Lol….I had one come off on my face today….newer Omega boar.
boar brushes overrated?
- Thread starter jonwilson
- Start date
I have tried 5, mostly Omega.....
The last one.....still trying to brake them in.....and tried every method posted online.....is the wooden handle on the picture.
Looked nice, did not smell out of the box.......washed w dish detergent and it started to reek...... Have soaked in cold and warm water, lathered w shampoo, now lathering w Arko (which I do not like) but trying for the brush to soften and not to stink.....
This one is a shedder......I can identify w the original poster......this one keeps shedding.....wins a medal......
Of the brushes in the pict. the white EJ is mediocre......and the only good one (after working hard to brake them in) is the mighty midget....which is a mixed boar/badger......
Even the last synthetic I got: a set from @[email protected], brush and blades for $6.81 shipped.....that one brush that I thought would be useless......beats every boar I have tried......
I had really high hope for this wood handle Omega.....finally going to get one that works like a charm......; so far nothing.....will keep lathering w Arko.....one of them should win......or else: both will take a trip to the unknown .
And that cheap synthetic.... I had no idea nor hope that it would work well..... It is indeed the worst synthetic I have....but it still beats all the boars I have....and even some badgers.....
The last one.....still trying to brake them in.....and tried every method posted online.....is the wooden handle on the picture.
Looked nice, did not smell out of the box.......washed w dish detergent and it started to reek...... Have soaked in cold and warm water, lathered w shampoo, now lathering w Arko (which I do not like) but trying for the brush to soften and not to stink.....
This one is a shedder......I can identify w the original poster......this one keeps shedding.....wins a medal......
Of the brushes in the pict. the white EJ is mediocre......and the only good one (after working hard to brake them in) is the mighty midget....which is a mixed boar/badger......
Even the last synthetic I got: a set from @[email protected], brush and blades for $6.81 shipped.....that one brush that I thought would be useless......beats every boar I have tried......
I had really high hope for this wood handle Omega.....finally going to get one that works like a charm......; so far nothing.....will keep lathering w Arko.....one of them should win......or else: both will take a trip to the unknown .
And that cheap synthetic.... I had no idea nor hope that it would work well..... It is indeed the worst synthetic I have....but it still beats all the boars I have....and even some badgers.....
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Truth. There are good quality brushes out there as well as poor quality ones. I think a good quality boar is just as good as good quality badger or synthetic brushes
PS:
I can appreciate that the notion of surface tension may come across as an opaque "fact" to someone who has never heard of or thought about surface tension before. Surface tension is the very foundation of shaving brush mechanics, and the reason shaving brushes can function as such at all.
In case you want to better understand how this is so, there are a number of instructive sites available on the topic. I suggest you Google your way to a resource that matches your level and desire for instruction. Try googling (e.g.) "surface tension explained", or something similar.
On surface tension specifically in the context of (boar) shaving brushes, one resource I can recommend is the widely acclaimed "Zach's beginners guide to boar brushes". It is widely cited and is copied to various sites
If need be, I hope this can help to demystify the hard and objective facts of surface tension I referred to in my previous posts
I can appreciate that the notion of surface tension may come across as an opaque "fact" to someone who has never heard of or thought about surface tension before. Surface tension is the very foundation of shaving brush mechanics, and the reason shaving brushes can function as such at all.
In case you want to better understand how this is so, there are a number of instructive sites available on the topic. I suggest you Google your way to a resource that matches your level and desire for instruction. Try googling (e.g.) "surface tension explained", or something similar.
On surface tension specifically in the context of (boar) shaving brushes, one resource I can recommend is the widely acclaimed "Zach's beginners guide to boar brushes". It is widely cited and is copied to various sites
If need be, I hope this can help to demystify the hard and objective facts of surface tension I referred to in my previous posts
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Overrated?...more like underrated!
Fancy badger brushes and super easy to use synthetics have overshadowed boar brushes.
But I get the most rich & creamy lather from boar brushes!
Boars are the least efficiency in terms of product use but the lather produced is well worth it!
Fancy badger brushes and super easy to use synthetics have overshadowed boar brushes.
But I get the most rich & creamy lather from boar brushes!
