Thread: Boar brush that doesn’t STINK .....needed.

Back to the smell of Boar brushes...I have two Semogue boar brushes -- one large and one small. Neither ever smelled at all. Long ago when I first wet shaved. I had a great brush that came with a mug and soap set from Aramis (throwback memory).

I wanted a second brush and got a boar from the drug store. When wet, it smelled like a badger shat in the house. I moved it to my workshop and use it still to clean loose debris from rifles.

I think the best solution to try for your brush is the baking soda soak. It works on most odors in most porous substances. Follow with a hair shampoo/conditioner combo.

I'm with Bob on both counts.
My smeller don't work so well so I have never noticed the smell of the boar and I recently bought 4 Omega brushes.
And I do enjoy the synthetic brushes too. But you have to use them differently. I find when I get enough water in them to lather it start running out of the brush so I shake it out in the sink. I loose a bit of lather but after a while you get enough lather in the brush to hold the water. The bristles will never hold water. It can be messy but its not really a problem for me.
Just learn to use a synthetic brush if your going to use one and remember its not animal hair so its going to act differently.
On those odd days that I forget to put my brush in water before I hop in the shower I grab the synthetic. No soaking needed.

I am a big fan of boar brushes and have a number of them.. Every single one of them has had at least a slight odor after getting wet for the 1st time.. I usually dunk them in a bowl of water overnight with Dawn dish soap.In the morning give them a really good rinse, shake or sqeeze excess water off. To finish the boar"s i like to use coarse cotton shop towel type hand rag and wisk the tips of brush over this for some time.... With the bristles soaked for that long lve found doing this starts the split end process right away...

Vinegar, one ounce of vinegar in a coffee cup of warm to hot water. Soak the brush about 15 minutes, up to the handle. Rinse in clear warm water.

Put quarter size dollop in your palm, work the brush to a heavy lather, rinse and repeat 2-3 times. Rinse in a clean cup of1oz vinegar and water. Then shampoo another cycle. The brush should lather up easier and fuller.

Re soak in the same vinegar water for 10-15 minutes and re- shampoo and rinse in clear water to remove the vinegar.

Dry the brush and hang. All the smell should be gone. Vinegar is the key and rinsing in Vinegar will remove all the soap from the knot. The first soak removes the smell, the second soak removes the soap.

I give my brushes a soak in Vinegar and shampoo a couple times a year, it will remove all the soap and bloom the knot fully. The brush will perform better, lather easier and the knot will dry fully bloomed.

Works for Badger and Boar brushes, and the whole process takes about 20-30 minutes after the first soak.

All boar brushes smell, Semogue boar brushes smell less, but still smell when wet. Vinegar will get it all out.

@Euclid440.... Looks like a good process for new brushes and to refresh older ones.. I will give it a try.. Agree on the Semogue's lighter odor.. My last boar i bought a few months ago.. A premium boar brush i was looking for and was recommended to a Thater.. Found out 2 things.. That it is indeed true.. A $13.00 semogue or omega boar is as good as you can get with boar bristles.. My $90.00 premium boar Thater is no better than the others.. And that said Thater was the stinkiest brush ive had to date!! No regrets buying it as it is packed full of bristles and is great to use but if you.have the urge like i did to find a better boar brush? Buy a $22.00 semogue.. Scott W

Originally Posted by nessmuck

I just ordered a Synthetic brush for my son .....how are they ??

I have 2, the Atomic Rocket and the Starcraft, I was really pleasantly surprised, I would go as far as to say I found them to be excellent.

Lol.. I just saw in my post i said my last badger was a premium boar .. Almost has a " coldest winter i ever spent was a summer in san fransisco) sense to it.. What a dummy! ( i am).. I have 1 synthetic that is Maagards brush.. It cost next to nothing and the bristles are as soft as silk on my face.. Unfortunately it has no back bone and it flings soaps/creams everywhere.. I do use it on occasion with proraso cream. When i use it with the proraso i will dip the brush in very hot water from sink, sqeeze the brush of almost all the water, sqeeze a tiny amount of cream on bristles, dampen one side of my face and with the hot bristles work that cream into my face and neck within seconds a great warm lather erupts!! Repeat this with just a 2 pass shave and im almost always good to go.. I read here on the forum a number of long time straight users saying good things about their synthetic brushes.. Seems guys who have been around the wet shaving block for a long time would not give them such high marks unless it was true.. Pretty certain my next brush purchase is going to be a good synthetic.. Scott W

Keep in mind with synthetic knots it depends on the type of synthetic fiber and loft used as to how they will feel and act. They certainly are not all exactly the same. One I have is soft as silk on the face with little backbone and one has soft tips, backbone and a lowered loft. The last one feels similar like a 2 band badger to me. What they have in common is that both will easily lather anything I have used.

Bob

I got this one ...synthetic..25 mm knot...23.50...for my sons Stocking Stuffer

Just curious as to what's to become of the first stinky brush in question.