Problems with Badger

[jcroteau]

Hello gents,

Looking for some advice on a new Badger brush. I have been using a boar since I started wet shaving, and have been getting great results with it and face lathering both soaps and creams. I have been watching this forum for a while now, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about when it came to Badger brushes. Received mine yesterday, tried both soap and cream and am having a real problem getting a lather! Not sure if I'm doing it wrong, or just have unrealistic expectations. I can barely get any lather out of the brush, and what I do is extremely watered down and difficult to apply....I also miss the scritch of my boar

Maybe the Badger life just isn't for me....any thoughts, advice, ideas? It's a beautiful brush, hopefully I can get it to a point where I can actually use it.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[Sinnbad11]

Hello gents,

Looking for some advice on a new Badger brush. I have been using a boar since I started wet shaving, and have been getting great results with it and face lathering both soaps and creams. I have been watching this forum for a while now, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about when it came to Badger brushes. Received mine yesterday, tried both soap and cream and am having a real problem getting a lather! Not sure if I'm doing it wrong, or just have unrealistic expectations. I can barely get any lather out of the brush, and what I do is extremely watered down and difficult to apply....I also miss the scritch of my boar

Maybe the Badger life just isn't for me....any thoughts, advice, ideas? It's a beautiful brush, hopefully I can get it to a point where I can actually use it.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

What's the brush? What's the soap? What's the grade of hair?

My best suggestion is soaking it before hand and then really loading it up. I prefer to flick most the water out and load until the hairs look pasty. I slowly add water back in as I face lather. Some badgers have a break in period, though generally speaking it's shorter than that of boar brushes.

 

[Ron R]

Hello gents,

Looking for some advice on a new Badger brush. I have been using a boar since I started wet shaving, and have been getting great results with it and face lathering both soaps and creams. I have been watching this forum for a while now, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about when it came to Badger brushes. Received mine yesterday, tried both soap and cream and am having a real problem getting a lather! Not sure if I'm doing it wrong, or just have unrealistic expectations. I can barely get any lather out of the brush, and what I do is extremely watered down and difficult to apply....I also miss the scritch of my boar

Maybe the Badger life just isn't for me....any thoughts, advice, ideas? It's a beautiful brush, hopefully I can get it to a point where I can actually use it.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

There are different grades of badger and what grade did you buy might explain some of your issue. Load the brush well if face or bowl lathering is all I can recommend.

 

[Chef455]

Sounds to me like you might be leaving too much water in the brush before loading. What's your brush?

I'm afraid you won't be able to match the scritch of your boar bristle. I now have brushes in badger, boar, horse and synthetic. I enjoy being able to change things up.

 

[SharpieB]

Obviously, some info would be good. What make/model of brush for starters...

 

[jcroteau]

It's a WCS Finest brush, so far I have used Tabac soap and GFT cream. I have soaked the brush both times, one time leaving the water in, the second time turning it upside down and shaking it a couple times before loading.

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[Sinnbad11]

I'm not sure the issue regarding the cream. With tabac there is a chance that enough wasn't picked up by the brush. Badgers are not usually as stiff as boar brushes and usually need loaded for a little longer. This problem could be exacerbated with the triple milled soap like tabac.

 

[old_school]

You have a perfectly fine 2-Band brush. It will likely not have the scrub of your boar. If you are looking for scrub and prickle then we can talk about that later. Let's get you with some lathering goodness.

Sneek up on hydration. Only wet the tips of your brush as needed.

Start by thoroughly wetting your brush and shake all of the water out then load the soap from the puck. As a guide try for ~1/4 " to 3/8" of goo in the tips. If you can't get ~3/8" dip the tips in the water and load some more.

Once you're there build lather on your face. Dip the tips and work the lather as needed to hydrate the soap to the point of sheen. Sheen is obvious and a good baseline performance threshold for all of your new soaps. Some perform well prior to sheen (Palmolive) some beyond (Oleo).

+/- 3/8" is way to much goo for Tabac but a good place for calibrating any soap.

I would highly recommend the (do a search for) "Marco Method" for an inverse lathering process.

Relax, have fun and it will all come, don't fret.

 

[Multum in parvo]

On Tabac, I would bloom the Soap with a drop of water while you wet your brush. This should make the pickup a bit easier.

 

[Fawkes007]

I use badger exclusively. Some good advice here. Only thing I’d reinforce is “load it like you mean it.” I load my brush for a good two minutes and have more lather than I know what to do with. And don’t mash the knot! A little pressure on the tips is all you need, maybe a quarter inch. In terms of how much water - trial and error - do a bunch of practice lathers and pretty soon you’ll get the hang of it. It’s better to have to add water than to realize you have too much of it.

 

[Al Bundy]

Most of the badger brushes I have had to date take a few uses to settle in.

Usually the first couple of attempts at producing later result in slightly frothy brown water, yuck!

What I tend to do now is load and rinse until it starts to produce something lather like then lather it up and put it in a stand, let sit overnight, repeat following day if necessary, allow to dry and then it's usually good to go.

As others have pointed out, even once broken in, badger and boar hair will have different characteristics which will need to be taken in to account.

 

[Lefonque]

A badger after 20 uses can be totally different from how it was when new.

 

[BigJ]

You have a perfectly fine 2-Band brush. It will likely not have the scrub of your boar. If you are looking for scrub and prickle then we can talk about that later. Let's get you with some lathering goodness.

Sneek up on hydration. Only wet the tips of your brush as needed.

Start by thoroughly wetting your brush and shake all of the water out then load the soap from the puck. As a guide try for ~1/4 " to 3/8" of goo in the tips. If you can't get ~3/8" dip the tips in the water and load some more.

Once you're there build lather on your face. Dip the tips and work the lather as needed to hydrate the soap to the point of sheen. Sheen is obvious and a good baseline performance threshold for all of your new soaps. Some perform well prior to sheen (Palmolive) some beyond (Oleo).

+/- 3/8" is way to much goo for Tabac but a good place for calibrating any soap.

I would highly recommend the (do a search for) "Marco Method" for an inverse lathering process.

Relax, have fun and it will all come, don't fret.

Great advice! It takes awhile to dial in a new brush.

 

[azwetshaver]

As mentioned, your badger brush is different than your boar. Badger generally holds more water than boar. Knot size will also make a difference. Badger hair is fine than baor, so the same size knot will have more hairs. All of these differences add to a different experience.

Soak the brush is water water. After a few minutes take the brush out and give it a gentle squeeze. Add an pecan sized amount of cream to a bowl. Dip the tips of your brush in water and bowl lather. Add water slowly while working the lather. Add water by dipping the tips of your brush or your finger tips.

This will help you gauge the water/product ratio to use with your badger brush.


When using a soap, keep in mind that boars generally have more backbone than badgers. This helps boar really dig into soaps, in particular hard soaps like Tabac. When using a badger brush, expect more load time.


Loading more product fixes 99.9% of lather problems. This is scientifically proven .