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Boar Brush Break-in

I actually like a low backbone boar brush.
The semogue 830 being my favorite.

Once it breaks in, the backbone drops away and it feels awesome on the face!

I dislike omega pro & semogue SOC because the knots are just too huge!
 

I have been reading a lot of forum posts and watching videos. I see a lot of people either break in their boar brush by using it or soaking it in water. It made me wonder how many people prefer one over the other? Or are there other methods you have heard of?
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro

I have been reading a lot of forum posts and watching videos. I see a lot of people either break in their boar brush by using it or soaking it in water. It made me wonder how many people prefer one over the other? Or are there other methods you have heard of?


The several days soaking followed by brushing on a towel speeds up the process, but won't get you all the way there. I've done it with a new boar brush but it's not all broken in yet, so I don't know how long it will take. But from what I've read, doing the several day soak and towel thing might take the breakin period from, I don't know, 30 shaves to 15? I have not seen actual numbers posted. But once the tips have split nicely, a good Boar is a joy to use. My preference order is boar, badger, then synthetic (which is a new thing to me).
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
I did the three days in the fridge method, with daily wipes on a towel for my last boar brush. I can't swear it made any difference at all, but some people are very happy with that method.

The easiest way I found was shaving with an older brush, and then after the shave using the bit of left over lather in the scuttle to palm lather (well, work the brush a bit against my palm) for a couple of minutes. If you don't bowl lather you could always just load a bit of soap (soap is cheap).

There seems to be some agreement (amazing, I know) that letting the hairs dry completely is beneficial to the process.

By far the easiest way is to just use the brush and enjoy how it improves over time.
 
I replaced the badger knot on the super shedder badger I had that lead me down the boar path. I used it for the first time yesterday, and I think it might have been a mistake.

New badger brush beats the in-progress-boar-brush hands down, for both face feel and lather production.

I'm going to stubbornly press on with the "just use it" break in method, and I look forward to when it's done, but having that wonderful badger knot already ready to go is pretty nice.

BAD may be coming on hard...
 
Regardless of how you break your new Zenith in, use it at least 40 - 50 times before you decide whether you like it, or not. It takes a lot of use to get a boar brush broken in. Don't think after 5 - 10 lathers it's close to being broken in. Use it & enjoy it! BTW, that Zenith is a marvelous brush!
 
Regardless of how you break your new Zenith in, use it at least 40 - 50 times before you decide whether you like it, or not. It takes a lot of use to get a boar brush broken in. Don't think after 5 - 10 lathers it's close to being broken in. Use it & enjoy it! BTW, that Zenith is a marvelous brush!

Yeah, I'm at 15 or 16 shaves with that brush so far, so I have a ways to go! I'm not giving up yet!

Thanks for the encouragement :D
 
There's a video of an Italian barber saying cold water but that is actually a translation error.

He's actually meaning unheated water from the tap.

Not anything like a refrigerator. Due to a translation error we've got a whole method that has taken the shaving world by storm.

(Sent from mobile)
 
Patina Update:

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It's really nice looking, but it's still a lather hog. I load it until I just push paste around on the puck, and it eats all the lather it makes after/during the first pass. The only way I can use more soap is if I scrape some off of the puck and smush it down into the mug. That and loading the brush seems to be the answer, but I haven't tried Scrape & Smush without loading first. I guess that's next on my agenda.

Is that just a characteristic of dense, fat knots?
 
Dnalle, soak at least for 6min, i got one fully broken boar it makes excellent lather. And i bought excactly same brush, and that makes bad lather, it does have about 15 uses. Boars do "eat lather" (does not generate enough bubbles/lather) for the first 50uses... Just keep using some creams or easy lather soaps that will help in lathering.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Bought this new "Viper" boar brush from Yaqi just recently, the handle is just marvelous in that sparkling glitter in the deep green with white clouded wisps. Feels good in the hand and now I'm going to do use my break in method to bring it to a nice level of enjoyment should be good in 2-3 days for the first shave. Cleaned it with shampoo 5 times and lost about 15 hairs which is normal for a boar? This one has a slight boar funk but we will see how it smells as the days go on.
www.badgerandblade.com

Breaking in a NEW Boar brush a little quicker!
Thought I would do the proper method of breaking in a new 2nd boar brush. My first boar brush attempt of breaking in (4 years ago approx) I read a few articles and tried to remove the funk smell out of the brush because I have a keen sense of smell and did not like it. I used all the wrong...
www.badgerandblade.com
www.badgerandblade.com

Yaqi #1 boar brush NEW Viper.jpg


Have some great shaves!
 
I've never had the patience to properly break in a boar brush. I always go back to one of my badgers or a synthetic that are always good to go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm guessing they're just very different, and personal preference plays a huge role in what's better.

Right now, my lil badger brush is significantly better at building a lather and feels nicer on my face. If I wasn't part of this forum I'd have abandoned the boar brush altogether, or replaced the knot with a badger or synthetic.

I want to experience the broken in boar, so I'm hanging in there :)
 
Patina Update:

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It's really nice looking, but it's still a lather hog. I load it until I just push paste around on the puck, and it eats all the lather it makes after/during the first pass. The only way I can use more soap is if I scrape some off of the puck and smush it down into the mug. That and loading the brush seems to be the answer, but I haven't tried Scrape & Smush without loading first. I guess that's next on my agenda.

Is that just a characteristic of dense, fat knots?
I have similar knot in another Zenith boar brush with about 20 uses.
I'm also doing the just use break-in process.

Frankly the Proraso Professional Boar brush is the fastest to progress in break-in, SOC is second and Zenith is taking it's own sweet time to break-in.

It has the most backbone of all my brushes and still eats up the lather after first pass.

Only thing stopping me from selling it off is the Promised Land of exceptional face feel and luxurious backbone, otherwise it is a true test of patience to break-in 3 boar brushes.

After succeeding in these brushes I'm done with anymore boars as these will serve me for years easily.
 
Would you say a properly broken in boar is equivalent or better than a badger?
well i have an 50€ badger brush (silvertip, all companies got different grades on badger hairs, and that means NOTHING). that is pricky and sticky on my face... But an 3.9€ boar brush after 50 shaves is incredibly soft, so count on this... I only facelather.

So i would say, properly broken in boar is better. Better once broken in and soaked for at least 6min.

Contact vs feedback, wow having 3 boars to break in is incredible at same time. i decided take one by time. And just have2 in my den all the time.
 
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