Does Horse Hair Bristles Ever Split and Soften Like Boar?

[flutewhistler]

Gents:

I've got a V-L horse hair in 50 mane/50 tail that I really like, except that the sritchiness in irritating my face when I face lather. I hate to give up on it; so, I'm wondering: does horsehair ever split and/or soften like boar, or should I give up on this one?

Thanks.

 

[Starkicker]

+1

I'm realizing this as well. I've read that it takes a long time for horse hair to split/soften - somewhere around 80-90 uses?

 

[John Von Wuggz]

Somewhere around 80-90 uses?

80-90? Damn. I'd start using it for a daily practice lather to hit that mark.

 

[shm]

You won't see splitting hairs as you do in a boar.

If you would like it to soften up, you can try and soak (3/4 of the hairs) in water with some hair conditioner.
I have had success with this method with several brushes I have felt to bee too scritchy for my liking.
I will not work miracles and it doesn't help on all brushes, but it will not harm the brush either, so it might be worth a try.

 

[Rothman]

Mine was very scritchy at first but broke in to be as soft as a silvertip. There is no splitting, it just became softer. It took about 2 weeks of daily use to break in but, now it's one of my favorite brushes.

 

[Starkicker]

Which brush do you have? Mine started off mildly scritchy, but after several uses I find it too harsh to use daily. I've had mine for about 2 weeks as well but it seems like it's just getting scritchier.

 

[flutewhistler]

I have the 12061. I love the size for face lathering. 20mm knot, 48mm loft. If I get another brush, I'm going to get it in this size. Great backbone, but man, it's eating me alive. 50 mane/50 tail mix. I did a two hour palm rub on it last night (watching a movie), and my hands are still tender this morning. I did a 5-hour conditioner/water soak this morning, and it feels worse. This brush may stay on bowl duty.

 

[Galhatz]

The tail hairs are the prickly ones, they are about 10mm shorter but if you press hard they poke up. Sometimes they are not short enough though and i read of a chap here that spent some time clipping them. They are supposed to soften over time though.

 

[Rothman]

I have the cheapo 12601 with a 35% mane hair; 65% tail hair mix. That's strange... my brush was noticeably softer after only 2 uses. It has some scritch but not much if any more than a silvertip. Lots of backbone. Maybe you are just pressing to hard as mentioned above. I don't really use much pressure and don't fully splay the brush on my face. When I was doing that, it knotted up the hairs in the center of the brush badly and I had to comb it out.

 

[breitlingman]

I have a couple of Vie-Long horse hair brushes, one is a 63/35 and one is a 50/50... as well as a Badger/Horse 50/50 blend. They seem to start out prickly and poke my face but after some time, maybe 30-60 lathers, they soften up quite a bit and are less prickly.

 

[Starkicker]

I just did a test face lather; it was still very prickly but I used less pressure on my face so that the prickles were less severe. I was still able to generate lots of lather and my face doesn't feel like it was assaulted - the overall shave just took longer.

I'm not going to give up on this brush!