Am I doing it wrong? Badger vs. boar help plz

[Geordon]

Well, I decided to mix it up some today. I usually use my silvertip badger, but wanted to revisit the boar to see if I could get it to work any better. The result was a (barely, IMO) SAS. The lather from the boar was thin and the brush seemed to just drop every bit of lather that I was able to generate. I was able to just barely squeak out 2 passes, but the second was with almost no lather at all. The brush felt decidedly un-slick and didn't leave much more than a hint of lather on my face. The first pass lather wasn't any great shakes, either. At least I don't have any irritation. Might have some stubble, but no bumps.

I followed the same process for prepping the brush that I do with my badger: Fill my scuttle reservoir and bowl with hot tap water and let the brush sit in it for a few minutes. Take brush out of bowl, empty scuttle, refill reservoir, flick brush a couple of times to get most of the water out. Then I loaded the brush on the soap a good "long" (30-45 seconds) time until I had the tips pretty well clumped with soap. Whirl brush around in the scuttle bowl for about a minute in order to (try to) create lather. That didn't look right, so I whirled a little more, and got some "almost-lather" going.


Did I do something wrong using my boar? Can someone with a little more boar vs. badger experience tell me what I might be able to do in order to get better lather from the boar? (Do I need to upgrade to a better boar?"

 

[Schwert]

Boar and Badger hold differing amounts of water. You just need to find the right amount of shake out or squeeze out of water prior to loading from the puck.

I tend to squeeze both boar and badger brushes almost dry then load the soap. Adding water as needed to make lather (on my face as I don't bowl lather...but the same principles apply).

Too much or too little water is the issue.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Sounds sort of typical for boar. You won't get the body of lather that you get with badger. But are you shaving, or are you making a lemon meringue pie? A Kool Whip face is not necessary for a decent shave. I enjoy a luxurious pile of lather on my face, but I am realistic about getting it from a boar brush. What I DO get from boar is a good exfoliation and a pleasant feeling. Badger doesn't make my face feel as alive as a boar brush.

 

[gaj90027]

I bowl lather with badger and boar using the same method for both types of brushes. I squeeze the brush almost dry before loading the soap because it's easier to add water than take it away. I load just as much soap regardless of the brush and always have enough lather for 3 passes + touch up. My current brush rotation is Rooney 3/1 Pure Badger, EJ Medium Best Badger & VDH Boar brush (soon to be replaced with a Semogue 1438 ).

 

[jrowen]

My experience with badger vs. boar is Semogue 730 (slivertip ) vs. Semogue 1305/830 (boar). What can I say, I like Semogues. I find that I need to keep more water in the boar brush when loading (I just let the water drip out until it stops dripping on its own), and I have to load the boar brush for a MUCH longer period of time (1-2 min). With my boar, I load until I consider what's in the brush to be almost of a "cream" consistency. When I do this (as recently as this morning in fact), I can easily get 3 passes. However, I do find that badger is much easier to load. I agree with the previous statements that the water ratio (and the amount of soap in the brush) is what I had to play with to make the boar work for me.

- Jason

 

[Joe Edson]

I think it also depends on how broken in your boar is. I've owned the semogue 620 for 2 months and it can easily hold enough lather for 4 passes. Not so much when I first got it - probably 2 passes.

Recently I've bought the semogue 2000 and it is taking some time to produce a consistent lather as well. Can really only hold enough for 2 passes. In time as it is more broken in I expect that to change.

Maybe your boar just need to be broken in longer.

 

[40boy]

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Maybe your boar just need to be broken in longer.

I think so too. It took about 10 attempts until I started getting good lather with my Omega boar. Now, after shaking and squeezing out most of the excess water, 30-40 seconds on the puck will produce plenty of lather for 3 passes +.

 

[JPDyson]

I think it's a well known trait of Boar that it performs much better after broken in. I've got about three uses on my Semoque 1470, and it's got a while before I'd call it "good".