I recently acquired a new brush. The handle is fantastic and I wanted a boar knot in it. It's a tall knot. Not quite sure of the dimensions but it's pretty tall. I cleaned it by soaking in Dawn Dishwashing liquid and hot water for a little bit and rinsing it out. Then I used it yesterday for the first time. I have 16 other brushes, some of each (badger, boar, synthetic) and all different sizes. Not one of them seems to hog lather the way this one does. My first pass provided a luxurious layer of lather. My second pass less so. My third pass was very thin and my touch up even thinner. I loaded the brush for a little over 60 seconds and worked it up in a bowl. I guess my question is that not having encountered a lather hog before, what do I need to do to make sure I have enough lather for a 3 pass plus touch up shave? I'm guessing the answer is just load the brush longer but thought I'd throw it out there to see if I'm missing something. Happy Holidays to everyone!
Brushes that Hog Lather
- Thread starter MntnMan62
- Start date
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
I hate that. My only suggestion is to squeeze lather out and up on the remaining passes.
I often have trouble with tall boar knots because they seem to eat up lather for days. What I do to combat this issue is load heavy as you'd imagine. However, I load heavy with enough water in the brush. If I load heavy while the brush is dry, it won't do much. However, if I load with enough water in the brush or add more drops while loading, the bristles will mix well with the water/soap, creating a shining lather even before you begin lathering. That's the key to having enough lather for me.
Soak the brush for a good while so it is fully saturated and then try the Marco method. A bit messy, but you should have plenty of lather and it should not dry out on you.
- Thread starter
- #5
I guess I'll soak the brush a little longer than the two minutes I have been. And then I'll load for a bit longer, about 90 seconds and see how that works. If it doesn't improve I may remove the knot from my Omega 10066 and stick it in this new handle. We'll see how things go.
If it's a new boar knot it may take a little time to brake in, have the hairs split yet
- Thread starter
- #7
I've only used it once but I have to say it's surprisingly soft.
Let it break in. We love the Omega 26mm boar, it's probably a 70mm loft.
It was a lather hog, but after the hairs split and it broke in, it just goes for days with a full bowl.
It was a lather hog, but after the hairs split and it broke in, it just goes for days with a full bowl.
I find that squeezing as much water out of the brush (after soaking it for five minutes or so) allows me to load the soap efficiently out of the tub--15 or 20 seconds or so--with no soapy mess. I then feel prepared to add quite a bit of water to the scuttle to bring the soap to life. These days, the only boar brushes I use are Semogue Owners Club, in Cherry, White (ceramic?), and Amber.
- Thread starter
- #10
I like the Omega knots as well but this one is not an Omega knot. I don't know what kind of knot it is. The other issue I have with it, and I didn't mention this earlier, is that for that first shave it shed like crazy. There were hairs all over my face. It was starting to tick me off. I've never had a brush that shed like that ever so I am going to keep a close eye on it. If it continues to shed like that I'm going to reach out to the seller. But I'm going to give it a few shaves to calm down. Hopefully this is only "new brush" shedding.
So, I'll soak it for about 5 minutes, shake it twice before loading, and will load for about 90 seconds. If I can't work up enough lather for my typical shave or it continues to shed a lot, the knot will be removed and replaced with something I know will work.
What soap are you using? Maybe a triple milled soap which needs a lot of load time.
The large knot badger brushes I have load okay but hog a lot of lather in the knot.
- Thread starter
- #13
For that shave I used Moon Soaps Old School. It's not really an overly hard soap.
+1! Give it some time and the brush may improve dramatically!
I used to have a Semogue Owner's Club brush that I loved but was a lather hog. It got a bit better over time but it was always a lather hog and the only real solution I found was to load it heavy and to not use so much pressure with it.
I found that using pressure and really splaying the knot would just push the lather up into the knot.
I found that using pressure and really splaying the knot would just push the lather up into the knot.
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
That sounds like an unusual amount of shedding
Like, more than 5-10 hairs? If it does it again definitely reach out to the seller, there's an issue with the knot. If you don't get a resolution from them, maybe it's time for a new knot lol.
- Thread starter
- #18
Yes. More than 5 -10 hairs. I'll give it one more shave. If it continues then yes, there is an issue with the knot. The seller is a great vendor so I'm not worried about working with him.
My first brush was Grand Dad's (now 100 years old) Ever Ready Boar brush. It's a small brush that lathers great & holds enough soap. I've gone on to get other smaller-knot (cheap Chinese E-Bay) brushes, both badger & sythetic. I get great lather & there's always enough for another pass or 3 if needed.
Watching some of the more popular Shaving Videos on Youtube, all the celebrity shavers gravitate towards the larger, spendy name-brand brushes. Never saw the need for a pricey brush, but did accumulate some synthetic and badger brushes that are considerable larger than my daily brushes.
They all load up a bushel of lather & I suppose I could just use more soap, but it's just as easy to simply wring it out & use the resulting lather. There's always a ton of leftover soap.
It seems wasteful & it feels like slapping on the lather with a friggin' Floor Mop
Watching some of the more popular Shaving Videos on Youtube, all the celebrity shavers gravitate towards the larger, spendy name-brand brushes. Never saw the need for a pricey brush, but did accumulate some synthetic and badger brushes that are considerable larger than my daily brushes.
They all load up a bushel of lather & I suppose I could just use more soap, but it's just as easy to simply wring it out & use the resulting lather. There's always a ton of leftover soap.
It seems wasteful & it feels like slapping on the lather with a friggin' Floor Mop
- Thread starter
- #20
Also, I thought about shaving today but decided if I shave with that brush and it sheds all over the place I'll just get ticked off. I don't want to get ticked off on Christmas, even though I'm a Jew, who married a shiksa. I'll shave tomorrow and take it from there.
