My 3 Day Boar Brush Break In.

[InFESTation]

Well I have just read through this and having just received an Omega 108 decided to give it a go see how it works out.
Here is the virgin brush:~


hopefully I will remember to upload the finished article on Saturday afternoon/evening once it has dried out a touch.

 

[kyproset]

I have a Semogue Boar for two years now, being used more or less regularly. The bristles are as tough as the day I bought it, I did the trick for three days and it improved it a bit, but not to the point of being fully broken in. On the other hand, I put to the same test a new Muhle Boar and it did the trick. Now the Muhle is much softer with split ends while the Semogue is not.

 

[bakerbarber]

I had a Semogue 610 or 620 and used it for years also.

This was after years of using drugstore boar brushes like Surrey and Van der Hagen.

I was wondering when it would be nice. Never happened. Looked awesome. Nice acrylic handle with black socket and all white bristles. Felt like a sink brush.

Then I got an Omega Pro and the RazoRock Blondie boar. That's when I fell back in love with boar brushes.

 

[ColonelHogan]

I had a Semogue 610 or 620 and used it for years also.

This was after years of using drugstore boar brushes like Surrey and Van der Hagen.

I was wondering when it would be nice. Never happened. Looked awesome. Nice acrylic handle with black socket and all white bristles. Felt like a sink brush.

Then I got an Omega Pro and the RazoRock Blondie boar. That's when I fell back in love with boar brushes.

Isn't that Razorock (Zenith) blondie boar an amazing brush? I have the one with the cherry handle. My fave brush of them all.

 

[bakerbarber]

Yeah!

It's been great since day one. The price is right too.

 

[Cino]

Where does Stirling get their boar knots?

 

[Cino]

For boar brushes I have a method that works to soften the tips very quickly and requires no overnight soaks. It's kind of the opposite of the 3-day cold soak.

Aggressive boar brush break-in

I'll have to try the cold soak method on my next boar brush. This might be an excuse to buy a new brush. It's not for me, it's for science.

 

[NesOne]

Great post, and cool video! I also have the Stirling boar which I went with the 'just start using it method' lol. I haven't paid attention to see if it has split ends, but I will check this weekend, and if it doesn't look like the OP's, I'm going to try this out.

 

[InFESTation]

Well I managed to remember to take the brush out of its 3 day soak this morning,

I then left it to dry out for a few hours, plenty of split ends and a soft yet resilient brush, last piccie of the brush just before the evening shave.

I went with a face lather of camelot soap, to be fair it got the lather up easy, the soap is very easy to get there though, I enjoyed how easy it created the lather and that it had enough backbone to avoid the flaring out, it will only get better I know, but it does feel like I managed to skip a few frustrating attempts while breaking it in, especially when looking back at the semogue 620 break-in, the semogue though now feels like it has lost its backbone while probably still in its break-in period, I feel like I want that bit more when face lathering and this omega feels like it may just give me that, will see how the next few shaves go.

 

[patten1969]

I still don't understand what all the fuss is about 'breaking in a boar brush'. It is something that happens along the way as one uses the brush, and is not a prerequisite for successful brush use. Someone even suggested freezing it in water to split the ends and break it in quickly. All of this talk about how to break in a boar brush fast is missing the point: use it without paying attention to when it becomes broken in, and you wil have an ah-ha moment and discover why a boar brush is a boar brush. If this sounds trollish or ungentlemanly then so be it, but please, folks, just use the boar brush until it breaks in and discover what a boar brush truly is.

 

[Cal]

... just use the boar brush until it breaks in and discover what a boar brush truly is.

That's a great point.
But the main problem I see with it, is that so many people have SBAD and a zillion brushes... that they NEED something like this.

 

[patten1969]

That's a great point.
But the main problem I see with it, is that so many people have SBAD and a zillion brushes... that they NEED something like this.

Yep, and we all need to take a step back. I'm not excluding myself. I'm just speaking from experience!

 

[DCRIII]

That's a nice looking boar brush!

 

[Ice-Man]

I still don't understand what all the fuss is about 'breaking in a boar brush'. just use the boar brush until it breaks in and discover what a boar brush truly is.

+2 well said

My Semogue 830 went like that, where you just stand there and go WOW!!

 

[REV579]

I used my Semogue this morning and while it is better than it was day one, it still has a long way to go...I think. I don't really know how a broken-in boar is supposed to perform. It looks like a 3-day cold water soak might be a good thing. BTW, it is a Semogue 830.

 

[Ice-Man]

I used my Semogue this morning and while it is better than it was day one, it still has a long way to go...I think. I don't really know how a broken-in boar is supposed to perform. It looks like a 3-day cold water soak might be a good thing. BTW, it is a Semogue 830.

I would let that fantastic brush break in on its own it will start to look like this, see how the ends are splitting that's what your after.

 

[JohnG10]

I have a semogue 1305 with 2 years of use on it. It’s still not broken in... it’s a bit scratchy, and requires double the loading time as my 2 band badger and requires a little reloading between passes. It’s twice as good as my Van Der Hagen drug store brush - but only 1/2 as good as my 2 band badger.

Maybe it was made from an old decrepit pigs hair...

 

[sliwolf]

Didn't do anything for my synthetic brush ....

 

[Ice-Man]

Didn't do anything for my synthetic brush ....

Hi sliwolf it wont do anything to a synthetic, the cold water will only be used on Boar brushes to split the hair and make them softer.

 

[REV579]

I used my Semogue this morning and while it is better than it was day one, it still has a long way to go...I think. I don't really know how a broken-in boar is supposed to perform. It looks like a 3-day cold water soak might be a good thing. BTW, it is a Semogue 830.

Quick follow-up. The brush has begun to drop it stinch and feel better. It has opened up a bit too.
I should note that I don’t hang any of my brushes, I let them stand on their handles, skipping at least one day before using the natural brushes again.