Jaguar #783 Shaving Brush

One of my first new boars. I like handmade brushes, so I got myself one of these. Like the OP stated it really shows it has been handmade , but I do not mind the small imperfections. The brush delivers and that's what counts for me. I get good lather with it, both with cream and with soap. The brush feels good on the face, and can be used for face lathering (what I do most), so for me it is a good brush for a good price.

I first heard about Jaguar brushes from one of Badger & Blade's Macedonian members, northpaw, in late September. Jaguar brushes are of Turkish origin, manufactured by a company by the name of Teknik. While they are not bad brushes, you'll see there are some minor issues with these brush or at least there was with the one I received.

Price: I recieved my Jaguar #783 from Amazon.com for $8 US plus the cost of shipping, not all that bad all things considered. But make no mistake it's definitely a budget boar if there was ever one.

Quality: Okay, where to begin? This brush has it's good points and it's bad points. On the positive side, the knot is fairly well constructed. It hasn't fallen apart on me like my VDH boar, or does it shed. I've maybe lost a total of 15 to 20 bristles since I started using it around two months ago, most within the first few days. And speaking of bristle the tips were already soft when the brush first arrived, which is definitely a plus if you're impatient when it comes to breaking in a boar brush.

Now for the bad. The biggest problem with this brush is the apparent lack of workmanship that Jaguar puts into to their Professional Shaving Brushes. It is fairly well varnished, although there are a number of cosmetic issues with my brush. Among other things, the paint job on the brush isn't the best as there were a few splotches of paint that shouldn't be there under the logo, and there was also what appeared to be bits of plastic randomly imbedded in the paint on the bottom of the brush. It also appear as if they used maybe a tad too much glue in the knot, as there's a couple of spot around where the knot meets the handle where the glue has seeped up into the bristle. Minor gripes that in no way affect the performance of the brush to be sure, but still not something you would want to see of any brush in my honest opinion.

Density: Not the densest brush I have, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's probably most on par with a Vulfix boar in terms of density, which is to say it's neither too dense nor is it not dense enough. Very much middle of the road.

Stiffness of Tips: It has a pretty decent amount of backbone to it. While not super stiff and scrubby, it just about right amount of backbone one would want from a boar.

Softness of Tips: The brush comes already softened. The bristle is wonderfully soft and contains no apparent clipped bristle. When it comes to this area, the #783 excels.

Ergonomic: The handle is a bit too long for my tastes and could use a bit of a taper toward the top to help give a better grip, but it does have a nice bit of heft to it.



For those of you that are curious, the overall dimensions of the brush are as follows:

Loft height: 55 mm
Knot diameter: 20 mm
Handle height: 61 mm
Overall height: 116 mm

Latherability: The #783 generates lather rather easily right out of the box, and it works well with both creams and soaps.


Overall, the Jaguar #783 boar brush isn't the greatest in the world. The quality could be better in many respects, but it does work well. Honestly, I think it is a better brush than the widely available Van Der Hagen boar, mostly because it doesn't shed like a dog with mange.

So is it a good brush? Yes and no. It'll work fine, great even, especially for a $8 brush, but for $1 more you could get an Omega boar with much higher quality workmanship from West Coast Shaving, for example, or a Semogue boar starting at about $16 or so from Vintage Scent.