Boars are the least efficiency in terms of product use but the lather produced is well worth it!
First "dude" isn't negative, condescending or inappropriate and my saying it isn't against the rules. Second, please show me where I said that boar bristles aren't thicker than synthetic? I didn't claim that and I think you know that. Don't twist my words because you're annoyed at being called out.
I challenged your implication that synthetics releasing less lather due to that single characteristic was "objective physics" when that's just one variable among a great many that decide how brushes behave. There's too many dynamic variables interacting with each other to draw such a shallow conclusion. To claim that that single characteristic is the primary reason for boars supposedly less lather as "objective physics" you'd need to isolate that single variable against another other controls with those single variables isolated then prove through measurable experimentation that it's true, then repeatedly show through measurable experimentation that your conclusion remains true even after adding every single other variable back in without variation in your results...but it's just shaving, so course you're not going to do that, and neither am I, but as somebody with a degree in Astronomy, which is mostly physics (hence my annoyance) if you really want compare our knowledge of the scientific method, then by all means....let's.
Or...we can just recognize that shaving brushes obviously aren't important enough to examined by the scientific community, which means neither your nor i have "objective" conclusions, which means you shouldn't be jumping on jonwilson's comment implying that him having a different experience is akin to "hallucination" while yours is "objective physics", when neither is true. His opinion was just as valid even though it didn't come with a dollar store claim of factuality.
Precisely
if you don't mind having to load the extra soap, which those among us with dozens of soaps likely do not, they're well worth the extra soap. A badger that nails the backbone/splay ratio is a special thing...but a fixed thing. The perpetual evolution of a boar has its own special appeal.
If assurance that a brush will 'just work' is what you're after, then synthetics are going to be hard to beat, but of you're willing to give boars another go then I'd like to recommend you try a Zenith boar. I only have two Zenith but both have a bristle loss rate considerably lower than my semogue and Omegas. Plus they just have a different feel to them. The QC is just on another level, as neither zenith had a single upside down fiber. I literally couldn't find one. Even my SOC required hours or pruning to get the inverted fibers out as Semogue's premium most offering.
So I ask you (once again):
What more specific "variables", apart from surface tension, do you think tangibly affect the water (lather) retention capacity of a shaving brush?
And not least, how more specifically do you suggest these work (in terms of cause and effect)?
I’ve had a $4 VDH boar brush for 15 years. Use it every other shave. Works very well.
gents, let's not beat this dead horse any further!
I have one question:
has anyone used 1/2" of bleach on a boar brush....... maybe soften or split tips??
I have seen concentrated bleach to tips of badger, and those are then called "gel tips"......
Anyway.....I have nothing to lose.....and if someone has tried regular bleach to a new or slightly used boar brush.....info is more than welcome.
Thanks
has anyone used 1/2" of bleach on a boar brush....... maybe soften or split tips??
I have seen concentrated bleach to tips of badger, and those are then called "gel tips"......
Anyway.....I have nothing to lose.....and if someone has tried regular bleach to a new or slightly used boar brush.....info is more than welcome.
Thanks
Just for grins, think about same procedure for a synth knot!
The funny thing is I think some have given boar the gel tip treatment. I never bothered reading it as I couldn't stomach it. I'm certain it's just a search away here. Not interested in searching for such a travesty.
Using boar brushes have made me question the value of expensive brushes(badger or otherwise).
To me both boar and badger brushes are enjoyable. I think the reason why boar brushes are less expensive than badgers is because there’s more pigs being harvested for food, medical care and other purposes than badgers being harvested for human use. So therefore “boar” bristles are more readily available as a byproduct of pork consumption than badger hair being available as a byproduct
This little boar brush costs about £5 here in the U.K. . Less than my wife’s fancy herbal tea bags.
It makes a lovely lather with cream or hard soap and deposits it on my face in a pleasing fashion.
I vote that boar brushes are actually
a bit underrated. Had some top shaves this December all using the humble boar for lather duties. I like badger as well though. I also own 1 synthetic and that works too.
Overall I agree that boars are underrated. But here on B&B I think think they’re fairly well represented based on the number of SOTD posts that have boar brushes and the number of posts in the DecemBOAR thread
