How do you decide weather to use a Badger or a Boar?
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How do you decide weather to use a Badger or a Boar?
You don't.
Boar is that cheap that there is no reason not to have one. Badger on the other hand is the brush you save up for and get the very best, I still haven't picked up a badger but when I do it'll be a top tier model. For the minute I can't see anything beating my well broken boar brush, I love the thing!
The reason for this is simple.
Boar gets better with age. It splits and keeps splitting. So what starts off as a quite scratchy brush after a couple of months is very comfortable, After a year it's incredible, a well broken in boar has a lot of backbone, but also a lot of softness. It's a good all round brush, great for face lathering, Great for bowl lathering. The only downside is it likes a few minutes soak before you shave in hot water. Boar should never be expensive. The cheap omega and semogue brushes are as good as you will find.
Badger on the other hand never splits. You have to get the brush right from the start. If it's scratchy it will always be that way. You are better to research them, and pick a brush you want having narrowed down the variables as much as possible.
My travel brush is boar. My every day brush is badger. Two brushes is all I have and need.
My only brush is boars hair. I shudder to think how they acquire badger hair.
For me there is not much to choose from between my well broken in boar brushes, note the well broken bit, and my 2 band badger knots set to the loft that I like for the size knot. I do not soak either variety of brush, just swirl them in cold water, shake excess water out, load brush and face lather.
Boar brushes like my Omega boar brushes are inexpensive unlike my 2 band badgers which were much more costly. To get to the point of knowing which type of badger knot, what size and loft I like I had to go through a few badger brushes to get there. That increases the cost of getting to the badger brush that you like even more. You can research badger brushes all you want but until you try a few you won't really know what is the best for you.
Both types make an excellent lather for me regardless if I am using a hard puck or a shaving cream.
Bob
If you do some homework you will find that either can be had for a very reasonable price.
Why not try both....but don't forget synthetic too.
A brush is a very personal thing and all are very different. No two are quite alike.
You have to find what works for you and your style, whether it be bowl or face lathering.
Pete <:-}
Badger is and has been considered the premium brush throughout history. Boar has been considered the common mans brush. Of course that's just history.
Plenty of folks have their own opinions. Unfortunately brushes are one of those things that are very personal and the only way to know is try them all. Boars are pretty inexpensive so why not just pick one up and use. Down the road you can invest in a pricier badger and then compare. of course there are many grades of badger and all are quite different.
read the primer at the top of this thread if you haven't already.
I have several brushes, 3 badger 1 boar 1 synthetic. They all do the job for me. Some days I want a brush with more backbone other days I want a small soft brush. I have noticed that my favorite brushes are not my most expensive ones.
I would recommend getting a small inexpensive brush and use it for several months than you may decide you want a bigger, stiffer or softer brush. It is a personal thing and will probably change over time.
Brush selection is a personal choice. I have badgers and boars, both have their merits.
Semouge and Omega make great, affordable boar brushes. You will hear guys say that they take a while to come into their own...to break in. This time can be vastly reduced by making a lather in the palm of your hand several times a day. Within a couple of weeks, it will be 90% broken in. Boar brushes will really exfoliate your skin.
Badger brushes usually come in larger knots, so they will make lather quicker, and usually make more of it. They come in varying degrees of stiffness(as do boar brushes), but tend to have less backbone than boars.
You will have to experiment to find out which you prefer. I am currently a boar guy, but that is subject to change!
I used boar for a while and was happy. I had a few badgers and they always seamed to get floppy after some time. Then i bought a top of the line badger crossing my fingers (thanks TC and Bob) and now i have a hard time picking up any other brush. The D01 i have is my best brush and i love how well it works. Thinking i might try a fan shape some day in the same D01 but thats another 200 bucks.
If I'm reading your question right, you want to know how I decide on a given morning which brush to use. In my case the deciding factor is which soap I will be using. For hard to lather soaps like Williams or some of my soap concoctions I go for the boar and work the living snot out of the puck. For Obie's 1st and 2nd tier soaps I use my best badgers. I have one cheap badger that I use for exclusively for two foul smelling creams.Quote:
Originally Posted by alschepis
Lately I've been using a Semogue boar a little more than my badger brushes. Granted, I haven't experienced any really expensive badger brushes, but I do have a small collection of decent ones that work just fine. It's fun to have a few kinds to choose from, it's usually a game-time decision along with which soap or cream. I also have a Vie-Long horsehair brush that I enjoy very much. I think for me, the boar has the best performance-to-cost ratio.
I'm like Benz, it depends in which soap I'm going to use.
But I'm quite partial to Black Badger, brushes.
I have a variety of different types, sizes, and lofts of brushes, and all work equally well with any soap or cream.
A cheap way to try different brushes (as I did ) is look for them at antique stores and flea markets. If their in good condition, you can clean them up and use them, if not, you can buy replacement knots ( of your choice ) and put new knots in them. Or make your own, as many have done here, as well as myself.
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Personal preference. Some like the softness and tradition of badger, others like the scritch and low cost of a boar. Personally, Im of the latter.
There are four types of shaving brushes in common use: boar, badger, horse hair and synthetic. If you get a good one (and by good, I am not talking about quality, not price), either one of the four can do a great job. I have and use several brushes of each type.
Boar brushes are generally inexpensive and can do a great job --- once they are broken in. I like the backbone of a boar brush when lathering hard soaps.
Badger brushes, especially silvertips, have a soft face feel. However, unless the knot is densely packed, the brush may be floppy. Of course, dense brushes require more hair for a given size knot, so they tend to be more expensive. You can compensate for a floppy brush by holding the brush by the knot rather than by the handle. This is an old barber's trick. I love using badger brushes when lathering creams. Creams do not require the backbone of a boar and I love the soft face feel.
Horsehair brushes generally are not as soft as a badger and do not have the back bone of a boar. If you are interested in one, I suggest you avoid the cheaper ones that tend to be 65% tail hair and 35% mane hair. The moderately priced ones are usually 50% mane/50% tail and are a little softer. Horse hair brushes offer a good compromise of the characteristics of the two main competitors.
A few years ago, synthetic brushes were designed to be cheap brushes. Technology has improved and there are some great brushes available for very reasonable prices. I have a acrylic handle brush with a gamechanger/boss style knot that is nearly as soft as a badger, yet has the backbone of a boar. Thus, it combines the best of both major competitors It will produce a great lather with with any cream, croap, or hard soap I use. It may be the most versatile brush I have. If I was on a tight budget and could only own a single inexpensive brush, I would be satisfied with that one.
Yeah, buy them both and see what you like. That’s what I did and use boar brushes almost exclusively today. They just keep getting better and better with use. On the other hand, if I didn’t have a selection of badger brushes in my past I would always wonder.
I have two simpson brushes that my grandfather gave to me, he's got quite a few things and loved seeing my interest in wet shaving. The first brush I started on and bought myself was boar, although because as stated here that I didn't give it time to break in I am not going to attempt a critique of it. I feel like Simpson makes exquisite badger brushes,however. I personally wouldn't pay what he did for them, at least not yet, but the quality does seem to merit the price.
Get a good boar brush, after a while after the bristles start splitting you will have one helluva brush. Also get a Tweezerman badger, its not premium by any means but it is very inexpensive, I have had both for umpteen years now and they are doing fine. You can always move up once you know what you want.
