Canada. Currently they have nothing in place for posting to N. America. Anyway that brush is also a boar and is a two piece where the metal ferrule unscrews from the wooden handle. That was for disinfecting way back in the day. Looking forward to receiving that as well. So far the brushes are performing well and will just keep getting better. Have a great day...Cheers
I admit that after reading your post I was so curious about boar that I bought a Zenith too. It arrived yesterday and I will use for the first time today, it looks great but a bit hard. It is my first time with the bristles, will it become a bit softer?
Nice brushes. Remember there are horse hair brushes too , and some of them are pretty nice also.... I got a cremo horse hair brush on sale a few years ago and it still works well when it gets used .....
I like a good stiff scratchy boar but they do soften with use. The ends of the bristles will split and you'll lose the initial scritchiness.
I just Use them and when I dry them I use paint brush strokes on a towel , it seems to split the ends a little quicker..... There are all kinds of videos on tips and tricks to speed it up ( some here and some just by googling the term )... Good luck with whatever you do...
Well, my danidom brush sheds hair faster than I did. At least a dozen per shave. I believe I'm going to drill out the knot and replace it...just not sure if I stay with boar or go synthetic. But my other boars are doing very well.
