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My first boar brush - what am I doing wrong?

I acquired my first boar brush from west coast shaving last week. It is an omega boar brush that I used for the first time today.

I wanted to see how it would perform against my trusty silver Badger. Boars are supposed to feel more agressive on your face compared to the silver Badger. I did not have any issues with taking the boar to my face with it's bit more aggressiveness.

My experience with it is that the shaving cream I used (tobs ceadareood - first time use) it did not lather up well on my first use. The lather lasted no more than 1-1/2 shaves. On the second lather, it was no better.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to gather a better lather with a boar as I would with a silver Badger?

Thanks.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I acquired my first boar brush from west coast shaving last week. It is an omega boar brush that I used for the first time today.

I wanted to see how it would perform against my trusty silver Badger. Boars are supposed to feel more agressive on your face compared to the silver Badger. I did not have any issues with taking the boar to my face with it's bit more aggressiveness.

My experience with it is that the shaving cream I used (tobs ceadareood - first time use) it did not lather up well on my first use. The lather lasted no more than 1-1/2 shaves. On the second lather, it was no better.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to gather a better lather with a boar as I would with a silver Badger?

Thanks.
Boar brushes work better over time and soak for 2 minutes minium in a cup of warm water prior to making your lather.
The boar brush becomes softer when the bristles become split ends and there are methods to get there faster.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Patience!
Lol, @Ron R , a fine person on Badger and Blade beat me to it!

I've actually had WELL BROKEN IN BOARS given to me! Who in their right mind would DO that? Lol.

I have actually just broken in one Boar brush by using it. I tortured myself with the smell and just used it until I figger it was broke in. I really LIKE "scritch" feel on my face probably 50% of the time, but I have one Badger brush that has been getting a LOT of love in my bathroom (sorry. If my wife happened to read that I called the bathroom a "shave den" she'd make me stop coming on here and take away my Man Card!)
 

ajkel64

Check Out Chick
Staff member
I have found with Boar brushes the best way for me to break them in is to just use the brush. It will eventually break in and be an excellent brush. I do like boar brushes and have a few of them. Most brushes I have found need somewhat of a break in period apart from Synthetics.
 
I picked up my first boar brush (Semogue owner's club) and I had a similar initial experience.

I actually watched and read a bunch about soaking the brush in water for days, rubbing the bristles on towels, etc., but instead followed something I saw kevyshaves do. He spent a few days lathering a hard soap in his hand as an initial break in. I think I did this once or twice at most before just deciding to use the thing and see what happens.

I've used it no more than ten times now and it keeps getting better. I face lather and find loading more than usual off a hard soap helps having lather left for the second and third passes. I suspect after another month of exclusive use it will be fine on the third pass. I do try and lather longer than usual to help with break in. Be careful though, I gave myself a bit of "brush burn" once early on.

I am really loving the "scrubbyness" though and don't doubt that with time and patience yours will get there.
 
I break in new boar brushes the way an oldschool barber taught me.

You take a cup and fill it up with cold water. You put the brush in it to soak.

Make sure the water doesn’t go up to the glue or handle, just a little below.

Gently set the cup with the brush and water into the fridge for 72 hours. This will allow the boar hairs to split which can cause them to almost “Gel” in a way.

After 3 days, take the brush out, ring out the water and give it some heavy duty “swirls” on a clean towel.

Allow a day or so to dry before use (unless your impatient like me and break out the hair dryer on low heat for a couple minutes).

That brush will be primed up and ready to go for 10+ years. It will work with soaps, creams, croaps, whatever you throw at it.

I hope you enjoy your new brush!! :)
 
I acquired my first boar brush from west coast shaving last week. It is an omega boar brush that I used for the first time today.

I own some very expensive, top of the line badger brushes and have always disregarded boar brushes as cheap and inferior. But after reading some threads on here I decided to give them a go and was extremely pleasantly surprised.

My first two boars were an Omega and a Mondial

Right from the start they have been awesome lather machines. And as you keep on using them they just seem to get softer and softer. I'm actually quite surprised how soft mine have become. Certainly not quite as soft as a quality badger and definitely not as soft as a synthetic, but still quite soft enough ... and with far better backbone than both those options.

But as I bowl latherer, what I find most amazing is how much lather all my boars whip up. It's incredible. Maybe our different experience is due to the water. I'm in Adelaide, South Australia which is regarded as having pretty crappy "hard" water


Boar brushes work better over time and soak for 2 minutes minium in a cup of warm water prior to making your lather
This Is definitely correct. They do get noticeably better as you use them. I have noticed improvements even over a 2 week period.

But TBH I hardly soak mine at all before I use them. I just put a bit of water into my bowl, add the brush into the water in the bowl so it can soak and then sort out what shave soap / cream I'm going to use that day. By the time I have made that decision and scooped some out the brush is ready to go. Maybe 1 minute all up.

I'm sure if you let it soak a couple of minutes you would get even better results.
I picked up my first boar brush (Semogue owner's club)
This was my third boar purchase. Basically I put off buying this one first up because I didn't believe that it could be as good as the boar enthusiasts say it is. I was wrong. It's an amazing brush. Creates huge volumes of lather, minimal shedding, great shaped handle, especially for bowl latherers .. and almost as soft as my yaqi synthetic but with better backbone. It's a close second favourite of the 5 boars that I now own.

I break in new boar brushes the way an oldschool barber taught me.
This ^^^ is very good advice. That's basically how I did it

Good luck. I hope that you get it sorted because they are great brushes. I personally prefer them over any other of my brushes now
 
I break in new boar brushes the way an oldschool barber taught me.

