Thread: New Boars Hair Brush?

In my travels today I came across a boars hair brush and having not tried one yet I decided sure why not. It's nothing special, van der hagen natural boar, and from what I've read they actually work better lathering some soaps. Up to this point I've been using a kingsley pure badger and have had no problems lathering soaps, creams or uber.


I had to try it out when I got home so I soaked it in hot water for about five minutes grabbed one of my soaps and away I went....or so I thought. I couldn't get lather to save my life. Idk what I'm doing wrong. Does it just need to be broke in? Is there some secret recipe? This one has me puzzled, up to now my lather has been amazing, shimmery meringue, and was pretty confident in my lather building abilities. Any thoughts gentlemen?

First off I must say I like the 'shimmery meringue' analogy :-)

I only have two brushes (or DID until my son claimed one) a cheap supermarket boar's hair and a cheapish (40 bucks) Badger hair. When I first got the badger hair I was disappointed! I liked the boar's hair as it was stiffer and better, in my opinion, with soaps; as opposed to creams.

Anyway, to your question, is it possible the brush has some sort of 'treatment' on the bristles that may be interfering with the soap? Maybe it does indeed need to be washed really well to remove any chemicals, etc that may have been added? Just a thought, I really have no idea what I'm talking about, Obie would know...

Boar brushes need to be broken in and long soaks are part of it. over time with use it should improve and work about the same as badger.

While my brush is soaking I've found leaving a bit of water on top of the puck is helpful. When I'm ready to lather I dump the contents of the bowl in which the brush is soaking and replace it with the water that was on top of the puck. Seems to help generate better lather. I've got three boars, all Semogue, and they are all good.

My usual routine entails soaking my brush and bowl in a sink of hot water and ruining a little hot water over my soap and letting all of them sit while I shower which is usually around 5 to 10 minutes. After that I pour the water out if my bowl and shake my brush 4 to 6 times. Then if there is any water left on top of the soap I pour that into my lather bowl which is usually no more than a few drops. I load my brush really well and get to mixing. Like I said earlier I've been getting great results with this method.

I'll take your advice bigspendur and try breaking it in by soaking and continuing to try to make lather. Although I'll still make my shaving lather with my badger until I see better results with the boar. If nothing else if I end up not caring for the boar I can just pawn it off on my fiance. Twice now I've caught her using my badger and I'd hate for her to ruin that one....or maybe I should let her keep using it, then I'd have an excuse to buy this silver tip I've had my eyes on.

Boar doesn't hold as much water as badger. Also, they take 3 weeks of solid use to break in. Possibly longer on the VDH brush. I've got one and it works. Barely. Omega boar brushes only cost a few bucks more and are pretty decent.

Originally Posted by bharner

Boar doesn't hold as much water as badger. Also, they take 3 weeks of solid use to break in. Possibly longer on the VDH brush. I've got one and it works. Barely. Omega boar brushes only cost a few bucks more and are pretty decent.

So I'm not going crazy? Are the vdh just crappy to begin with?

Originally Posted by bottomfeeder

So I'm not going crazy? Are the vdh just crappy to begin with?

Pretty much. They're workable but IME they're not pleasant. Grab a semogue or an omega (the 10048 comes already pretty much broken in and is wonderful with soaps and even works great with creams. Good backbone, high loft and still pretty soft. Especially after the initial pre shave soak.

IMO the VdH are low quality, even for porcupine bristle. If you ever get the chance get a high quality boar they are still very affordable.

Boar brushes need to be broken in for about 2-4 weeks with alternating day use as they break in faster this way. i find that they need more work to produce lather than badger, but they are still great brushes. Good luck.