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Badger soap loading technique different from boar?

I just de-funked my first good badger brush and I'm surprised by how much more water my new Duke 2 holds as compared to my much larger SOC boar. WOW!

Anyhow, I noticed that during the de-funking lathering the badger performs very differently. Not only does the lather come out much creamier but it seems to load very differently. I had read on other threads and in the wiki that a premium soap brush may only need as little as 20 seconds of loading. Well, I couldn't load this brush that fast. I need to go at least double that time but I do have harder water (around 12) and that may be the reason for that. It does seem to pick up more soap more easily and make proto-lather more easily than my boar. (Again, I was surprised by this).

It seems to me it will take a few shaves to fully get the hang of this new brush but I'm looking forward to it. Does any one have any advice?

BTW, I face lather and I'm using soaps exclusively right now.
 
Yeah, they work differently. Not better, just differently. Boar doesn't hold water as well, Badger does. I find brush loading to be exactly the opposite with my soft water, with badgers taking slightly more time to load. The boars load slightly more easily than the badgers, but in the end they all work fine. Of course the soap makes a difference too.

From what I'm finding is that creaminess depends on more factors than I have time for at the moment; amount of product used, hydration, and work put into it. I get the same fantastic lather no matter what brush I use, it's just that the method varies. Varies day by day too (I'm a variable) lather is only soap, water, and air, the brush only being used to make the mix, so it's ultimately up to us.
 
It will probably take you a few shaves to get the hang of it as you said. Loading wise, 20 seconds sounds like the low end of the spectrum. There are differences from soap to soap (e.g., I load MWF very long) but ~30 secs is the minimum for me. And I do not have an aversion to going back to the puck if needed.

The only other thing I would venture to guess is that your D2 probably holds a lot more water than you expect.

Use it in good health :001_smile
 
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