Boar over Badger

[Nagano21]

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this as well, but I prefer my cheap boar over my badger brush.
I purchased my first badger in a start up kit, it is a Parker heavy chrome. I have used it for the past 6 mo when I decided to get a boar brush (which I as a newb always thought to be inferior to badger). On the recommendation of Joe from Italian Barber, I picked up an Omega Pro series to use with my RazoRock Cream-Soaps. To my surprise the brush felt much better on my face and produced a MUCH better lather, whether in a bowl/mug/face lathering. For the heck of it I went back to the badger this am, almost couldn't even bare using it. Anyone else experience this? For the record the badger I believe retails for +/-$60, boar $10.

 

[VerbaVolant]

The only conclusion I can draw from your post is that Parker brush you have really sucks.

There is badger and then there is badger. The title sounds like a sweeping generalization and your conclusion is based on comparing ONE specific badger brush with the ONE boar brush.
In my opinion a more accurate and correct statement would have been that you prefer your new Omega boar brush to the Parker badger brush you have.

Enjoy your new Omega brush, they are fantastic indeed.

I go back and forth between boar and badger. Sometimes after using a boar I wonder why I even bother with badger. Then I go back to badger and say: Ahaaa, that's why.

 

[Nadir M]

Not I...I'm actually tired and done with boar brushes. I'm strictly a badger guy. My Omega sheds and has a crack in the handle. If I had to buy another boar it would be a Semogue.

 

[CubReporter]

It's funny I saw this thread this morning. I got batch of soaps from some of my meetup crew and decided to break out my Omega boar this morning. I pretty much exclusively use my badger.

I got the brush wet, tried to load it up and wasn't too pleased with the results, but gave it a go at a lather anyway. When I put it on my face, it disappeared like foamy hand sanitizer.

I put that away and grabbed my go-to badger. Same set up, same soap, same treatment. I got a lather that was 1,000 times better.

I'm glad you love your boar brush and seem to get some great use out of it. I'll admit, the fact that I almost never use my boar brush probably contributes to my poor results, but badger just works for me.

As always, YMMV.

 

[Nagano21]

The only conclusion I can draw from your post is that Parker brush you have really sucks.

There is badger and then there is badger. The title sounds like a sweeping generalization and your conclusion is based on comparing ONE specific badger brush with the ONE boar brush.
In my opinion a more accurate and correct statement would have been that you prefer your new Omega boar brush to the Parker badger brush you have.

Enjoy your new Omega brush, they are fantastic indeed.

I go back and forth between boar and badger. Sometimes after using a boar I wonder why I even bother with badger. Then I go back to badger and say: Ahaaa, that's why.

My conclusion as you pointed out, is TOTALLY out of personal experience only. Of course everyones opinion will vary. Maybe my badger does suck? IDK. All I can say is my cheaper boar is beating out my badger... Could this also be due to the fact that I am using a cream/soap blend more? Does badger work better with creams than harder soaps or soap combos?

 

[Jarick]

I have a cheap synthetic, a cheap boar, and a cheap badger. They are all kind of crappy in their own ways. Omega seems to be a great value. Just wish they offered some nicer handles!

 

[Nadir M]

Does badger work better with creams than harder soaps or soap combos?

Depends on how much backbone the badger has. If it has no backbone, then it's probably better with creams. If it has a good backbone, then it can lather soap quite easily.

 

[mistercitizen]

All of my badger brushes are in the $100 to $300 price range, so in that respect any boar brush will beat the badger in price. I'm of the opinion though that the right badger brush will beat out any boar brush when it comes to certain qualities like a luxurious "full" scrubby feel and lather warmth retention. Try a M&F Blonde Badger or Rooney Super Silvertip style 1 size 2, Savile Row 3824 Silvertip, or a Simpson Duke 3 Two Band Super Badger (maybe in Best Badger too.... I've never tried it) and I think those brushes will beat just about any boar. I could come up with a custom Shavemac D01 in 2 or 3 band badger that would beat any of my boars as well. Of course, YMMV.

Ben

 

[oldtrout]

Except for the Da Vinci Uomo 290 that Turtle let us know was $80 shipped (which usually retails for over $200), badger brushes that I prefer over a $20 Semogue 610 are rather expensive. IMO, boar brushes are a great value.

I am currently defunking a Vie Long horse brush(whew!) and by all appearances this is going to be another great brush for not so much money.

 

[breadstick]

I guess I'm in the minority. I am down from about seven badger brushes to two (and I only have one of those because no one would buy it). I am up to about seven boars and love them. I think my Semogue 2011 LE Bristle 2 is my favorite boar, but I don't really feel the need for any more badger brushes.

 

[VerbaVolant]

...certain qualities like a luxurious "full" scrubby feel and lather warmth retention...

