The average break in time for a badger brush - IN YOUR OPINION is ?

[CHSeifert]

I wonder what you badger brush owners out there feel is the average break in time for a brush ?

How many passes (not shaves, but counting passes) did you have to do before you felt a certain brush performed at its best ?

I know this will probably differer from brush to brush depending on the badger hair type and how dense the brush is.

But never the less I feel that on average my badger brushes performs very good after only maybe 10-12 passes and probably peaks performance wise at around 25 passes.

What is your point of view on this ?

 

[luvmysuper]

I have a wide variety of brushes (badger and boar) in a wide variety of age levels, and to be honest, except for bloom - I feel like the badgers I have used are as good at 50 uses as they were at 1.
Quite different for boars, of course, but the badgers just seem ready to go, and I have not noted their performance increasing or declining.

 

[Loric]

Break in time is dependant on how dense the brush is. An average density badger has a minimal break in time, a weeks worth of shaves at most. However some uber dense brushes (Chubby 3 Supper, Stubby 3) may take months and months. With boars its +-20 wet/dry cycles. Synthetics will loosen up too, with my H.I.S. taking 10~12 to loosen up.

I think passes might not be a good way to measure it, as wet dry cycle seems to do more than test lathering. At least it feels that way to me. Agitating the brush has an effect, dont get me wrong, but I think water is at least as important.

 

[mcgils]

I've never bought one new, so this will be an interesting thread to follow.

 

[mblakele]

With my newest, a Shavemac D01 flat-top two-band, I deliberately did no break-in at all. It went right to work. The knot was a bit funky for the first 8-10 shaves, and I think the lather improved as the funk declined. The knot itself loosened up dramatically in the first 2-3 shaves, but the flat-top geometry probably affected that.

 

[Gingerbread]

I feel like badgers are good after about 5 days of lather/rinse.

 

[dpmtherrien]

I've never had a used brush, only new ones, and all badgers. What I'll do when it arrives is give it a couple of shampoo's with tea tree oil shampoo, followed by using some conditioner. Then I let it air dry in a hanger for a day or so. After that the brush is ready to go, and I've never had any problems with any of them. I now have my rotation down to 5 brushes and I'm very satisfied with each of them.

 

[Cynomys]

The badger brushes that I have used were ready to go right out of the box except in one case (the new VdH badger brush) which took a little time and a couple of serious shampoos to get the badger funk out. The one boar brush did take some breaking in before it assumed a nice soft feel.

 

[celestino]

I've never bought one new, so this will be an interesting thread to follow.

+ 1 All my badger brushes have been second-hand and they are fantastic!

 

[sychodelix]

It may just be me, but my badger seemed to get a little more "broken in" after about 3-5 days. It's nothing like breaking in a boar, but I "think" there is a little difference. For the most part though, even the first time performs very well and there are only slight differences. The difference between a boar when first bought and after even a week, let alone a month is DRASTIC.

 

[takeshi]

Never really felt that mine went through any break in. It's certainly not comparable to the break in that boars go through.

 

[life2short1971]

My newest immpson Best is just getting right after 2 weeks of lathe rings and shaves too. TGN Silvertips seem to be good from the first passother than a bit of shedding and aroma.

 

[Wildalaska]

Never really felt that mine went through any break in. It's certainly not comparable to the break in that boars go through.

Plus 1

 

[AABCDS]

I've never really felt like my new badgers needed any kind of break-in period.

 

[Bigsurprise]

I feel badger brushes don't need a break in, but I did notice whipping lather was slightly easier after the first use.

 

[Nils]

I can't speak for boar brushes since I don't own one, but badger brushes don't need beaking in imo. Shave No. 1 and No. umpteen feel the same to me.