Boars, forever smelly.

[heyello]

I've got an omega 10066 and a semogue 830, I've had them for 7-8 months now, and the stink that everyone told me would go away still lingers. I rinse them very well after use, I've soaked them in white vinegar a couple times, I've also used dawn dish soap, nothing will get rid of this stink that completely ruins the scents of my soaps (not even arko is strong enough to get through it unscathed).
Also out of curiosity, does the stink on badger brushes last this long and project this strongly? Obviously, I'd love any advice on how to get rid of this, or is this just something that comes with natural hair brushes?

 

[Quijote]

The animal smell in my badgers dissipated in just a couple of shaves. The scent of my boar is still lingering after about a dozen uses. I have heard that lathering shampoo helps with this, I haven't tried it yet.

 

[heyello]

The animal smell in my badgers dissipated in just a couple of shaves. The scent of my boar is still lingering after about a dozen uses. I have heard that lathering shampoo helps with this, I haven't tried it yet.

That's good to hear about badgers, now I won't have to worry about it when I invest in one. I have tried the shampoo on boars before, I used head and shoulders, didn't do much to help it seems.

 

[musicman1951]

I have only one brush that stank for quite a while - Omega boar.

My SOC never had any noticeable smell - either one. None of my badgers had a funky smell - but I've never tried a cheap badger.

 

[MntnMan62]

I have the Omega 10066 as well as the Omega Pro 49. Both lost the funk after about 3 shaves. They are now among my favorite brushes. None of my badgers retained the funk beyond 3 or so shaves either. I agree, that first soaking released an atrocious odor. But it didn't take long to disappear completely. Maybe write to the seller or manufacturer telling them the odor won't go away. Maybe they'll replace it for you.

 

[bberg100]

Everyone's smelling abilities are different. I've never had a funky brush, and I have several boars, while to others every brush,boar or badger, is funky. Some folks never get past it. If you fall in this camp synthetics may be your salvation.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

I have used boars which took 8 or so uses and a Simpsons pure that stunk for a good 2 weeks.

Try lathering and then letting the brush stay that way overnight!

 

[emwolf]

I've had funk on pretty much every natural hair brush I've owned. The badgers seem to disappear the quickest, although I picked up a vintage rubberset that still had funk. horse seemed to hang around the longest and was easily the most pungent (probably because of the area from whence it came). I'm not a big boar fan because they take the longest to break in to a state where they area really comfortable.

 

[Ron R]

I have a Omega brush and if you have a keen sense of scent it might drive you bonkers for a while.
I still use mine after doing all the wrong things to a brush - but its my brush and so I have that privilege.
I like my boar brush and it has no noticeable funk!
Go synthetic if you have a very keen sense of smell!

 

[BigJ]

I use mostly badgers which have little or no smell after the first week. My boars took a bit more, but the smell was gone after a few weeks. I would continue to use the brush, or consider a shampoo.

 

[Pepin]

I use a Semogue 1305, Omega 49, B&B Essential boar, and an Omege 66. Only the 1305 had a liitle smell at first.
So I must have been luckly, no funk/smell after a few uses from any of my boar brushes.

The same with my horse hair brush.

 

[dfoulk]

Most of my badger brushes haven't been all that bad with the animal scent with it usually going away after a week or two of normal shaves.

There was one brush that required some extra attention though and that was the Whipped Dog Silvertip brush. Larry at Whipped Dog even included a small packet of OxyClean to soak the brush in as that seems to help quite a bit. You might want to try that with your boar brush. This brush was an excellent value but it took more than a month of extra attention to completely rid it of the wet dog smell.

As far as the scent goes what you're smelling (in the case of the silvertip brushes) is the animal oil that's still on the hair. This oil gets removed with enough lathers and then the smell is gone. The problem sometimes is that you're not getting the hair closest to the handle with some lathers, or at least not getting it well enough. I'm not sure if the same is true with boar brushes but I don't remember my old boar brushes keeping the scent around forever. I suspect that lathering the entire knot repeatedly (or shampooing) will remove the oils and the associated scent. Dish washing detergent like Palmolive that boasts about removing grease and oils from your dishes will also do the same for your brushes. I've found this to work slightly better than shampoo or shaving soap in removing the smell.

So I'd try a 30 minute soak in OxyClean followed by a thorough cleaning with dish soap if it were my brush. Maybe repeat the process a couple times followed by a bunch of daily lathers. The more you lather the brush the more the scent will subside.

 

[major_works]

My one boar brush, a Semogue SOC, had no funk at all, ever. Now it just smells like whatever soap or cream I used last.

 

[MntnMan62]

My one boar brush, a Semogue SOC, had no funk at all, ever. Now it just smells like whatever soap or cream I used last.

Makes sniffing your brushes fun. Doesn't it?

 

[major_works]

Makes sniffing your brushes fun. Doesn't it?

It does. I'm an incorrigible brush sniffer.

 

[SmurfK]

Where are you keeping your brushes? If you're keeping them in the bathroom and it's a lot of moisture around, bathroom used by other people after you shaved, then you should think about keeping them in a dry room.
The brushes aren't probably drying where the knot is packed, they keep moisture and they develop bacteria over there.

Also, make sure that you rinse the brushes well after use, shake out the water then dry them on a towel.

I also have 830 and 10066. None of them have any kind of scent anymore, it disappears in a few weeks.

 

[coolcanuc]

Neither of my Omega boars, 10066 and 10083, had any kind of funky smell once I started using them.

 

[Bhugo]

Are they drying out? My 830 was fine in a week.

 

[chente12]

My omega professional boars have taken longer to get rid of the scent, but nowhere near months. Maybe a dozen uses or so. The semogues lost the funky smell after about 5 uses.

 

[MntnMan62]

I don't think boars should be used every day. In other words, you shouldn't use the same boar brush two days in a row. They take longer than badger and synthetic to dry completely. That is why I don't use any brush two days in a row. I've heard some people say their boars are dry in time for the shave the next day but I would bet that the center of the knot is not dry. And unless you inspect it closely, you won't know. Better to be safe and use a brush rotation of 50 to 60 brushes to ensure that each dries before it is used again. Surely I jest. But I do rotate through 3 boars, 2 to 3 badgers and right now 2 synthetics. No smells. And nice dry brushes for each shave.