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hard puck soaps and brush selection.

there is a lot to be read about in these forums about the classic hard puck soaps and lathering.

I do not see a whole lot of commentary about brush selection differences.

so I ask, what are your thoughts on this? Badger or Boar?

I only ask this because today while trying to perfect a d.r. harris soap I discovered that my cheap perfecto badger produced a superior lather compared to my 1305. in my mind this should not be.....but I cant argue with empirical observations.

and before pointing out some techniques......I have tried a lot of the suggestions I've gleamed from these pages.

thoughts or experiences on this greatly appreciated.

camo
 

rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
The only difference I have found with brushes and hard (triple-milled) soaps is that a softer (floppier? less dense?) brush simply takes a little longer to fully load (10-15 secs maybe). Other than that, not much difference IMO.
 
I love hard soaps. But use either type of brush with them with the same results.

Softer brushes may need more load time, though.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk
 
I find it just comes down to loading time and not much else.
As long as I get enough soap loaded into the brush, it's going you create a great lather.

It may be 15 seconds for an artisan soap and 30 for a triple milled soap.
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
There are floppy badger/boar brushes and very stiff badger/boar brushes. I agree with everyone that there is no preference between any badger or any boar.

Every brush has it's characteristics and requires a little experimentation to perform it's best. If you're looking for short load times get something huge and stiff.

If you're looking for good lather you can do that with any brush if you simply load as long as necessary and then build the lather as long as necessary.

I use both at home and synthetics when I travel and make the same lather with all three.
 
Trial and error works for me. The ‘quickest’ approach is often to stick with one brush and one soap for a number of shaves until I figure out what works best!
 
The only thing I change up with very hard soaps is I make sure to really squeeze the water out of badgers with hooked/'gel' tips before loading. Otherwise, the retained water in the tips tends to make the protolather froth up immediately.
 
With 9 brushes and 20+ soaps, I'm always trying different combinations. However with my well water, I favor my 2-band Thaters (4125/1 and 4125/2) with harder soaps (like Harris).
 
Hard soaps and refill pucks (if they're not already stuck into a container or mug) can also be used like shave sticks. Just take the loose puck: rub it all over your wet face and then just face-lather with any brush. Takes all the guesswork out of loading time, brush selection, etc. I do this with Williams and Razorock's new set of WhatThePuck soaps.
 
Having been a Super and Best Badger man most of my life I can attest to the excellent ability of my SYNTHETIC Simpson Chubby 2. Loads hard soaps well, keeps soap in brush well through 3 passes, very comfortable, and relatively affordable (compared to same brush in better badger grades). Boar brushes lather well for me too, but I prefer synthetics now.
 
maybe my hard water situation favors the badger with this specific soap.

camo

If you don’t have a newer synthetic you should try one. For $15 you can pick up a tremendously good synthetic that will lather a hard soap in hard water better than a badger or boar. I am not trouncing the latter two, but synthetics absolutely have a leg up for the type of problem you’re describing.
 
If you don’t have a newer synthetic you should try one. For $15 you can pick up a tremendously good synthetic that will lather a hard soap in hard water better than a badger or boar. I am not trouncing the latter two, but synthetics absolutely have a leg up for the type of problem you’re describing.
Yes, what John says. He’s the man!
 
I used all my brushes basically the same. I find that I need to load my Omega Boar and Omega S-Brush the most with soap before lathering especially the Boar which seems to be a lather hog. My DSCosmetic Synthetics work no problem with any of my soaps. My Horse Hair is just a pain because it knots up with lots of swirling and it needs to be combed out often. My Badger is a Pure Badger from AOS, and it works great. Used it for about 5 years so far. Overall I find I can adjust load times to get the lather I want for the number of passes I want.
 
may have to look into a yaqi tuxedo from amazon to see then.

so.....with hard water situations brush selection may make a difference.

camo
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
there is a lot to be read about in these forums about the classic hard puck soaps and lathering.

I do not see a whole lot of commentary about brush selection differences.

so I ask, what are your thoughts on this? Badger or Boar?

I only ask this because today while trying to perfect a d.r. harris soap I discovered that my cheap perfecto badger produced a superior lather compared to my 1305. in my mind this should not be.....but I cant argue with empirical observations.

and before pointing out some techniques......I have tried a lot of the suggestions I've gleamed from these pages.

thoughts or experiences on this greatly appreciated.

camo
I use badger for creams and boar for hard soaps.
 
...may have to look into a yaqi tuxedo from amazon to see then.
so.....with hard water situations brush selection may make a difference...
You might want to experiment with a gallon of distilled water from the supermarket. Some people collect rainwater for shaving.

WCS has a pretty decent selection of Yaqi brushes, cheaper than Amazon if you qualify for free shipping.

Yaqi makes camo pattern brushes, BTW. You might have to order from AliExpress, which is kind of a drag.

Italian Barber has a very inexpensive tuxedo called the Snowman, which is modeled after an older Simpson handle. Not to mention some of the others they have.
 
Perhaps a new badger is more "scrapy" on the puck than a broken in boar. But it could also be the loft or density differences between the brushes. Or even fan vs bulb shape. Since the boar bristle is stiffer in general you might feel the same resistance when loading but be applying more more pressure on the puck with the badger. All that is just speculation.
 
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