Furthermore, one could find the same qualities you mentioned above in less expensive badger brushes. Edwin Jagger SuperBadger brushes, medium size can be found for $40- $45 shipped and they are excellent entry level badger brushes. Even if you go a bit higher, to a Simpson, you can find the same scrubby knot, without any scritch or prickly feel, and plenty of heat retention.

 

[treewhale]

I am totally satisfied with boar over badger. My experiences with each have been with inexpensive brushes. I am sure that if I dropped 5-10 times what I spend on boar brushes on badger, I would be in love with them, but for the sake of my pocketbook I am sticking with boar. I suspect that even the most dedicated badger lovers would have a hard time honestly trying to argue that a well broken in Omega 49 is a bad value at $10.00.

 

[Raven312]

I have 7 badger brushes of various sizes and grades (from 2 band finest to High Mountain), and I have 3 boars - an SOC, Semogue 2030B and a custom brush with Omega knot. I tend to use my boars the most, lately. I enjoy each of them for what they are but really, if I were to cut down to one or two, there would be a boar in the mix. For my face, they have the perfect combination of backbone and silkiness (admittedly, so does my High Mountain badger). It's great when we find something inexpensive that leaves us wanting nothing else. We all know how expensive this "thing" can be.

 

[coolbus18]

Ah brushes and the stuff they're made of! I have 6 shaving brushes, 4 badger and 2 boar. 1 boar is a vintage Made Rite that still whips it up and the other a Semogue 1305. My TGN 22 ff is my work horse, but I do Like the Semogue. Hmmm what to use--wait how about a silvertip for facial soapy luxuriousness? My Italian croaps don't care badger or boar. I use lots of other brushes for calligraphy water colors etc. Some are boar, some horse(phew we missed that one kids) Each being good at what they do. Is a 99 cent plastic piece of junk gonna do what my hand made badger calligraphy brush can? Nope, apples and coconuts! One persons Bach is anothers Aerosmith(huh?) whether one likes or uses or even cares about which type one uses is unimportant to me, what is is--are you satisfied with what you have , does it do what you want?Each to their own no matter what. Enjoy! Hey where's the emoticon for boar?

 

[Chadao]

I started with medium priced generic badger. It was okay. Then I got my first boar, the B&B Essential Green. I loved it. I stopped using the badger...PIFed them. Then I order a Whipped Dog silvertip. I loved it, but the loft was a little too long for my taste. So I was a boar and a badger guy. Next came a Simpson Special Pure Badger. I loved the small knot and the short loft. My two essential boars went into the medicine cabinet. Now, I just received three brushes from Whipped Dog. One silver tip 20mm knot, 45mm loft, and it was love at first shave. I also received one black badger and 1 synthetic. I tried the synthetic this morning. I was extremely soft, and it whipped up a huge lather with La Toja cream. But it doesn't work quite so well in application. I will try it some more. I would love to make this my travel brush.

So, currently, I am a badger guy. My two Essential boars are in the cabinet keeping company with some of my go-to blades and my more expensive colognes and AS's.

 

[gus1942]

This is a recurring thread, and I'm staying out of it. I have too many brushes and keep both boars and badgers in my rotation.

 

[Ron Scott]

I have 2 boars--Omega and Semogue--and 2 badgers--a Duke and a Classic 2. It has always seemed to me that the brush makers get things backwards. Boar hair seems to be of much higher quality overall, while they put the better handles on the badgers.

Go figure…

 

[JPDyson]

I'm a huge fan of boar brushes; my rotation is all boar (I have a couple of Semogue badger/boar mixed brushes, however you'd like to count that). I think it comes down to the properties of boar brushes - the hair is coarser, but the natural tips split into smaller, softer tips. This creates a sense of backbone and yet softness that badger brushes can't quite match. The badger brushes that come close to matching both properties simultaneously tend to be so dense that they're lather hogs.

I believe this is why boar brushes tend to produce a different consistency of lather (not accounting for adjustments to technique). Badger brushes, for me, have a tendency to over-whip and create a "fluffy" lather, whereas with boar, it's easier to get a more dense, creamy lather. The coarseness of individual boar hairs allows space between hairs for lather to flow, but as some have observed, this causes them to hold less water. The solution is pretty obvious - don't shake our your boar brush as much as you do your badgers. They'll seem wetter if you're used to badgers, but that's good. Try it.

Now this is all largely a matter of preference, and boars are not without their downsides. Boar hair is more volatile; it's subject to how long you soak it, as the hairs absorb water over time, so soaking your brush longer makes it softer. I also think boar hair wears out more quickly. I have a well-loved 2009 Semogue LE boar that I am sad to say has lost much of that boar backbone that newer brushes have. They just don't seem to stop breaking in.

 

[Havok305]

I prefer boar. Ended up giving away a crappy badger (tweezerman) and selling my Kent BK8 on BST. I'm sure there are badgers out there that I would enjoy, but boar works well for me, so I am sticking with them.

 

[Dave Deluxe]

In general I prefer boar to badger but I use both.