Got my first boar brush... a Semogue 1305. I love the way this thing looks compared to my Trumper Pure Badger. The painted wooden handle is really cool, despite the presence of air bubbles under the paint, which seems to be just a minor cosmetic flaw that shouldn't affect performance. Now, i've read a little about the break-in period with BOAR (edit: i always write badger when i mean boar, sorry) brushes... but i was wondering what exactly to expect, and if there's anything i should / shouldn't do to aid the process. So far i've used it twice... upon first using it I let it soak a few times in a mug full of not quite hot water... and the water turned a gnarly pinkish hue! Of course it also had that boar stink, but i knew to expect that. So after soaking it a few times I tried 'er out with a Ginger's Garden glycerin shave soap... lather was pretty crappy, but usable. My lather technique with SS is pretty weak to begin with, hard to tell how much was the brush's fault, and how much was mine. But last night I thought I'd give the brush an easy one... tried my Weleda shave cream, which of all my creams, has always been the easiest to lather with the least amount of cream. And... disaster. It just didn't lather. At first I was able to get some bubbles forming, and then a sickly little lather around the bottom... so i kept at it. But not only was their no volume building, eventually what little lather there was got sucked up into the brush. I tried to apply it and it was basically a clear layer of soap scum left on my face. So i added more SC, unwilling to accept defeat. Same basic result. This time before the brush could eat all the lather i just applied it, and let the slop substitute for proper lather. It looked like crap and felt more slimy than anything, but I wound up with a great shave. Is this what I should expect during the break-in period or am i doing something wrong? I wonder if i might have left too much water in the brush (I treated it like my badger brush, squeezed it and gave it one shake). Or do boar brushes just not work that well with creams? Thanks for any and all input. I like this brush either way, and I'm determined to make it work one way or another!
Never realized any kind of a break-in period for any of my badgers. hmmmm My boars, however... I had one it took a full month of use to get the stink out. Most of my others took about 7-10 shaves. You'll really start to notice the softness after about a month of shaves. Yes, boars and badgers lather differently. I found I like a bit less water with my boars. No two brushes will ever lather exactly the same. Just practice with various amounts of water to soap/cream ratios until you hit the magic formula.
Haha, that was a typo on my part. I always write badger when I mean boar... can't seem to break that habit. Strangely enough, the 'boar stink' seems to be gone, but i'm still getting a tiny bit of pink when i soak the brush. And the slimy lather, after it had been swallowed by the brush, the residue at the bottom had a nasty pinkish grey color to it. Guess I'll just keep at it.
Less water Yeah, I've noticed the same thing, especially with my bigger boar. Those boar hairs tend to hold onto more water than you think they are... Definitely different beasts for lathering. All that said, I'm really enjoying my Omega. My rough estimate is maybe 20 uses, and it's starting to break in pretty well. I want another already.
I'd say 7-10 shaves will get a boar broken in. The ends of the individual hairs will split, allowing the brush to hold more water.
is it typical for the cheapo boar brushes to lose several hairs each time you lather up? or can I expect it to taper off? Thanks
It depends on how cheap of a boar you're talking about. A decent brush shouldn't, but some of the cheapest models tend to shed. If you have a Van Der Hagen or Marvey, it might not get better. That said, even among those you'll occasionally find a good one.
Depends a bit on the size of the brush, but about 10 is a rough estimate for a medium brush I guess..... About the shedding of hairs, that is per brush different. I have cheap brushes that don't shed (Omega, VDH) and had more expensive ones in the past that did shed.
To accelerate break-in on a new boar brush, I decided to be wasteful. Before and after each shave, I'd make a couple of "test lathers" with the new boar, using the most inexpensive soap in the den (Van Der Hagen Deluxe). Lather up, throw away, repeat, oh the humanity. Squandered 1/3rd of a $2 puck, sped up break-in by a factor of five. Getting rid of the stink was pretty easy: lather a few times with a strongly scented soap or cream; I used Proraso eucalyptus+menthol.
My Vulfix 404 came today (i know it's a mix so neither one or other) and have had a couple of practise lathers this evening. Seems to do the job well, but i have heard elsewhere that this brush breaks in and softens after a few uses, so will be interesting to see. I too was expecting a smell, but it doesn't at all for some reason!
[Is this what I should expect during the break-in period or am i doing something wrong? I wonder if i might have left too much water in the brush (I treated it like my badger brush, squeezed it and gave it one shake). Or do boar brushes just not work that well with creams? Thanks for any and all input. I like this brush either way, and I'm determined to make it work one way or another![/QUOTE] Sounds like you don't have enough water in the SC because the boar is new and hasn't split and isn't broke-in yet where it will absorb a lot of water. The slime is because it (the SC) needs more water to foam and you have squeezed and shook all the water out of the boar brush. (It's new and hasn't absorbed as much water as it will in the future.) That's just my humble opinion but you might put extra water (not too much at a time) and try to get the mix ratio correct. All the bristles do is transport the water to the mix and act as a stir stick and it sounds like it's not carrying enough water. Badger brushes have more of a capillary action which holds the water in the knot of hairs and the boars actually absorb the water into the bristles if I'm not mistaken. Hope that helps!
Both badger and boar will get broken in with use but the badger doesn't change much whereas the boar changes quite a bit.
This is weird. Alot of you say your boar brushes smell. I just got mine yesterday and It has no smell... Its an omega, so its not fake =P
Of my three Omega brushes: The 10049 stank to high heavens and took over a month of everyday use to get rid of the stink. The 10098 stank but only took about two week of everyday use before it lost it's smell. The 11574 didn't stink a bit. Now I got the 49 almost five years ago, the 98 about four years ago, and the 574 a year and a half ago. Maybe the company has come up with a way to get rid of the smell. I really don't know. Glad yours didn't stink! Enjoy.
My 1305 just arrived last night. I got a tremendously thick lather out of mine very quickly. The stiffer bristles did a better job of whipping it up vs. my best badger. Hang in there. Once you get the water ratio right it will all come together!