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At what point do you move from a boar brush to a badger?

Apologies if this should be in the brush section. It's a brush question, but also a newbie one, so I'm happy to be corrected. I currently have a cheap boar brush from Walmart (VDH?). While there is nothing "wrong" with it, at what point should I upgrade? I have the cheap puck the brush came with, and also some Proraso. I find that I've been much happier with the Proraso. Will I notice THAT much difference with a nicer badger brush? I also have on order a sample (Musgo Real, Talbac, Taylor Lavender, Taylor Sandalwood, Trumper Rose, and Truefitt & Hill West Indian Limes). I'm not against getting a badger brush, just want to make sure I'm doing it for the right reasons (other than just helping the economy).

As has been noted elsewhere there is no real switch over point, it's not as though the DE shaving Jedi master comes to you and says "Now my young padwan to become a full Jedi shaver you must prove yourself worthy of the badger".
In my case it was when I found the Shea Ultimate Shaving Brush and later the VDH badger brush at under ten bucks.
If you want one go for it, boar has it's good points (my old VDH boar resides in my dopp kit) and badger has it's strong suits and that ten buck VDH badger is still going fine.
 
I have been reading about the advantages of good badger brushes for months and have been watching the B/S/T forum. For me, it was when a brush I wanted, a Simpson Colonel in Best, became available. And boy, is it a sweet brush!
 
I don't mean to badger you, but you will probably get boared with a single brush over time. I started with a $10 Tweezerman badger from Amazon and tried everything from inexpensive Omega boars to very expensive Simpson silvertips. What I learned is that I prefer some brushes for lathering soaps and others for lathering creams, some for face lathering, others for bowl lathering. But the bottom line for me, after spending 8% of the gross national product of Nicaragua on shaving brushes, is I've come to realize that the $10 Tweezerman or the $12 Omegas really do a wonderful job of everything. For me, it is a classic example of the law of diminishing returns. The $250 brush is better than the $10 - $12 brushes, but maybe 10% better, not 25 times better. Whatever you choose, I recommend that you have at least 2 to rotate to make sure they dry thoroughly between uses.

Good luck, and enjoy the journey!
 
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I started with badger (Rooney 3/1 in Super) and now I use primarily Semogue boars. I still love the Rooney though, and I've added a couple more badgers.
I use the Semogues about 95% of the time. If you like to face lather soaps, a good boar brush is hard to beat.
 
I was a complete Boar freak and have moved to best and silvertip badger. A lot softer and nice and scrubby with a luxurious feel that can't be duplicated by boar. Don't get me wrong, boar can be soft and scrubby but my interest have moved on to badger.....It's a highly personal thing.

+1

I really enjoy silvertip badger. I have 2 bands and boars that I use (especially when my skin is feeling dry and need a good scrub), but I find myself grabbing for the silvertips more and more.
 
Ive only used the VDH Badger brush and wasnt too impressed with it.My boar has worked great so far for me and has softened up alot since I first started using it.Im sure there are much better badger brushes than VDH's,but I like the boar alot and see no reason (right now) to switch.
 
You can "upgrade" to a badger brush when you are ready to start complaining that certain soaps and hard creams don't lather well and are lousy. Or when you are willing to spend many minutes on such soaps getting a good lather, as opposed to half a minute with a boar brush.

Of course badger brushes work well many soaps and with all creams.

Needless to say, I use both, and have several of each type. I tend to reach for boar about 60% of the time.
Regards,
Renato
 
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