Efficacy of the fast 3-day method for boar brush break-in

[Seveneighth]

I don't hold with the towel method. I have tried it but in contrast with the traditional method of breaking in a boar brush I don't think it's as fast or effective. I also think it puts undue stress on the bristles

The best result is to split the ends of the bristles without stressing the backbone. The traditional method of soaking for a few hours, wrapping in chilled, wet muslin and then drying the tips rapidly over a dry radiant heat is much more effective at splitting the ends without putting stress on the knot.

 

[albsat]

@vsp

I have a proraso brush that I have used daily for more than two - three months. I have done your process but only once. This has been my only brush.

Now after 4 months, the brush has the top part much more soften and yes the bristles are splitting. However there are still bristles that give you the needle effect although I don't feel them if I soak it in hot water before the shave.

I am afraid that I saw the splitting only after a month of usage and still only a part of them are in that status. Maybe it depends by the boar hair type. I like a lot my brush still, it's is really nice.

 

[musicman1951]

I tried it with an SOC and I am happy with the results, but clearly this very slow to break in boar still has a long way to go. I found it a painless procedure, so why not? It definitely worked faster than just using the brush, and a new SOC absolutely does not have the beautiful soft tips of the broken-in brush. I have no interest in using a prickly brush. In the past I use my left over lather for the first week: following my shave (with another brush) I work the SOC for a while with palm lathering.

I do still have unanswered questions:
1. Why cold water?
2. How much difference would there be after two days?

 

[vsp]

@vsp

I have a proraso brush that I have used daily for more than two - three months. I have done your process but only once. This has been my only brush.

Now after 4 months, the brush has the top part much more soften and yes the bristles are splitting. However there are still bristles that give you the needle effect although I don't feel them if I soak it in hot water before the shave.

I am afraid that I saw the splitting only after a month of usage and still only a part of them are in that status. Maybe it depends by the boar hair type. I like a lot my brush still, it's is really nice.

I would suggest 2 approaches to fix this problem
1. Try the soak in the fridge and then towel and then dry method a couple more times, making sure the brush is fully dry at the end of each iteration
2. I've successfully used one more approach in the past - just lather with the boar brush on a plastic cutting board instead of in a shave bowl. Note that cutting boards are deliberately designed to be rough in texture so that food doesn't slip on them. Just lather on a board instead of a shave bowl and use your boar brush normally to paint/brush the lather on your face. Do this a few times and it's remarkable how much progress can be made towards a soft brush in just a few iterations. I've even used my brushes to generate lather on a cutting board, without using them in a shave.

The Proraso Pro boar is one of my favorites as well.

 

[vsp]

I tried it with an SOC and I am happy with the results, but clearly this very slow to break in boar still has a long way to go. I found it a painless procedure, so why not? It definitely worked faster than just using the brush, and a new SOC absolutely does not have the beautiful soft tips of the broken-in brush. I have no interest in using a prickly brush. In the past I use my left over lather for the first week: following my shave (with another brush) I work the SOC for a while with palm lathering.

I do still have unanswered questions:
1. Why cold water?
2. How much difference would there be after two days?

1. Why cold water?
I don't really know ..... that's what the master barber from ABC in the video says. Try just soaking the brush with no fridge involved and see what happens. An experiment that's not going to do any harm.
2. In a couple of (or 3) iterations of using this method you should see that almost all of the hair have begun to split.
I've recently had a conversation where it's been made clear to me that despite this splitting of the hairs, it's possible that the brush might not actually be satisfactory in use and still feel not very soft. In such a case, a couple of iterations more of lathering on a cutting board as I posted above should do the trick. Or more than a couple, as needed.

Also, given how much I advocate a fast break-in, let me explicitly say that I'm usually trying only to address those members who share my desire to get the brush to its broken in state ASAP.

I respect the views of all members in the "just use it regularly" camp, and all the more power to them ....
YMMV, as they say.

 

[Jill Snoddon]

I started with the cleaning with soap and water soak then lathering and leaving overnight. Then, I used the 3 day in the fridge method. I also did a palm lather on it every day for two weeks with a brisk drying rubout of 5-10 minutes before it even saw any body part to shave. It turned out so soft and I love the method.

 

[vsp]

Glad the fast break-in worked for you, Jill. I would just say continue to use it (I presume you are talking about the 10098 you started a thread about) and your 10098 will really impress you with how much of a premium experience it can provide.

If at any point you feel that it's still a little bit short of being fully broken-in, back in the tank with it.

 

[Jill Snoddon]

Glad the fast break-in worked for you, Jill. I would just say continue to use it (I presume you are talking about the 10098 you started a thread about) and your 10098 will really impress you with how much of a premium experience it can provide.

If at any point you feel that it's still a little bit short of being fully broken-in, back in the tank with it.

No, it wasn't on that Omega 10098, it was on two other boar brushes I had when I first started, one the Semogue 1305 and a Van der Hagen boar brush. The Omega 10098 was already broken in when I received it. and I absolutely love it and the way it performs.

 

[oscar11]

Everybody should break in brush the way they feel is right. In the last 3 weeks or so I've purchased or made a total of 7 boars with knots by 5 different manufacturers. So hardly a controlled study but I wouldn't put the effort in to one anyway. All these knots were soaked for 3 days and hand lathered each day and toweled dry like I would do after normal usage and then put back into the water (fresh) bath. I even think I noticed some nuances with the method. I have a couple of other boars I might experiment with yet. If I do, I'll be soaking the brushes.

 

[vsp]

Everybody should break in brush the way they feel is right.

I totally agree. Whatever works to bring the boar brush to a near-broken-in state as quickly as possible without damaging the brush in any way.

Or , even break it in by using it regularly if you so desire

 

[albsat]

Strange thing. Well my only boar brush was almost broken in as I have been using it more than 4 months now.

However I thought to do this process again to split the black fibres in my proraso brush. I had done it when I got the brush.

The strange thing is that I hear noise inside my handle, which should be either water or don't know. I have shaked it many times and I am letting it dry, but it is weird.

Ah, the proraso brush is getting better but as I said mine was almost broken in.

 

[major_works]

I didn't do anything to break in my SOC besides using it. Maybe I did a test lather or two, but I can't recall.