Attn: Experienced boar folk

[ChesterPulley]

I am breaking in my Semogue 830 currently and love the challenge of it but have been having some troubles. I looked up that tutorial on using a boar brush with italian soft soaps and it helped with some of the problems but I come to you now in my time of need.

I am not getting a crazy amount of lather on the brush! My badgers usually overflow with my soap even with my face covered. When I face lather with my Semogue, I get one perfect, wet pass and then one subpar pass (though still nice and wet) and by the time I get to my third pass theres almost no lather in the brush! Is this normal with a boar? Or am I missing something?

I follow the advice of the tutorial I mentioned. I soak, let drain but do not shake and then apply to my soap puck using light pressure and small circles for about 2 minutes, then work it into my face. It sits bristles down in my gravy boat scuttle between passes.

 

[Foyle]

How many times have you used it? The first few uses of a new boar are going to be pretty sub par. After the tips start to split, they perform much better. My 830 took about a week to make a really good lather. Now, even though it's still not fully broken in yet, it makes just as much lather as any of my badgers. Your 830 could take as long as 30 days to fully break in.

I don't use the method of making lather that you described either. I find it too uncontrollable. I shake a little water out of my brush first. I give it a couple of gentle shakes to get the excess water out. I find that works best for me.

 

[talibeard]

Congrats on your Semogue; I am sure you will come to the point where you get 3+ passes out of it.

First a question; how many lathers did you make with your brush? It is hard getting a lot of lather the first 5-10 times of use and you will need a huge amount of soap or return to the puck between the passes. This will improve a lot when you have used it more.

I never soak my boars, at least not for longer than 10 seconds or so, and when I go to the puck my brush is damp rather than wet. It is during face-lathering that I will dip the tips a couple of times in water to get the right quality of lather.

 

[Graybeard57]

I soak mine for at least 5 minutes, than give it a couple of shakes. I also put several drops of water on the soap while the brush soaks.

 

[celestino]

When the 830 is completely broken in, you will find it works a bit better, but boars require much more loading time on the soap than most badgers. Also, don't be afraid or worried about going back to the soap to load the brush for a few more seconds between shaves. Good luck.

 

[Gref]

As the saying goes, "Use more product!".

 

[lt114]

With more use the 830 will perform better. Give it some more time and you will be handsomely rewarded with an outstanding brush.

 

[Ghengis Khandrey]

I find boars don't hold as much water as a badger brush, so I don't shake it out as much before loading, if that makes sense...