Omega boar brush break-in continues

I've decided to take several days off from shaving while I wait for a shipment of better blades (sampler) to arrive. In the meantime, I've decided to continue practicing lather-building not only to better that skill but to hasten the breaking in of a recently purchased Omega boar brush (10051).

In the evening I'll build some later in a bowl (tonight was RSC sensitive skin - awesome lather) and then leave the lather-coated brush to stand overnight. In the morning I'll wash, rinse and dry the brush out. Been doing this for about a week, actually and the brush is starting to get nice and soft. The "boar funk smell" is completely gone and the tips are starting to get nice and soft.

That's good, the first test will be the decision point!

A bit of advice for my fellow shaving noobs: if you are shaving every day and are going to buy one of these affordable boar brushes, BUY TWO; it's a good idea to allow the brush to dry thoroughly between uses. Switch back and forth.

If you later buy a second brush just use the daily soak water and leftover lather to condition the new brush.

The Pontificator said:

A bit of advice for my fellow shaving noobs: if you are shaving every day and are going to buy one of these affordable boar brushes, BUY TWO; it's a good idea to allow the brush to dry thoroughly between uses. Switch back and forth.

If you later buy a second brush just use the daily soak water and leftover lather to condition the new brush.

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Buy 2 boars by all means, but it'll take you twice as long to break in using it once every two days. Unless you lather both up each day for the first few weeks. Personally, I don't think alternating boars is necessary, they're built as workhorses, but very cheap to replace if they 'only' last 5 years or so.

A dense badger may benefit from resting a day to fully dry, but people can tend to cosset $100+ brushes.

It's funny but my badger brushes are 100% dry be the next time I shave. I gently wring out the brush, give is a gentle shake, gently rub on a dry towel and hang it up on a stand. Within a few hours it is dry.

I can't say much about boar brushes, however, since I don't have on.

I always reach for my Omega Boar brush.

Omegas are great, but I do only have one at the moment. I have heard the bit about letting it dry fully and was curious. I have a pro49 and the center of it ids never dry when I shave daily. I am slightly worried that some sort of rot could sit in by it never fully drying, but I have never heard anyone give any facts one way or the other as to if it is a problem or not.

Our grandfathers only used one brush everyday and they lasted years. At the price even if they lasted less, it's not an issue. Multiple brushes is purely a weakness, and sign of our consumerist times.

I have a few boars that haven't taken so long to break in. Perhaps my nose is not so sensitive.

I have done the overnight soak, though. It seems to help in splitting the ends to let the brush bloom.

I'm going into my second month with a Semogue 1305, and I've found the best way to get those bristles to split is to let it dry out for a day or two in between lathers.

I started with the method of letting the lather sit overnight, but it was a long, slow process ... once I switched over to the drying out method, about two weeks ago, it has accelerated quite a bit, and the brush is getting very, very soft.

+1 on getting a second boar so you can alternate. I just placed an order for one of the leftover B&B Customs, and I may get an SOCf later on as well.

I use my 1305 almost exclusively for face lathering, something I never did very often with badger. I didn't plan on this, it just seemed to work out that way once I started using the boar brush.