I had not tried using old boar brushes until recently, but can honestly say the Oxyclean works on all brushes and the old, stiff boars come around nicely with a cleaning and some lather. If the hairs are not falling out, it can still be a good brush, IMO. I like stiffer brushes and have 4 two-band badgers and 4 boars, 3 of which are cleaned-up oldies like the one I pictured. Love them all!