I finally got a 3 pass shave out of boar with face lathering and lather to spare.

[SliceOfLife]

Took using creams to figure out what the problem was. So I used proraso red with a badger brush the other day. Deedumdee. Good shave... but I had just enough lather for three passes with a pea sized bit of cream. Today I figure what the hell, use a boar. I grab my SOC because I've been playing with my 1470 a lot lately and haven't touched it. Lather up with almost twice the cream as the previous time and start face lathering. When I'm done lathering up I check the brush and curse boars. Same amount of lather as my badger made with half the cream. "How is this even possible", I ponder. Well, still looks like it'll be just enough.

Pass one goes fine. Lather's good. I start lathering up for pass 2. And there is no freaking lather.

What... The... HELL! Boars were stingy with facelathering in the past, but this is unbelievable. I can't even get a THIN coat on my face. I squeeze it out and soapy water comes out. No lather at all. At this point I'm upset. How the hell was this damn brush holding so much water it broke down two passes worth of lather in SECONDS. I stick it back in the mug to soak and look for a soap to finish my shave (didn't feel like "wasting" more cream). I have a bowl of Klar Kab there that is just a bit too full for the lid to sit right, so I grab it.

I am NOT lathering three times for this shave. I grab that knot and I wring it like we're in a life or death struggle. I get that knot dry and I hit that soap. I swear I had a half a freaking OUNCE of soap on that brush by the time I was done. I lather up again (starting to really like this Klar Kab, third time in a row it gave me really solid lather) and finish pass 2. Look at the brush and amazingly it looks fine. I lather up. Pass three. Hell with it! I lather up again for the fourth pass. WHY NOT? I go for a final pass on my neck.


3.5 passes out of a face lathering with a boar and I had lather to spare at the end. Lather didn't seem to break down at all.

That does it. I am wringing boars from now on. Shaking is just not enough. Finally I can put these brushes back into my rotation without having to feel unsatisfied with their performance. Funny part is I've wrung boars before trying to solve the lack of lather in later passes but I guess I was just too timid with the brush to really get enough water out. Who knows, maybe some day I'll be one of you crazies who prefers them to badgers.



That said, I hope my soc has a bit more of a break-in left, because if not, I think I prefer the face feel of the 1470 to it, and that'd just be embarrassing.

 

[Rattbones]

Horse hair is a nice mix, soft but still firm. Builds a nice lather on the face but won't be tearing your skin off. Got my Vie-Long Beehive horsehair from BullGoose, highly recommended.

 

[VT_Hokie]

I had been using Semogue boars exclusively for the past 2-3 years. Where they fell short for me was exactly like you said, I face lather and they just simply don't hold enough lather for a full 3 pass shave. I attribute this to their lack of density like you get with a badger.

Need a quick 1-2 pass shave? Sure, grab a boar and your favorite soap and go to town.

In the past month or so, I've bought a Duke 3 in best and a Semogue SOC 2-band badger and haven't looked back.

They each have their place in the den, but I am really enjoying badger at the moment.

 

[lt114]

After using Semogue boars for a couple of months, I figured out how to not release all of the lather on the first pass. It's difficult to explain how I do it, but there is a trick to it. Also, a long loading time doesn't hurt.

I will have to try your method also. That sounds interesting.

 

[Danricgro]

I don't have any trouble getting three passes out of my SOC, 830, or 1305. I use the Marco method with the soft soaps, Cella, Proraso etc. And wring the brush out with the hard ones. Lather to spare.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Where they fell short for me was exactly like you said, I face lather and they just simply don't hold enough lather for a full 3 pass shave. I attribute this to their lack of density like you get with a badger.

Need a quick 1-2 pass shave? Sure, grab a boar and your favorite soap and go to town.

Yeah that's pretty much how I've looked at them for the past couple years. Tried and tried to get them into my rotation, but they always seemed to hold too little lather. I'll try one again today with a normal amount of soap to see, but it seems that they just hold so much water in the bristle (which the lather wicks out while it sits during shaving), that the water redissolves the lather... degrading it if there's a ton (what I've had with soaps all this time) or flat out destroying it if there isn't (what happened with the cream). If that's right, I feel silly for not figuring it out sooner.

 

[rajagra]

Pretty much what I found. My boars finally started working acceptably when I squeezed the water out and loaded enough soap for the brush instead of loading enough for the shave.
IMO boars work badly if you leave any part of the knot waterlogged instead of lather-logged. The plain water attacks the lather.

 

[merkur59]

IMO, it is a matter of getting to know the behaviour of each brush and the soap/cream
Never have problems for 3 or more passes with boars or badgers or syn, once I figure each out after a few shaves.

 

[OldSaw]

Have you tried cleaning your brushes with shampoo or borax? I've found this to be helpful. I've been using boars for many years with few problems. Occasionally I have had problems, especially when traveling and using different water every day, but most of the time I have enough for 3 passes. I also have no problem going back to the soap or adding a smidge of cream if necessary.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Used semogue 1470 for todays shave. I do prefer the knot feel of the 1470 to the SOC a bit, though the SOC definitely holds more lather. Four passes today and was cutting it close on lather. Might have squeezed a fifth out if I wanted it, but just barely. About what I expect from some smaller badgers. Lathering went smoothly. It seems that the only problem was as Rajagra suggested, that I was "leaving part of the brush waterlogged". By squeezing the knot prior to loading, I can't say I found the lather inferior to what I get from a typical badger brush. It took quite a bit longer to make the lather but it held up nicely. I may even go back to the SOC again tomorrow to see if I can't get it a bit more broken in. Maybe give it another shot at the Proraso Red and see if that goes any better this time.