You take a cup and fill it up with cold water. You put the brush in it to soak.

Make sure the water doesn’t go up to the glue or handle, just a little below.

Gently set the cup with the brush and water into the fridge for 72 hours. This will allow the boar hairs to split which can cause them to almost “Gel” in a way.

After 3 days, take the brush out, ring out the water and give it some heavy duty “swirls” on a clean towel.

Allow a day or so to dry before use (unless your impatient like me and break out the hair dryer on low heat for a couple minutes).

That brush will be primed up and ready to go for 10+ years. It will work with soaps, creams, croaps, whatever you throw at it.

I hope you enjoy your new brush!! :)
Came here to say this!

I also lather up and leave the brush with lather overnight which seems to help with both break-in and the smell (some new boars can smell a bit funky).

It can still take a few shaves for your boar to stop eating excessive lather, so just load up more than usual for a few shaves!
 
Boar brushes can be very soft at the tips while still having firm backbone. A new boar has to go through a break-in process before it performs well, though. You have to be patient.

Each cycle of wetting and drying will encourage more of the bristles to split at the tip, this softens the brush and improves lather a great deal. You didn't say which Omega brush you have, but I would say give it two or three weeks, at least. You can palm lather with your less expensive soaps during this time. Make sure you soak the bristles for several minutes in a cup of warm water and let the bristles completely dry out before using the brush again. The bristles will split when they are drying.

Boar brushes are ideal for hard soaps, or Italian style soft soaps such as Cella, Proraso, etc.
 
I have found that my boar brushes didn’t produce a satisfactory lather until they were broken in. Once they were through their break-in period and the bristles were soft, they made a great lather.

My break-in process is quite simple. Just use it from day one and enjoy the ride. After 12-15 uses on a hard soap, they were broken in.
 
As many have said lather a hard soap. Either a bowl lather, palm lather, or even face lather. Soak the brush before use, I typically use warm water to soak my brush.

Initially I found more soap was needed. I don't know why, but it seemed the brush was eating soap until broken in. The quantity of soap required should reduce eventually.

My cheap, no name boar has become a super brush over the last 8 years or so.
 
Soak it well, lock it in the the chuck of your cordless drill, spin bristles lightly on concrete or other mildly rough surface until desired plum is achieved. Yes, unorthodox but saves doing 50+ plus shaves to break in.
OK, now you've peaked my curiosity!! As a guy that sold hand and power tools for about 30yrs, what drill do you have that you can chuck up a shave brush into? I think to this day the largest diameter I've ever seen listed is a Jacobs Chuck that will accept a 1" diameter shank and I've never seen a shave brush with that small of a handle to fit that!!
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
OK, now you've peaked my curiosity!! As a guy that sold hand and power tools for about 30yrs, what drill do you have that you can chuck up a shave brush into? I think to this day the largest diameter I've ever seen listed is a Jacobs Chuck that will accept a 1" diameter shank and I've never seen a shave brush with that small of a handle to fit that!!
If you have a ceramic lather bowl the back side is coarse enough if it has not been glazed smooth to rough up the tips possibly, I have never heard of using concreate to soften the tips with a brush chucked in a drill twirling on a cement floor. You just never know what a fellow will do to get his brush soft.:scared: :cuppa::lol:
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I acquired my first boar brush from west coast shaving last week. It is an omega boar brush that I used for the first time today.

I wanted to see how it would perform against my trusty silver Badger. Boars are supposed to feel more aggressive on your face compared to the silver Badger. I did not have any issues with taking the boar to my face with it's bit more aggressiveness.

My experience with it is that the shaving cream I used (tobs ceadareood - first time use) it did not lather up well on my first use. The lather lasted no more than 1-1/2 shaves. On the second lather, it was no better.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to gather a better lather with a boar as I would with a silver Badger?

Thanks.


Some boars require a number of wet to dry cycles to break in.

That number can be pretty high sometimes. Particularly if the knot was on the unbleached side of the equation. I don't have a lot of Omega boars, but I have several and they can be slow to break in.



OmegaBoars.9-27-18.640.JPG



I don't know the particular boar you are using so can't tell you how long it will take to break in, but be patient and you'll be rewarded.

The Jade was slow to break in, as was the Mighty Midget as was the Proraso Pro. I'd say they went through more than thirty wet to dry cycles before being close to broken in. You can use them from day one, but you can also take them out of the rotation and do offline wet to dry cycles. The drying component is crucial.

The Jade, Proraso Pro, and Mighty Midget are, once broken in, knots with a delicious scrub. Excellent knots!

The other two, the 48 and the Italian Flag, were much more broken in from the beginning.

I've not used a bad Omega boar. (The Italian Flag is kinda floppy but I still like it.) Give your boar time. Time here means enough wet to dry cycles.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
My boar brush is the Omega 31020 Banded Boar Shaving Brush. I let it soak for a couple of minutes in hot water before I shaved.

Next shave I will use a hard soap like what you all suggested until it breaks in. I don't think I will use my sample creams as it may use more cream than usual to later up a boar compared to a Badger.
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
OK, now you've peaked my curiosity!! As a guy that sold hand and power tools for about 30yrs, what drill do you have that you can chuck up a shave brush into? I think to this day the largest diameter I've ever seen listed is a Jacobs Chuck that will accept a 1" diameter shank and I've never seen a shave brush with that small of a handle to fit that!!
I was wondering that myself.
 
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