Thread: Italian Shaving Experience

It sounds like it was more of a "Rushed Barber Experience" rather than an "Italian Shaving Experience", so I wouldn't assume that's the way it's done across Italy. Skimping on prep is one way of cutting down the shave time, allowing them to get you out faster and get the next guy in. And one pass shaves are the norm with barbers, they call it the "once-over". The once-over is also a known time saver, but another purpose is to cut down the chances of irritating a customer's skin with multiple passes.

Originally Posted by Slur

I have told my opinion about this several times.
Boar brushes are superior to badger by any means. Boars are gold medal for me. Silver medal to the horses and bronze to the badgers.

The smell of a new boar is usually very bad. I treat every new boar brush from 3 days to a week for eliminating the stink. I create rich lather every day with a different soap and I keep the brush in a container full of water for 24 hours. Every day I change the lather and then I put again the brush into the container. Usually in 3-4 days the smell has gone. Sometimes it might take a week.


Remember that a boar brush improves with the use, giving its best after months of daily use; while the badger brush gives its best at once and with the time and use it becomes worse.

Notice that my opinion is considered heretic in the shaving forums, and most people consider badgers as the top quality of shaving brushes.

Some others say that the boar brushes are the best for soaps and the badger brushes are the best for the creams. For me the truth is that regarding soaps, the badgers are pathetic indeed, and considering creams, the badgers can handle them, but the boars are superior again.

Another heretic opinion of mine is that the hot towel you were expecting the barber to use, is a useless and folkloristic part of preparation, and does not add anything substantial to the preparation.

Have fun

In the end it's all about what you like. The argument about Boar and Badger is no different than the one about Williams or VDH Soap as opposed to a fancier type. I had a friend who drove around in a Yugo and thought it was the best car in the world and for him I guess it was. Most wouldn't agree but that's not important.

It's all about the qualities you like in a brush and the final result you get. As long as you've tried both and made your decision based on that you need look no further.

The way I look at it I leave the answer to the question to well over 150 years or more of shave history. Badger was always considered the premium hair with horse the brush for the common man. Boar wasn't even in the running until the Anthrax scares. So who am I to argue with history?