Boar bristles are just fine

It is my opinion that boar bristles make a fine shaving brush. Although I have to say I only own an omega boar bristle brush.
If anyone wanted to convert me you are welcome to send me a badger brush and convince me otherwise.

Excellent tactic!

Good Strategy indeed. I tried a badger brush but still find boar bristle brush more confortable. I will stick to what I've heard: If it works for you, stick with it!

Cheers, Luc

Luc said:

Good Strategy indeed. I tried a badger brush but still find boar bristle brush more confortable. I will stick to what I've heard: If it works for you, stick with it!

Cheers, Luc

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I would have to agree. I have a EJ BBB and a VDH Boar. For a $7 brush, the VDH is very comfortable and seems to lather just fine.

I believe it depends of the hair; I have three brushes, one is a pure badger brush which sits abandoned in a drawer, to me its hair is unpleasantly prickly. I heard reports there are pure badger brushes by differen makers which feel differently on a face. There are brush makers which trim hair's tops and make them prickly. Other makers leave hair as-is, no modifications.

My other brush is a boar bristle made by Omega, and I found it very comfortable. Especialy when soaked in a hot water, pure pleasure on my face.

And my third is a super badger brush I found to be pleasure to use as well. I don't think it is better than my boar brush. Not better or worse, but they are different categories. Both make good lather, and both are very comfortabe, just different feel on a face.

ndw76 said:

It is my opinion that boar bristles make a fine shaving brush. Although I have to say I only own an omega boar bristle brush.
If anyone wanted to convert me you are welcome to send me a badger brush and convince me otherwise.

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If the box I send you is growling and snarling...it will be my "Do it yourself" badger brush...first, hold badger down and kill it. Then skin it, cut desired portion of hair off, tie knot, glue it and allow to dry.

Simple!

Mr. Gillette said:

If the box I send you is growling and snarling...it will be my "Do it yourself" badger brush...first, hold badger down and kill it. Then skin it, cut desired portion of hair off, tie knot, glue it and allow to dry.

Simple!

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Sounds good. At the very least it might make a good pet.

website is badger and blade not boar and blade ... I love you guys

I agree that some of the lower quality badger brushes are prickly feeling- but somehow even the cheapest boar brush (i've been using the one that Giovanni sells in his $10 set) is scrubby but not uncomfortable.

A broken in boar brush is quite soft at the tips - softer than a pure badger or any badger brush that has trimmed tips.

I thing that boar brushes (the Omega professional brushes in particular) are great all-rounders and I use one regularly.

That being said, a better badger brush (finest/best or silvertip) is softer and more luxurious at the tips than even the most well-broken in boar brush.

Also, good badgers hold more water and whip up a lather a little more quickly and without having to add as much water.

Its all a matter of preference and, while I've got no intention of giving up my badger brushes, I like my boar brushes and would take a good boar over a crummy/low-end badger.

My $0.02.

good boar brush + shaving soap + face lathering = nirvana

The bristles are nice and stout so they're very good at scooping up plenty of soap from the cake. And as said, a broken-in brush has nice soft tips, so building lather on the face is pleasant and comfortable. My Omega Pro. is all I use for soaps anymore.

Suzuki said:

I thing that boar brushes (the Omega professional brushes in particular) are great all-rounders and I use one regularly.

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This!!

arcman said:

good boar brush + shaving soap + face lathering = nirvana

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AND THIS!!!

I love using my Omega brushes!!

I'm looking to get a boar, things are basically pocket change... is there any noticable difference between the three-band bristle pictured above and solid-colored, or is it just an aesthetic thing?

uberlegit said:

I'm looking to get a boar, things are basically pocket change... is there any noticable difference between the three-band bristle pictured above and solid-colored, or is it just an aesthetic thing?

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Aesthetics. Boar's dark hair is partially or throughly bleached in a process of manufactoring, and so we have uniformed bright boar bristle, or three band. Badger's hair is naturally uniformed or two or three band.

uberlegit said:

I'm looking to get a boar, things are basically pocket change... is there any noticable difference between the three-band bristle pictured above and solid-colored, or is it just an aesthetic thing?

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The black band is aesthetic, but there are differences in the boar knots/hair - both between companies and brushes.

For example, Omega makes three brushes with the standard silver handle - one has the black band and is the stiffest, the other two have natural bristles - the one in the silver/red box has a slightly denser (and possibly longer) knot than the one in the black/red box, which is a little softer.

I've been using the same boar brush (Ever Ready) for the better part of 15 years. The ends of the brush are split like crazy, but also very soft. So far, in my 1 week of traditional shaving it has performed well with soap and cream.

In my past life I would wet the brush and squirt the goo on it for a face lather. I was close to a "real" wet shave, but not close enough!

I have a NOS Rooney that looks like a 3/1, a generic badger, an Omega Syntex, a Boreal 322 boar and an old VDH boar.

I usually rotate between the Boreal and the VDH. Both do great job a little differently but I enjoy them.

The two badgers are just gathering dust although they look good on the shelf. The Syntex has seen some use but not a lot.

This thread made me order my first Omega Boar brush yesterday. I had a cheap CVS store brand boar brush and it's fine for what it is but i always wanted to try an omega as i have a Silvertip badger brush from them and it's very very nice.

Is there as wide a variation in quality across boar hair brushes as there is with badger brushes? Where quality means comfort, latherability, etc? I currently own one synthetic, one badger hair (C&E best badger) and one boar hair (VDH) and find the badger much more enjoyable. While the VDH works and I enjoy using it from time to time, in reality it is not nearly as nice as the badger. Would a better quality boar brush make me change my mind? Thanks.

StillShaving said:

Is there as wide a variation in quality across boar hair brushes as there is with badger brushes? Where quality means comfort, latherability, etc? I currently own one synthetic, one badger hair (C&E best badger) and one boar hair (VDH) and find the badger much more enjoyable. While the VDH works and I enjoy using it from time to time, in reality it is not nearly as nice as the badger. Would a better quality boar brush make me change my mind? Thanks.

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Change your mind? Maybe.. Maybe not.. There's definitely a YMMV factor at play here. However I can say that yes, there is a big difference in quality of boar brushes out there.. I have boar brushes by VDH and Omega. There's a night and day difference in the quality between the two..