Does boar or badger work diffrently with either soap or cream?

Hello,
I haven't tried yet, but will a person get different results with the same soap/creme using a boar vs a badger? Does one work bettter with soaps vs cremes?

I wouldn't say one is better than the other. They are just different.

I have both badger and boar brushes and get fantastic lathers with each of them using both soaps and creams.

I wasn't sure if the different brushes would produce different lathers, of the same product, more of a curiosity thing. I wanted some thoughts before I went to the brushes.

Density and loft have more effect then the type of hair. If a brush is floppy with less backbone (ie. Luxurious), it may be more difficult to lather a hard triple milled soap. It is not impossible. I've never subscribed to the theory that there are soap brushes and cream brushes. There are just brushes and one must adjust technique to make the best possible lather with the tool at hand. Of course this is just my opinion.

Do you own a brush now? What kind of brushes were you looking at?

I have a sabi boar and a couple of bagers. I like the sabi it really works well, but the cheap bagers do just about as well on most of my soaps.

As DaleCooper51 said, typically the grade of hair, loft and density are much more important than whether the brush is boar or badger. There is so much overlap in performance, it is impossible to talk about typical characteristics of a boar vs a badger knot.

That being said, on the odd occasions when they are pushed to the max, I think some distinguishing features may emerge. For instance, if you happen to have a 30mm Silvertip badger knot and a bowl, it would take a very special boar knot to compete when it comes to building a luxurious lather from a soft cream. Similarly, I have a 24mm boar knot from TGN set at around 47mm loft, I would be surprised to see any badger knot drill down into a puck of Tabac the way that brush enjoys doing.

As others have mentioned, there are many, many factors involved. Generally, speaking, badgers are better with creams and boars are better with soaps. I have badger brushes that are better than my Semogue boar for use with soaps, but they aren't even in the same league price-wise.

I knew that i would getsome good answers here, experience talks, noobs, like me should listen. Tomorrow I'm going to start seeing if I can really make a difference with both on my soap, I really can't thank you for the info.

Everyone has good points. It's not exactly an easy thing to describe. There is some difference in how they work depending on what they use. Like GreekGuy has said badgers tend to be better with creams and boars are better with soaps for the most part, but like dalecooper and inspiringK have said what grade of hair you use, the density and the loft are the biggest reason for how the brush performs.

While the brushes have differing strengths and weaknesses, there is no one best brush though. Your technique will be the biggest deciding factor in how well the lather turns out. You might be able to do soaps easier with a certain brush, or creams better with a certain brush, but honestly it's really splitting hairs. Boars are a nice option as a quality boar will not set you back much at all, and if you have an itch still to try badger while the two are different it does help to get your feet wet and have a better idea what you want. Nothing beats first hand experience, but there are many willing people to help you out on this! And you can keep the boar on the sidelines and give it a try again another time to see if it pans out better for you. I've found items that at first I haven't liked, but have had a change of mind when I went back to it and tried it a second time.

My current feeling is that boar brushes need to be fully loaded to lather properly, and need a faster action.
A badger brush could pay for itself by using less soap, but you could just as easily use a smaller boar brush.

Boars do tend to take a bit more to lather up especially in the beginning but get better with use. I don't think there would be a huge cost difference though. It's still very interesting though. I wonder if anyone else has had the same thought and done some experimenting with it?

kooshman7 said:

Boars do tend to take a bit more to lather up especially in the beginning but get better with use. I don't think there would be a huge cost difference though. It's still very interesting though. I wonder if anyone else has had the same thought and done some experimenting with it?

Click to expand...

I definitely use more soap with my Semogue 1305 than I do with my TGN Finest, both size 22mm. I think the flow through is better on the Badger, and the finer hairs tend to pick up more product per swirl, but less is required. That being said, I think the Semogue works better with soaps. I also find it more scrubby, which I like, than my TGN finest. The TGN brush cost ~50% more, roughly $30 or so compared to about $20 for my 1305. So it would take a while to make up that difference. Personally, I think soaps are for the most part ridiculously cheap, so I don't even consider that in my decision making. I find my CH2 in best, D01, and Rooney Finest make a thicker yet creamier lather than my Semogue, but those are all many many times more expensive. The 1305 is my first boar brush, and I used to be a bit of an elitist with badgers. I think boars do a phenomenal job for the price, and they can be just as pleasurable to use. Not sure if this answers your question, but I hope its helpful

I find boar puts less air into my lather, which I like. It makes it easy to get a wet, slick mix, something my badgers actually need more work and water to do.

I don't find that boars or badgers are better at loading soaps or creams or vice versa.

You may have to make adjustments in loading technique from brush to brush (ex. boars retain less water, so load wetter) but a good boar will handle anything well, as will a good badger.

In general, and not to any great degree (and in my experience):

- Boars have the edge in hard soaps
- Boars tend to produce creamier lather (as opposed to fluffier lather with badgers)

I almost never use creams, nor do I bowl lather.

franz said:

I don't find that boars or badgers are better at loading soaps or creams or vice versa.

You may have to make adjustments in loading technique from brush to brush (ex. boars retain less water, so load wetter) but a good boar will handle anything well, as will a good badger.

Click to expand...

JPDyson said:

In general, and not to any great degree (and in my experience):

- Boars have the edge in hard soaps
- Boars tend to produce creamier lather (as opposed to fluffier lather with badgers)...

Click to expand...

This sums up the Major Differences very well, now if you'd like something in-between try a Horse Hair, they are also a bit different and have characteristics of Boars, creamier lather, tips become softer with use; Badger, ability to hold more water, drys fast. They work very well with Soaps & Creams.

From there you could try the combo Horse/Badger (Vie-Long), Horse/Boar (Spokar) or Boar/Badger... The Buffet of Brushes is almost Limitless.

I think a high quality badger will make better lather with soap or creme. It will also make it much quicker.

I don't like boar brushes personally. The ones I have used to quite a bit longer to make useable lather and even then I never got the same light lather I like.

Everyone is different though. You might prefer a boar brush. I know several people that love boar and hate badger.

They're different. What's "better" is subjective (as the word better always is in any situation).